Highway 61 Blues - Tunica Miss US 61 South Haven, MS

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Miss US 61

Highway 61 Blues - Tunica

U.S. Highway 61, known as the "blues highway," rivals Route 66 as the most famous road in American music lore. Dozens of blues artists have recorded songs about Highway 61, including Mississippians Sunnyland Slim, James “Son” Thomas, “Honeyboy” Edwards, Big Joe Williams, Joe McCoy, Charlie Musselwhite, Eddie Shaw, Johnny Young, Eddie Burns, and Mississippi Fred McDowell. The original route, now called Old Highway 61, was just west of here.

HIGHWAY 61 BLUES

HIGHWAY 61 BLUES

Highway 61 Blues - Tunica

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Highway 61 Travel has been a popular theme in blues lyrics, and highways have symbolized the potential to quickly “pack up and go,” leave troubles behind, or seek out new opportunities elsewhere. As the major route northward out of Mississippi, U.S. Highway 61 has been of particular inspiration to blues artists. The original road began in downtown New Orleans, traveled through Baton Rouge, and ran through Natchez, Vicksburg, Leland, Cleveland, Clarksdale, and Tunica in Mississippi, to Memphis, and north to the Canadian border. Mississippi artists who lived near Highway 61 included B. B. King, Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Son House, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson No. 2 (Rice Miller), Ike Turner, Robert Nighthawk, Sunnyland Slim, Honeyboy Edwards, Sam Cooke, James Cotton, Jimmy Reed, and Junior Parker.

The first song recorded about the road was Roosevelt Sykes’s “Highway 61 Blues,” cut in 1932; at the time Sykes was a resident of St. Louis, the first major city along Highway 61 above the Mason-Dixon line. In 1933 two Memphis bluesmen, Jack Kelly and Will Batts, recorded "Highway No. 61 Blues," and the Tupelo-born Sparks Brothers cut "61 Highway." Other 1930s recordings included "Highway 61," a sermon by Raymond, Mississippi, native “Hallelujah Joe” McCoy; "Highway 61" by Jesse James; and "Highway 61 Blues" by Sampson Pittman, recorded for Alan Lomax of the Library of Congress. In 1947 Gatemouth Moore recorded a jump blues version of “Highway 61 Blues,” and in 1956 pianist Sunnyland Slim (Albert Luandrew) of Vance, Mississippi, recorded “Highway 61.” Over the next decades, Highway 61 songs often appeared on albums by James “Son” Thomas of Leland, Honeyboy Edwards, Big Joe Williams, Mississippi Fred McDowell, and other traditional blues veterans.

Although many bluesmen used the lyrics “Highway 61, the longest road that I know,” their descriptions of the highway’s route were often misleading. Some suggested that the road started at the Gulf of Mexico (100 miles south of New Orleans) and ran through Atlanta, New York City, or Chicago. Many Mississippians certainly did begin their migrations to Chicago via Highway 61, but most finished their journeys by continuing from St. Louis to the Windy City along the famous Route 66. In 1965 the road gained an even more mythological reputation when Bob Dylan recorded his influential album “Highway 61 Revisited.” Dylan was well versed in the blues, but his inspiration may also have come from the fact that Highway 61 ran through his home state of Minnesota.

Well, I'm leavin' here in the morning
I'm goin' down Highway 61.
Girl, I'm lookin' for my baby.
Boy, you know that ain't no fun.
If she done left Mamphis
There's one thing, boy, that worries me;
She's down in New Orleans
"Down on Rampart Street  Highway 61"
Suland Slim

The blues artists pictured here are among the many who lived along the route of Highway 61 It is the northern Delta area of Mississippi and or in Memphis or Missouri
Muddy Waters
James Cotton
Jimmy Reed
Junior Parker 
Sunnland Slim 

Cobra Record Corp
 “Highway 61”
Sunnyland Slim 

Welcome to one of the many sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail 

Visit us online at www.MSBluesTrail.org 

The Blues Foundation - Memphis Miss US 61 South Haven, MS

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Miss US 61

The Blues Foundation - Memphis

The Blues Foundation, the world's premier organization dedicated to honoring, preserving, and promoting the blues, was founded in Memphis in 1980. Mississippi-born performers and business professionals in the Foundation's Blues Hall of Fame outnumber those from any other state, and Mississippians have also won many annual Blues Music Awards, Keeping the Blues Alive Awards, and International Blues Challenge talent competitions sponsored by the Foundation.

The Blues Foundation

The Blues Foundation

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The Blues Foundation, the headquarters of an international network of blues appreciation with thousands of members, grew from a small base of Memphis supporters that presented the first W. C. Handy Blues Awards at the Orpheum Theatre on November 16, 1980. Balloting for the awards (later renamed the Blues Music Awards) and the Blues Hall of Fame was initially conducted by Living Blues magazine by polling a worldwide group of blues authorities, deejays, musicians, folklorists, record dealers, and producers. The majority of the first twenty inductees into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 were born in Mississippi: Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, B. B. King, Elmore James, Robert Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson No. 2 (Rice Miller), John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon, Son House, Otis Spann, Jimmy Reed, Charley Patton, and Memphis Minnie. By 2012, more than fifty Mississippians had been inducted. As the Foundation grew, paid members became the Blues Music Award voters, while a select committee of experts elected the Hall of Fame inductees.

Over the years, the Blues Foundation expanded its activities to include education programs, blues conferences, health care, the Handy Artists Relief Trust (HART) Fund, Keeping the Blues Alive Awards, Lifetime Achievement Awards, and the International Blues Challenge (IBC). Hundreds of blues societies and organizations around the world have affiliated with the Foundation and many have sponsored bands in the IBC competitions. While the blues has become an international phenomenon, the Blues Foundation has continued to acknowledge Mississippi for its crucial role in blues history and as the home of generations upon generations of blues musicians. More than two hundred Blues Music Awards have gone to Mississippi natives or one-time residents as Performers of the Year in various categories or for their contemporary, traditional, acoustic, soul-blues, or reissue recordings. Multiple award recipients include B. B. King, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Charlie Musselwhite, Pinetop Perkins, Little Milton, James Cotton, Willie Kent, Magic Slim, Albert King, Eddie Shaw, Eden Brent, Hubert Sumlin, Bobby Rush, Cedric Burnside, Honeyboy Edwards, Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf, R. L. Burnside, Sam Myers, Otis Rush, Jimmy Rogers, Willie Dixon, Carey Bell, Eddy Clearwater, Otis Spann, Sonny Boy Williamson (No. 2), and Snooky Pryor. Zac Harmon, Eden Brent, and Grady Champion are among the IBC winners with Mississippi roots.

Memphis has long been a major gateway to and from the Mississippi Delta, both for musicians and for blues fans worldwide. In 2010 the Blues Foundation, formerly housed in small office spaces without room for a Hall of Fame exhibit, acquired this building to make 421 South Main Street the permanent address of the Blues Hall of Fame and the “International Home of Blues Music.”

Muddy Waters, a native of Issaquena County MS received more votes than any other artist in the first Blues Hall of Fame balloting in 1980. He recorded "Gone to Main St" in 1952.

The first album elected in the Blues Hall of Fame's Classics of Blues Recordings was King of the Delta Blues Singer by Robert Johnsson who was born in Hazelnuts, MS. In the singles category "Dust my broom" bu Elmore (Elmo)James from Richland, MS let the first-year voting. 

Pinetop Perkins of Belzoni, MS won so many annual honors in the piano keyboards category as "instrumentalist of the year" that the award was renamed for him. The Blues Entertainer of the Year was renamed after BB King a native of Berclair, MS who began his professional career in Memphis. 

Among the Blues Hall of Fame inductees or Blues Music Awards winners who lived in both MS and Memphis (or West Memphis) are Rufus Thomas, Albert King, Charlie Musselwhite, Litttle Milton, Junior Parker, James Cotton, Howlin' Wolf, Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Honeyboy Edwards, Memphis Minnie, Furry Lewis, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Gus Caannon, WC Handy, Hubet Sumlin, Ike Turner, BB King, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Sunnyland Slim, Eddie Taylor, Robert Nighthawk, Big Walter Horton, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Rogers, Jimmy Johnson, Sonny Boy Willaimson, No 2, Billy Gibson, George Jackson and Jessie May Hemphill. 

Chess Recording Company
“Gone to Main St”
Muddy Waters 

Welcome to one of the many sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail 

Visit us online at www.MSBluesTrail.org 

From Mississippi to Memphis Miss US 61 South Haven, MS

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Miss US 61

From Mississippi to Memphis

The bright lights of Beale Street and the promise of musical stardom have lured blues musicians from nearby Mississippi since the early 1900s. Early Memphis blues luminaries who migrated from Mississippi include Gus Cannon, Furry Lewis, Jim Jackson, and Memphis Minnie. In the post-World War II era, many native Mississippians became blues, soul, and rock ‘n’ roll recording stars in Memphis, including Rufus Thomas, Junior Parker, B.B. King, and Elvis Presley.

B.B. King 

Elvis Presley 

From Mississippi to Memphis

From Mississippi to Memphis

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Memphis blues was discovered by the rest of the world largely via the works of Beale Street-based bandleader W. C. Handy, who began using blues motifs in his compositions shortly after encountering the music in the Mississippi Delta around 1903. By the 1920s many musicians from Mississippi had relocated here to perform in local theaters, cafes, and parks. The mix of rural and urban musical traditions and songs from traveling minstrel and medicine shows led to the creation of new blues styles, and record companies set up temporary studios at the Peabody Hotel and other locations to capture the sounds of Mississippians who came to town to record, such as Tommy Johnson and Mississippi John Hurt, as well as some who had settled in Memphis, including Robert Wilkins, Jim Jackson, Gus Cannon, Memphis Minnie, and Joe McCoy.

In the decade following World War II musicians from around the Mid South descended upon Memphis, and their interactions resulted in the revolutionary new sounds of R&B and rock ’n’ roll. Riley King arrived from Indianola and soon became known as the “Beale Street Blues Boy,” later shortened to “B. B.” Many of King’s first performances were at talent shows at the Palace Theater, 324 Beale, co-hosted by Rufus Thomas, a native of Cayce, Mississippi, who, like King, later worked as a deejay at WDIA. King and Thomas were among the many Mississippi-born artists who recorded at Sam Phillips’s Memphis Recording Service, where Tupelo’s Elvis Presley made his historic first recordings for Phillips’s Sun label in 1954. The soul music era arrived with the Stax and Hi labels in the 1960s, and again many Mississippians were at the forefront: Stax’s roster included Little Milton, Albert King, Rufus Thomas, and Roebuck “Pops” Staples, while Hi producer and bandleader Willie Mitchell, a native of Ashland, oversaw recordings by soul and blues artists Otis Clay, Syl Johnson, Big Lucky Carter, Big Amos (Patton), and others with Mississippi roots.

WC Handy Statue on Beale St Memphis, TN 

The revitalization of Beale Street as an entertainment district, beginning in the 1980s, resulted in new performance venues for Mississippi natives including Daddy Mack Orr, Billy Gibson, and Dr. Feelgood Potts. The Mississippi-to-Memphis blues tradition has also been promoted by the Center for Southern Folklore, radio stations WEVL and WDIA, and labels including Inside Sounds, Icehouse, Memphis Archives, Ecko, and High Water. Mississippi has been well represented in the Memphis-based Blues Foundation’s International Blues Competition and Blues Music Awards (formerly W. C. Handy Awards), and thirteen of the first twenty artists inducted into the foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 were born or raised in Mississippi.

Brunswick Recording Company “Fourth and Beal” Cannon and Woods “The Beale Street Boys

Jim Jackson, Rufus Thompson (at microphone), and Furry Lewis (right)became Memphis music icons after moving here from Mississippi. They all settled in Memphis prior to 1820.

The Handy Sheet is from 1917.
In 2003 WC Handy awards, Sam Phillips with four of the Blues legends is recorded in the early 1950s. Seated, from let are Ike Turner, BB King and Little Milton (all natives of Mississippi). Standing with Phillips is Memphian Rosco Gordon. Phillips also recorded Little Junior Parker Howlin' Wolf, James Cotton, and Doctor Ross, among others Mississippi bluesmen.
Beal Street at night the late 1930s.
WC Handy Shown at a parade held in his honor here in 1953 came to Memphis form Clarksdale, MS. The park is a block north of this marker was renamed for him in 1931.




Ecko Records, founded by Mississippian John Ward in 1995 became a leader in the soul-blues market with releases by Mississippi natives including Ollie Nightingale Sheba Potts-Wright, Denise LaSalle, OB Buchana, David Brinston, and Lee "Shot" Williams.
High Water Records under the direction of Dr. Davis Evans at the University of Memphis documented more traditional blues.

Beal Street as it appeared in the summer of 1944.

Welcome to one of the many sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail 

Visit us online at www.MSBluesTrail.org 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/146489606/b.b.-king

Elvis Presley-Tupelo Miss US 78 Blues Trail South Haven, MS

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Miss US 78

Elvis and the Blues  

Elvis Presley revolutionized popular music by blending the blues he first heard as a youth in Tupelo with country, pop, and gospel. Many of the first songs Elvis recorded for the Sun label in Memphis were covers of earlier blues recordings by African Americans, and he continued to incorporate blues into his records and live performances for the remainder of his career

Elvis and the Blues

Graceland 

Elvis in Tupelo, MS 

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Elvis Presley and the Blues - Tupelo, MS 

Elvis first encountered the blues here in Tupelo, and it remained central to his music throughout his career. The Presley family lived in several homes in Tupelo that were adjacent to African American neighborhoods, and as a youngster, Elvis and his friends often heard the sounds of blues and gospel streaming out of churches, clubs, and other venues. According to Mississippi blues legend Big Joe Williams, Elvis listened in particular to Tupelo blues guitarist Lonnie Williams.

During Elvis’s teen years in Memphis, he could hear blues on Beale Street, just a mile south of his family’s home. Producer Sam Phillips had captured many of the city’s new, electrified blues sounds at his Memphis Recording Service studio, where Elvis began his recording career with Phillips's Sun label. Elvis was initially interested in recording ballads, but Phillips was more excited by the sound created by Presley and studio musicians Scotty Moore and Bill Black on July 5, 1954, when he heard them playing bluesman Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup’s 1946 recording “That’s All Right.”

That song appeared on Presley’s first single, and each of his other four singles for Sun Records also included a cover of a blues song—Arthur Gunter’s “Baby Let’s Play House,” Roy Brown’s “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” Little Junior Parker’s “Mystery Train,” and Kokomo Arnold’s “Milk Cow Blues,” recorded under the title “Milkcow Blues Boogie” by Elvis, who likely learned it from a version by western swing musician Johnnie Lee Wills. Elvis's sound inspired countless other artists, including Tupelo rockabilly musician Jumpin' Gene Simmons, whose 1964 hit “Haunted House” was first recorded by bluesman Johnny Fuller.

Elvis continued recording blues after his move to RCA Records in 1955, including “Hound Dog,” first recorded by Big Mama Thornton in 1952, Lowell Fulson’s “Reconsider Baby,” Big Joe Turner’s “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” and two more by Crudup, “My Baby Left Me” and “So Glad You’re Mine.” One of Elvis’s most important sources of material was the African American songwriter Otis Blackwell, who wrote the hits “All Shook Up,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” and “Return to Sender.” In Presley's so-called "comeback" appearance on NBC television in 1968, former bandmates Scotty Moore and D. J. Fontana rejoined him as he reprised his early Sun recordings and performed other blues, including the Jimmy Reed songs "Big Boss Man" and "Baby What You Want Me to Do." Blues remained a feature of Elvis's live performances until his death his 1977.

Mama, she done told me, 
Papa done told me to, 
Son, that gal you're foolin' with 
She ain't no good for you.
But that's all right, that's all right.
That's all right now, mama, any way you do. 
"That's all Right" Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup (1946)
recorded by Elvis Presley 1954
Elvis appeared at the WDIA Goodwill Revue an annual charity event sponsored by Memphis leading Africain America radio station in 1956 and 1957. Here he poses with BB King on Dec 7, 1956.

In 1969 bluesman Albert King recorded this collection of songs made popular by Elvis, King was one of many African American singers who bare performed Elvis material. Presley's records hit the rhythm & blues charts from 1956 to 1963l reflecting sales and airplay in the black community.

Elvis at Dec 6, 1957, WDIA Goodwill Revenue with Little Junior Parker (from left) and Bobby "Blue" Band.

Elvis recorded three blues songs that were originally recorded by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup a native of Forest, MS.
In 1956, interview Elvis said, "down in Tupelo, MS I used to hear Old Arthur Crudup bang his box the way Ida does and said If I ever got to the place I could feel all old Arthur felt, I'd be a music man like nobody ever saw."
Historians still wonder whether Presley actually saw Crudup perform, or only heard his records. Crudup claimed he never met Elvis. 

Sun Recording Company
“ That ’s All Right”
Elvis Presley
Memphis, TN 

Welcome to one of the many sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail 

Visit us online at www.MSBluesTrail.org 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/837/elvis-presley

Tanger Outlet Blues Trail South Haven, MS

Tanger Outlets 

Documenting the Blues Miss US 71
Hubert Sumlin
Howlin'Wolf
Robert Johnson
Birth Place of America's Music
MISSISSIPPI 

Peavine Railroad
Albert King 

"One of The Best"
"our knowledgeable friend and Blues tour guide described the B.B. King Museum as one of the best museums she had ever been to, and I have to agree. Allow several hours for this visit and make a special trip to Indianola to go there. You won't be sorry. My three teenage sons learned a great deal. Fantastic displays, many of which were interactive."
-A visitor from Houston, Texas
400 Second Street Indianola, S www.bbkingmuseum.org
BB King Museum

"Brought Me to Tears"
"This was our last stop on our Delta Blues Pilgrimage. And we saved the best for last. A beautiful building and museum. A part of the museum is a cotton gin where BB King used to work. The exhibit progress through his childhood up to the present day. The video of him speaking about his life brought me to tears. Worth the drive to Indianola."
-A Visitor from Mobile, Alabama
400 Second Street Indianola, S www.bbkingmuseum.org
BB King Museum

"So Much Fun for Every Age"
"This facility is nothing short of amazing. It's a haven for anyone that loves and appreciates the music of all genres. We didn't
t want to leave!"
-A Visitor from Tennessee
800 West Sunflower Road Cleveland, MS
GRAMMYMuseumMS.org
662-441-0100
Recording Academy
GRAMMY MUSEUM
MISSISSIPPI

"This Place is Amazing "
"It has a lot of interactive features where you would spend hours listening to music and learning about the awesome past and present GRAMMY winners."
-A Visitor from Colorado
800 West Sunflower Road Cleveland, MS
GRAMMYMuseumMS.org
662-441-0100
Recording Academy
GRAMMY MUSEUM
MISSISSIPPI

"A Wealth of History! "
"Plan on spending at least two hours looking at this museum. You will find pictures articles, instruments, clothing, and more about these talented musicians. It helps clear up all that was going on in that area and how it affected the music. Don't miss this place."
A Visitor from Daytona Beach, Florida
1 Blues Alley Clarksdale, MS
www.deltableebluesmuseum.org
DELTA BLUES
MUSEUM

Large Guitar 

Muddy Waters

Gateway to the Blues "Great exhibit"
"This place has guitars from all the blues greats, they even have Son House's resonator guitar on display. Eric Clapton's and BB King's guitars are on showcase as well Great exhibit, owned by Ceasar's of Las Vegas fame."
-A Victor Calexico, California
13625 HighwaY 61 North Tunica Resorts, MS
www.tunicatravel.com
Gateway to the
BLUES
Tunica, MS

Elvis Presley & WC Handy 

The Blues Trail
Birthplace of America's Music Mississippi 

Large Guitar 

Large Guitar 

Elvis in Tupelo, MS 

"A Must see if you are in Memphis!"
"By far our best experience in Memphis. The house itself is just full of history and memories. A very emotional experience. You can almost feel the joy and happy memories that Elvis and his family had there."
-A Visitor from the Newcastle United Kingdom
3717 Elvis Presley Boulevard Memphis,  TN
www.graceland.com
Graceland
The home of Elvis Presley 

"Awesome to sit on his front porch."
"As a lifelong Elvis fan, this was a must-see on my visit I was not disappointed, the tiny house was amazing to see and it was great to get a photo taken on the swing outside with lots of interesting information and great insight into the early years of his life."
306 Elvis Presley Drive Tupelo, MS
www.elvispresleybirthplace.com
Elvis
BIRTHPLACE

Jessie Mae Hemphill

Graceland 

🚗2017 May 30, Tuesday, "A sportsman paradise" & Pink Palace Museum Memphis, TN

Hubby and I rode to Memphis Tennessee which took about three hours.
I had a runny nose and I sneezed the whole trip.
We stopped at Walgreens in Corinth MS bought some Flonase Nasal Spray recommended by the Pharmacist.

Bass Pro Shop 

Bass Pro Shop at the Pyramid on Bass Pro Drive in Memphis was our first stop.
Once inside we saw a sign that said, "Welcome to Paradise"! A sportsman paradise!
Swimming in the water below us we could see schools of a variety of fish, and swamp-covered trees everywhere.
We stopped to see the alligators, they were behind glass walls, and they were staring at us.

Swamp Covered Trees & Elevator

We saw a 27-foot elevator that was lit up with red, green, and blue lights.
We paid ten dollars to ride the elevator to the top while listening to a pre-recording about the store and catching a big fish.
We exited the elevator into a restaurant where we were greeted by a hostess. She asked us if we wanted to eat at the restaurant or if we just wanted to take the breathtaking view of Memphis.
We said we just wanted to walk out onto the balcony and see the view below.

View from Balcony 

Once outside we could see downtown Memphis, the roaring Mississippi River, Mud Island, The Memphis & Arkansas Bridge, and the train bridge. There was another balcony with a view of the Mississippi River, houses, apartments, and piers.

View from Balcony 

We visited the Ducks Limited Museum where we saw a variety of guns, ducks, trophies and etc.
We saw the Big Cedar Lodge, wildlife creations taxidermy, & aquarium full of fish.
The smell of cinnamon-glazed roasting pecans, cashews, and almonds filled the air.

Our next stop was the Pink Palace Museum.
You can visit the Museum on Tuesdays at 1PM for free.

Hubby and I walked up the grand staircase to the third floor to see the animatronic dinosaurs exhibit.
This was a great area for children to touch models of dinosaurs' claws, bones, teeth and play with rubbing stamps and watch a video.

Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs

We saw the first Americans, the History of Memphis, log Cabins, slavery, the Civil War, the first automated grocery store (Piggly Wiggly), Yellow Fever, from saddlebags to science, Clyde Parke's Miniature Circus, cotton and Thomas Harwell's mummy casket.

It was after 2PM we were hungry so we rode to Joe's Crab Shack.
Hubby ordered the Crab Legs bucket and I ordered fish and chips we both ordered water with lemon to drink.

Fish & Chips at Joe's Crab Shack Memphis 

In Memphis, we also rode passed several old historic homes, & the Liberty Stadium.
Around 3PM we started for home, arriving around 6:30PM.

🚗 2012 ~Aug 14-15, Days 2-3 Trip thru the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee

Day 3: Tuesday, August 14, 2012  

We checked out at 8:45 A.M. Comfort Inns.

Comfort Inn serves a continental breakfast so we ate scrambled eggs covered in gravy, round sausage, donuts, orange juice and orange cranberry juice. 

We had our bags packed before breakfast; we collect our luggage and check out at 8:45 A.M. 

We stopped to ride the Ducks but the first load had already left.

We rode downtown to the train depot to ride the train but it did not leave until 11:30 A.M. 

We rode back to the tourist area of the old town, where we walk around and stopping at 

Wal-Green’s to buy hubby a razor, which cost $10.95.  

 Bas Pro Shop in Branson Mo

We walked to Bas Pro Shop that was along Lake Taneycomo and across the street from the train depot.

There we bought a block of chocolate fudge $3.00, bag cashews covered in cinnamon $3.99 and diet drinks $1.59 for a total of $9.34.

We sat down in front of the fish tank to eat our snack.

We finished our snack, walked outside and down by Lake Taneycomo. 

Lake Taneycomo. 

Lake Taneycomo

Then we walked back and purchased tickets for the Scenic Train Ride. 

(It was anything but scenic.) Purchased four postcards @ twenty-five cents each and one bell @1.00 spent $2.19 cash.

Tickets cost adult $25.25

Tax $3.18

Total $28.43 each = $56.86

Tuesday at 11:30 A.M. ticket numbers 101 & 100.

The best part of the train ride was the people sitting across from us they were a hoot!

Scenic Train Ride🚂🚂🚂

Scenic Train Ride

Scenic Train Ride

Montana Mikes Steakhouse is where we ate lunch.

I ordered a salad, sirloin steak, sweet potato, and ice tea.

Hubby ordered a Buffalo Burger with fried onion rings, and to drink a diet Pepsi.

We spent around $18.00 plus tip. 

Tuesday, August 14, 2012 

We purchased tickets for the Duck ride at 3:00 P.M., tickets numbers 00075, 74 

Total cost was $43.46.

Everyone had their pictures made before boarding the DUCK.

Riding the Duck 

My hubby and I sat in the front seats. 

Captain Jed was our host and he was a hoot.

He had us laughing the whole time as well as being informative about the ride. 

We rode the Duck across Table Rock Dam and up through the woods passing some retired ducks, a half truck, an Otter (T46 Amphibious Cargo Truck), a Crash Truck (G-7133 Airfield Emergency Truck), a Scorpion, (M56 Self Propelled Gun), a Store with a sign that read (Bologna, pickled eggs, pork n beans, Hubby pumped gas), an old home site. 

As we were about to embark into the lake our Captain Jed said, “Be prepared to get wet” as in we went. 

We saw docked the Showboat Branson Belle she was in for repairs. 

Showboat Branson Belle

We floated along in the water; Captain Jed let all the children aboard drive the duck.  

He kept right up with his storytelling.  

Out of the water we came, we went from propeller to wheels, back on the road again. 

We again crossed Table Rock Dam and headed back into Branson.

I was taking pictures the whole time.  

We purchased the pictures that we had taken before boarding the DUCK, which cost us @21.73.

We ride on highway 13 through Missouri going through Kimberling City, which is also along the Table Rock Lake.  

We stopped at Conco 11907 State Hwy 13 Kimberling City Mo at 5:09 P.M. for gas. 

We use pump 3 to 15.216 gallons gas at 3.549 per gallon cost $54.00.

 Kimberling City

We rode over some steep and curved roads along the Arkansas and Missouri line, passing through Roaring River State Park.

We arrived in Rogers just before dark and stopped at Chick-fil-a cost $10.50. 

We checked in at Country Inns and Suites 4304 West Walnut St Rogers Ar 72756-telephone number 479-633-0055 rooms 208. 

We rode to Target in Rogers, Arkansas where we purchased some Nail polish remover and headache powder (for Hubby)we spent $7.61.

We stopped at Best Buy store number 1148 where we purchased an 8gb SD card for my Nikon Camera. 

We charged $27.24 for our Best Buy Card. 

We went back to the hotel, to our room, put on our swimsuits and set in the hot tub. 

Before we went to get into the hot hubby went to check out the poolroom.

While he was there, two women were enraged because a bearded man had dropped his shorts and put on his swimsuit in front of them. 

The man was still in the pool when we came down, he did not say much; he just sat in the pool.

Our stay in the hot was brief and the pool was too cold for a swim so we returned to our room and went to bed.

Day 4: Wednesday, August 15, 2012 

We checked out of hotel at 8:57am.

After a good nights sleep, a shower, we pack our bags and walked downstairs for breakfast. 

We split a waffle.

Hubby also ate sausage gravy and muffin.  

I added whip cream, & blueberries to mine along with a piece of sausage.

We rode over to the Museum of Native American Art Museum 202 SW 0 Bentonville Arkansas, which opened at 9:00 A.M. and were there until 10:22am.

I bought three postcards at the Museum of Native American Art  @ 2.00each for total of  $6.54 

Museum of Native American Art Museum

Museum of Native American Art Museum

We rode to the Peel Museum, the curator was by herself, and she could not start the tour until 11 A.M. 

We walked around in the gift shop, and then we went outside to take pictures of the grounds.

Peel Museum Gift Shop

Peel Museum

Peel Museum

The curator said there was road work ahead so she gives us different directions to the Crystal Bridge Museum.

We thanked curator and left at 10:49 A.M.  

We arrive at the Crystal Bridge Museum around 11:09 and left a little after 12:00 P.M. 

Crystal Bridge Museum

Crystal Bridge Museum

We did not stop for lunch for we had leftovers so I finished off the chicken fingers and fudge that we had bought at the Bass Pro Shops.

We had finished off all the sodas that we had brought.

We stopped in Carlisle Exxon 1515 Bankhead Carlisle Arkansas for gas at pump five prices per gallon 3.629 for 14.329 gallons for a total of $52.00.

The drive home took us about eight hours.

I took several pictures with my iPhone on our trip home. 

We rode through Little Rock Arkansas, to Memphis, TN.

Traveling to Memphis, TN  

Traveling to Memphis, TN  

We stopped at Joe’s Crab Shack for supper.  

I ordered a Caesar salad.

Hubby ordered Joe’s crab legs bucket, our total cost was $39.24 

Joe’s Crab Shack 

Joe’s Crab Shack 

Joe’s Crab Shack 

Hubby was very disappointed with his meal.

In his bucket were two claws, two potatoes, and a small corn. 

When we arrived home, hubby sent Joe’s a complaint email and they apologized and sent him a $30 gift card with no expiration date on it to compensate his meal.

1-Crab, Dungeness $24.49

2-Tea $4.79, 

1-Caesar salad $2.99 

Total Cost $39.24.

We were both still hungry and stopped in at Corinth, MS, Express Shop #6 filled up with gas at pump 7 price per gallon 3.569 total fuel cost $31.00 for 8.678 gallons. 

We also purchase a soda and peanut butter crackers we spent $5.00 at 8:03 P.M. 

We are just a couple hours from home. 

We arrive home around 10:00 P.M. only to find that we had no electricity. 

There had been an electrical storm hitting our garage causing three breakers to stop working.

Lighting had hit our house and ran inside to our router, Vonage telephone, and our Internet. 

The food in the freezer of our refrigerator had thawed so I had to throw it away.

The trip was wonderful but the homecoming was awful.

My next trip will be to Hartford, Ct. Sept 11-25, 2012