Day 89

In Memphis, stopping at a red light is optional. I have never seen such blatant disregard for the laws of traffic as I did today. I have a shellshocked sort of respect for them; just as New Englanders jaywalk with impunity, so too do Memphis residents live dangerously.

I stopped at the Cupboard Restaurant, which the Food Bible refers to as one of the country’s best “meat and three” stops. The meat is your choice of southern staples like ham, fried chicken, or chicken-fried chicken. The “three” means you get three choices from a shockingly long list of vegetables. Some were simple—sliced tomatoes and buttered squash. Some were fancy—eggplant casserole and carrot/raisin salad. Some weren’t vegetables—stuffing, French fries, and mac and cheese. Those would be the three sides my dad would order here. I tried to be healthier with my meal. The food was tasty, but more importantly, it tasted fresh and robust. It was as close to a home-cooked meal as I’ll get out here.

I checked out the facades of the legendary Sun and Stax Records buildings. Sun Records is responsible for breaking musicians like Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Elvis Presley; Stax recorded the Staple Singers, Wilson Pickett, and Otis Redding. I’ve been spending too much money to indulge fully in the Memphis Blues experience, so I enjoyed what I could see and returned to Mississippi on Highway 61. This is the big one, folks: the road where blues was born, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta.

The most important spot on US-61 is where it intersects US-49. This is where Robert Johnson, one of the first great bluesmen, sold his soul to the devil. This is the crossroads in Crossroads Blues, and the place where Ralph Macchio beat Steve Vai in a guitar duel. It’s a little different now in that there is no crossroads. There’s an interchange instead. Maybe that’s why I didn’t feel any thinning of reality.

I drove on until an hour past sundown, arriving in the capital city of Jackson. I had secured a very reasonable rate at the Hilton, so I decided to book two nights instead of one. I tried to find somewhere to eat dinner, but everywhere within two miles was closed by 7:30. Weird. I grabbed a soda and a frozen burrito from the hotel store and slumped back to my room. Not quite home-cooked.