Day 1: Monday, January 16, 2011
For breakfast, I cooked ham and eggs.
We went to St. Joe to buy our weekly lottery tickets.
We are on our way to Tunica, MS., for three days of fun.
Our first stop was at McDonald's in Corinth, MS, to use the restroom. Our next stop was at the Welcome Center on S. Tate Rd, MS.
We went inside and met three nice women working there. They said I could take pictures inside the Welcome Center, which was full of Civil War Memorabilia.
They gave us some information about Mississippi. We thanked them and were on our way once again.
We stopped at Murphy Gas 5970 Goodman RD., Olive, MS, where we spent $49.00, a pump 9, for unplus gas at $3.319 per Gallon for 14.762 gallons.
We stopped at the Welcome Center, "Gateway to the Blues" in Tunica, MS. It was over 100 years old; it was a train depot that they had moved to Tunica along with some of the old train tracks.
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| Train Tracks |
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| Welcome Center "Gateway to the Blues" |
This will be the Starting point of Blues Park, which is set to open this spring, featuring many blues entertainers performing there.
I took pictures of several different types of guitars hanging from the walls of the Welcome Center. Some were signed by Blues entertainers.
Guitar list is below:
• Stella was a12-stringg (the 1960s)
• Key-Value Leader was (the 1960s)
• Hand-painted guitar case was (the 1960s)
• Harmony Archtop (the 1960s) signed by John Lee Hooker
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| Harmony Archtop (the 1960s) signed by John Lee Hooker |
• Key flattop was (the 1950s)
• Kent flattop was (the 1950s)
• Fender Stratocaster (1984) signed by Ike Turner
We picked up some brochures on the Blues Trail at Tunica Welcome Center and thanked the lovely woman. Outside, I took pictures of the Welcome Center and the Blues Marker "Highway 61."
Our next stop was at Fitz's Casino Restaurant in Tunica, where I purchased two prime rib buffet dinners for seven dollars each.
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| Fitz's Casino Restaurant & Casino |
We each had to sign up for a Key Rewards card before we could purchase a meal; our numbers were 001624571 and 001624573.
We both ordered prime ribs, but didn't care for the bloody meat.
I piled my plate with shrimp, onion rings, stir-fried green beans, a sweet roll, and a cream cheese roll from the Chinese area of the buffet. For dessert, I ate a slice of carrot cake. We both ate way too much food.
After dinner, we rode to Tunica Roadhouse Hotel to check into room 117. We unloaded luggage, rested, watched some TV, and then went next door to play the slot machines.
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| Tunica Roadhouse Hotel |
We tried the twenty-cent machine with no luck. Then, we played the one-cent machines and won fifteen dollars on the fire truck one-cent slot machine. After cashing out, we went next door to Gold Strike.
We had to get a membership. As a new member, I was given fifteen dollars to play with.
I walked to the one-cent machine and won thirteen dollars on the Magic Slot Machine.
We walked to our room, Hubby took a shower because he said his clothes smelled like smoke.
Day 2: Tuesday, January 17, 2011
We both took a shower, dressed, loaded into the van, and started looking for somewhere to eat breakfast.
We stopped at McDonald's on 1375 Hwy 6 n, Tunica, MS. A big breakfast costs $6.59.
We rode south down Highway 61in the wind and rain to Helena, Arkansas. We drove right out of the rain into the sunshine. It was a beautiful day, reaching up to 68 degrees.
We stopped at the Mississippi Welcome Center just before crossing the bridge into Helena, Arkansas.
We rode down to the Mississippi River to see the Isle of Capri Casino.
We crossed the Mississippi River into Arkansas and stopped to take a picture of the Historic marker of Helena, Arkansas.
We stopped at the Delta Cultural Center Museum located on 141 Cherry St in Helena. Bill Branc, the curator, said we could take pictures inside the museum.
We were told to come back at 12:15 to listen to Son"y "Sunshine" Payne broadcast over the radio KFFA 1360 A.M.
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| King Biscuit Time |
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| Sonny "Sunshine" Payne broadcast over the radio KFFA 1360 A.M. |
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| I am at KFFA Radio Station for an interview. |
We walked outside, where I took pictures of the Blues Trail Marker and the cemented handprints in the ground, which included names such as Jack Johnson, Rufus Thomas, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Pinetop Perkins, Sam Myers, Sunshine Sonny Payne, Lennie Shields, and others.
We walked toward the Train Museum and the Levee Walk, where I took pictures, and then we went inside the Train Museum.
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| Train Depot Museum |
In the Train Museum, the first floor featured a history of Arkansas and a movie about the great flood of Helena. Upstairs, there were artifacts about the Civil War in Helena.
We walked back to the Delta Cultural Center to listen to Sonny Payne.
I bought myself some Blues Eye sunglasses with guitars on either side, and they lit up.
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| Blue eye sunglasses |
My granddaughter, Sierra, called to say she was sick in the health room at school and couldn't reach her mother on the cell phone.
She wanted to know where we were. I said we were in Arkansas and that we could not come to get her.
KFFA radio broadcast for the last thirty minutes, playing Blues music since the early '40s.
Mr. Payne has been with the show since the 1950s.
During Mr. Payne's show, he announced he had two visitors from Alabama.
He asked, "Where in Alabama are you from?" and I replied, "The northwest corner of Alabama."
We asked several other questions, then Mr. Payne went back to playing his music.
We had our picture taken with Sonny Payne, dropped a couple of dollars in the donation box, and thanked Mr. Payne and the museum curator.
We rode down Cherry Street to the historic courthouse. I took pictures of the courthouse markers, war markers, several churches, and other historic markers.
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| Cherry Street, Helena, Arkansas |
We drove to Maple Hill Cemetery to take pictures of the Civil War Markers at Civil War Hill, which was located on a hill overlooking the river.
We stopped at a Jewish church that was being restored. I was invited inside and asked if I could take some pictures, and they said yes.
We rode down to the Mississippi levee walk, where I took several pictures.
It was getting way past lunchtime, so we left Helena and stopped at the Arkansas Welcome Center, where we asked if there were any good places to eat nearby. The woman recommended the Ground Zero Blues Club at 352 Delta Avenue, Clarksdale, MS 38614-4213, (662) 621-9009, but it was closed.
We ate at Western Sizzlin'., I ordered a sirloin steak, baked potato, and a salad.
Hubby ordered a 16-ounce rib eye, a salad, a baked potato, and dessert; we spent $33.12.
On the way back to the hotel, I took pictures of Yazoo Pass, Hernando De Soto Bridge, WROX Radio, and Hunts Mill.
We stopped in the historic town of Tunic, where I took pictures of the arm marker and the Ames Cotton Blues marker.
I took several pictures of thousands of birds flying, landing in trees in the park andthe surrounding area.
When we arrived at the hotel, we purchased some snacks and took them to our room.
It had been a very long day, so we both took a shower and went to bed.
We were rudely awakened by a fire alarm at 1:00 A.M.
We left the room, but it was a false alarm.
Everyone went back to their rooms. It was hard to go to sleep knowing that it could be another alarm.
We had everything packed and ready to go just in case.
Day 3: Wednesday, January 18, 2011
We showered, dressed, checked out, and rode to Cracker Barrel in Horn. At the lake, I ordered one egg, bacon, and toast.
Hubby ordered three pancakes, eggs, bacon, and biscuits; we spent $17.50.
We stopped at Murphy Gas in Horn Lake, where we spent $40.00 on Unplus pump 8, with a gas price of $3.249 for 12.31 gallons of gas.
We paid $9.00 to wash the van and seventy-five cents to vacuum it.
We stopped in Corinth, MS., at the Interpretive Center, Civil War Trail, Crossroads Museum, and the C. A. R. E. Honor Garden.
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| America goes to war with itself. |
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| Cannons at the Interpretive Center |
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| the Interpretive Center |
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| the Interpretive Center |
We bought Three Musketeers and Mt. Dew at a gas station in Corinth, MS.
We stopped in Iuka, MS, where I took pictures of the Battle of Iuka, 11 Ohio Battery, Front St, Episcopal Church, Methodist Church, Old Tishomingo County Courthouse, Twin Magnolias, World-Famous Mineral Springs Park, Iuka, and War Markers.
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| Episcopal Church in Iuka, MS |
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| Twin Magnolias World Famous Mineral Springs Park |
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| Old Tishomingo County Courthouse |
We stopped at Foodland in Killen to buy Shrimp, Crab legs, and milk.
When we arrived home, the slide-out on our RV would not work. We noticed the refrigerator was not cooling, and the heater was not working.
Hubby pulls out his electrical tools to repair the slide-out, the refrigerator, and the heater.
He drew up some plans to make the slide-out and refrigerator work, but now the hot water is not working.
The next day, we had no hot water and had to take a shower at his sister's.
Hubby had to go to work the next day and when he came home he worked on the hot water heater, he said a wire was loose.
He said he did not have time to fix the wiring, it would have to wait until his off day.
Every time we go on a trip and come back home, something is broken. Afterr a whil,e there would be nothing left to fix.
Two hundred twenty-three dollars and twenty-one cents was the total cost of our trip to Tunica, MS.
• Spent $82.50a at Tunica Roadhouse for two nights
• Gas $40.00 Horn Lake Murphy Gas
• Gas $49.00 Olive Branch, MS., Gas
• Food $17.50 Cracker Barrel Horn Lake, MS
• Food $33.12 Western Sizzlin in Clarksdale, MS
• Food $18.50 Fitz's Casino and Restaurant Tunic, an MS
• Food $6.5McDonald'sds Tunica, MS
• Other $9.00 Car Wash
• Museum $6.00 Corinth MS
• Museum $4.00 Hel,ena MS
• Snack $10.00 Tunica Roadhouse Hotel Vending Machines
• Snacks $6.00 Corinth, MS., Shell Gas Station
• Total $223.20
• Spen, ling won 1,5, broke even
• Spent 15 of hotel money, won 13, so 13 to the good.
• Playeone-centnt machines
