Shoney's, E. County Rd., Jackson, MS.
8:30 AM

This place is crazy. He'p yerse'f to fat, fat and fat. THIS zip code contributes disproportionately to the heart disease rate in the US.

Yesterday, I stopped off at Abe's for some last minute BBQ and then headed out on Highway 6 towards Oxford — about an hour from Clarksdale. I stopped along the way at a few spots for some photos and got to Oxford at midday. Only an hour away from Clarksdale, but it's like a different country. Everybody raves about this place, and I can easily see why. It's the prototypical Southern town, only no other towns have managed to do it. Or keep it. The downtown is small, beautiful and literate. Square Books is very cool — lots of signed books. It's obviously a big stop on the book tours. It reminded me of Wordsworth in Harvard Sq.

Erudite and attractive people are all around. A huge change from what I've seen. It's as if Cambridge had been transplanted on the outskirts of North Adams.

I wandered around the square a bit, stopped in at the Southside Gallery and exchanged cards with one of the people there — Shannon Brown. She told me she's from Cleveland [MS] originally — lived in Greenville (she also had similar feelings about THAT place). She told me that she rented a place for a while — basically an apt on someone's property — and her landlord had to install barbed wire to protect her — "people were coming onto their property and trying to get her..." YIKES. It was interesting to talk to her since she's born and raised in the Delta and had been in Oxford for less than a year. The gallery had some Eggleston prints (one of a tricycle which was very cool — and a mere $20k!). Also some of Maude Schuyler Clay's stuff and some other local photographers. There was a lot of folk art too. It's interesting to see how the styles aren't very dissimilar from folk art in New England — but the color palettes down here are far more vibrant. Cool stuff, I think.

(I'm looking at a Shoney's diner across the way from me — he must weigh 300 lbs, sweat pants, t-shirt and the sleeve of his t-shirt says "you're looking at a winner." His wife just sat down and broke the bench).

After kicking around downtown (and grabbing an espresso at the Bottletree Café — a recommendation from a friend of my sister's) I went to the Univ. of Mississippi — a.k.a. Ole Miss. It was a little crazy there since it's freshman orientation and other students were moving back. The campus was huge and in excellent shape. Most of the buildings looked very new. What a cool place to go to school. Especially if you LOOOOOOVE the Rebels football team. I called around to local motels but everywhere was totally booked. Oh well, I guess that means it's time to start my trek down towards the Gulf.

The storms that have punctuated these last few days continued through the evening and so after 3 or so hours or driving through torrents of rain, I was ready to call it a day. I did deviate from the I-55 in a few posts — mostly to relieve the boredom of seeing nothing but trucks and fields. I made stops in Coffeeville and Goodman, in both cases to take photos of signs.

Then, the lights of the north of Jackson and the Best Western! Yee Hah!

I cruised into downtown to grab some dinner — although everything was closed. Déjà vu! But the Mayflower was open — and busy! It's an old place in the heart of downtown — a diner. It was packed with politicians and lawyers (confirmed by the hostess) — not many choices downtown. The food was awesome. Broiled Red Fish.

"King Edward Hotel" - Jackson, MS

On my way back to the hotel, I saw a ton of hookers (I'd seen a few on the way to the restaurant). More rain, etc today — I'm headed south. My last full day here.