6 States in 4 days, a 800 mile Motorcycle Ride: Day # 3 Helena Arkansas to Muscle Shoals Alabama

 After a good night sleep in Helena Arkansas we checked the weather and had to changes plans.   We originally were going to spend the day riding the blues trail, go to Lakeport Plantation, and visit the Rohwer Japanese American Relocation Center.    Well with a hurricane like low pushing storms through the area for most of the week, with no plans of letting up, we are going to save this ride for another day.

We are now on a mission to get to Muscle Shoals and out of this weather.   Muscle Shoals the Helen Keller sites and the home of the Muscle Shoals Sound, we are on the way.   We jump on US Highway 49 with a gray sky and a wet road.  At least there is no rain, it is a short trip to the Mississippi River.  As we ride across the mighty Mississippi flows below us, deep and wide like and untamed tiger headed to the Gulf. The barges and river boats look small in the river below.   We continue to on Highway 49 until we cross Highway 61.  It then turns into scenic Mississippi Highway 310.

As we continue towards Oxford MS through the Delta we are riding through freshly planted Cotton and Rice fields.   The berms in the field the that hold the water over the rice look like a long black snakes that twitch in the glimmer of the broken sunlight.   In the Delta the land is flat; the dirt is black and fertile.   As we ride, we can see the Mississippi Hill country approaching, like a blanket it comforts us after leaving the Delta.  The twisting roads give us solace as we leave the delta behind.

 

Once reaching the Hill country we join up with Highway 278, its straight shot to Tupelo.  4 lanes of open road goodness, we now are averaging 70 miles an hours.   As we ride we are bathed in Southern Sunshine, for the first time in 2 days we are actually warm when we ride.  We stop in Tupelo for lunch at the Steeles Dive right before we hit the Natchez Trace.   Steels Dive what a great find for lunch they had a catfish buffet for lunch that hit the spot; a southern Meat and 2 sides delight.

After Lunch I put Helen Keller birthplace and childhood home into the GPS we will be there in 1 hour and 30 minutes.   We turn onto the Natchez Trace, we run into a small thunderstorm on the way having to stop and wait for the storm to pass.   We reach the US highway 72 that takes us the Muscle Shoals tri-city area.   We pull in to the Helen Keller house called Ivy Green at 3pm; the house closes at 4PM.

We are on the last tour of the day and it feels abbreviated but it does give us a good view of what happened there.  The well and pump is there where Helen Keller first learn to communicate by feel.  The cabin still stands where she was born.  Ivy Green used to be a 640 acre plantation that now consists of 17 acres of gardens and the plantation house itself.  Helen Keller’s father a civil war captain was instrumental in getting her the help she needed and the education she deserved.   It is a fabulous American Story.

After touring the grounds we head to the local Harley Shop so I can get a couple of T-Shirts and off to the hotel for the night.  As we turn down US Highway 43 we pass Fame Recording Studios our destination tomorrow.  Tomorrow we will see where this Muscle Shoals sound actually comes from.