We were both up early again this morning. Last night the
boat seemed to be running rough. I don’t think we slept as well as we have
been. We had the usual problems at breakfast, but everyone left the room full.
We tried to figure out how to fill out our lunch order forms since we are
hoping to have Delta tamales ashore. Since we don’t know if that will be
possible, we said we may or may not dine ashore and said maybe to hamburgers as
our choices. Before we boarded the bus this morning, Mom asked the guides about where to get tamales and they said that there would be a cart of them on the levee outside the boat when we got back at 11am.
Today we are in Greenville, MS all day. It is the first time
that ACL or Queen of the Mississippi has been here. It has been years since any river boat has gone
there. It is not right on the river, but up a channel. It is in the Yazoo
Mississippi River Delta, now known as the Delta. They were very excited to have
us. Lots of people, police, fire department, a blues band etc. turned out to
welcome us. They had a drone circling the boat taking video or photos. Then we
were our usual disorganized selves and nobody was coordinated with anyone else.
The buses were late leaving because we waited for the water to be loaded again. Then
it went right under the bus and no one got any anyway. Honestly, it shouldn’t
be that hard and it isn’t like they don’t know what to do, they do it almost
every day.
We got on the first bus. We went directly to the E. E. Bass Center which was an old school and saw and rode the 1901 Armitage Herschell Carousel. That was interesting and was not even listed on our tour description.
It had rocking horses! Then we drove to the Hebrew temple where we unloaded again and were served cold
drinks and given goodie bags. We sat in the sanctuary and a man spoke to us
about the temple. Then our guide told us to visit the Jewish museum down the hall or else the 1927 Flood Museum
next door and then make our way back to the bus. When we
got off the bus each time today, the guide never said what time to get back
onboard. When she told us to pick a museum and then make our way back to the
bus we did so with the idea that she was letting us know time was short and we
were to return at 11am. (Keep in mind that the guides had told Mom we'd be back to the boat by 11am.) We got back to the bus a bit after 11am and it was more
than half full. We kept seeing people walk past and sometimes they’d get on the
bus and others would turn the corner and never reappear. At about 11:45am, the
guide came on the bus (which had been idling with the AC running all along, so
it was the most comfortable place anyway) and asked what we were doing.
Waiting! She then said over and over that she had told everyone to be back onboard at
noon. There were some angry people but she kept insisting she had told everyone
noon. She didn’t. Some people got off and went to other nearby museums for a
quick look. We were back to the boat before 12:30pm. When we went in the puzzle
room, we found a stack of Delta Democrat-Times newspapers and on the front page
was a photo (which showed Mom & Clay on the 2nd deck on the front of Queen of the Mississippi) and an article about
our visit to Greenville. That was some quick turnaround on publishing!
I asked our guide about getting someone to drive us over to
Leland and back so we could see the birthplace of Kermit the Frog, the Highway
61 Blues Museum and the Blues Murals. She asked me how I knew about that. I told
her, well from the brochure I was handed as I walked off the boat. She offered
to do it if we would leave with her directly on our return and she could drop
us back at the boat at 1:30pm because she had an important prior appointment.
We wanted to eat tamales and spend more time since we are here until 7pm, so I
turned her down. She did not offer to find another driver and car for us. When
we got back I asked the tamale guy with Sho-Nuff and he said he had a helper coming
soon that would probably know someone for us. The tamale guy couldn’t get a
straight answer from anyone about where to set up his cart. He told us he would
set up nearer the gangway when his helper came, so we told him we’d be back
then. We went inside and used the restrooms and watched. His helper came and
they talked and then each got in their trucks and started to leave. I quickly headed
back out and up the levee and asked again if we could get tamales for lunch and
get someone to drive us to Leland. They said they weren’t sure, so I asked them
to just sell us tamales and we would go inside and have them for lunch and come
back out to find out about the ride. They finally decided to set up their canopy just beyond our gangway and we bought 2 dozen tamales and ate 6 each.
They were skinny little things tied in bundles of 6 each. They were beef and
good and spicy, but not too much. We all really liked them. It was better than a
hamburger! We took them to the game table in the puzzle room and got drinks
from the Paddlewheel Lounge and I went down to the dining room and got plates.
We told everyone we saw how good the tamales were and to go out and buy some.
They were 6 for $5 and 12 for $9. I think a lot of people did go out and buy tamales eventually. We saw Capt.
Hopkins and Chef James both buying some and we didn’t even tell either one of them. The tamale guys never were able to find anyone they would recommend to drive us to and from Leland.
After lunch, we went back outside to keep looking for a way
to Leland, MS. We are here for a long time. There is nothing we wanted to see in
walking distance and it is crazy hot here! So, no one really felt like walking anyway. Greenville, MS has no rental car companies
and no taxis. There is incredibly one limo in town and it took away the band from Memphis
that played onboard Queen of the Mississippi last night. The boat
offered a $30pp bus trip to Winterville Mounds State Park this afternoon, but after the fiascos
with the complimentary tours none of us are interested in paying ACL extra for a tour.
After asking everyone on the levee except law enforcement and the fishermen, we
finally got a volunteer. Wesley, the Greenville Tourism director, agreed to take us in his
family SUV. So we spent the afternoon driving through the fields of soybeans,
milo and rice to and from Leland. We saw Deer Creek and lots of ducks and geese
around the Birthplace of Kermit the Frog. We saw a few of the Blues Mural and
Blues Markers on the way to the Highway 61 Blues Museum. Wesley had called
ahead and Pat Thomas, the son of James “Son” Thomas was there to entertain us.
He played songs and signed Cathead Dominoes for us then offered to go outside
and have photos with his father’s historic marker.
Wesley also offered us a stop at the Montage Marketplace which was interesting but no one found anything to buy there, sadly because they were so excited that "boat people" had finally arrived. The people in Greenville really needed to think about providing some kind of free shuttle if they want cruise passengers to come to their businesses since there is no other way for us to get there. Wesley said we didn’t owe him anything for doing his job, but of course he had gone out of his way at some expense so we told him to take the cash and treat his wife to a meal out. We made the most we possibly could of our time here and I loved the Kermit stop! (I think we all would have preferred to get the originally scheduled overnight in Memphis though.)
Wesley also offered us a stop at the Montage Marketplace which was interesting but no one found anything to buy there, sadly because they were so excited that "boat people" had finally arrived. The people in Greenville really needed to think about providing some kind of free shuttle if they want cruise passengers to come to their businesses since there is no other way for us to get there. Wesley said we didn’t owe him anything for doing his job, but of course he had gone out of his way at some expense so we told him to take the cash and treat his wife to a meal out. We made the most we possibly could of our time here and I loved the Kermit stop! (I think we all would have preferred to get the originally scheduled overnight in Memphis though.)
Dinner tonight was first course of bleu cheese salad or blackened catfish gumbo. (The
blackened catfish gumbo was Clay’s favorite dish of last week and he thought
about ordering an entrée sized portion, but too many things have not tasted the
same from week to week to take a chance. It turned out to be as good, but he
didn’t have any catfish or okra in his cup, only broth and rice, so he was happy
to get another course!) Entrée was swordfish steak, Alfredo pasta or chicken
breast. Dessert was chocolate fudge cake or peach and blackberry cobbler or ice
cream.
During the sailing away back out of this side channel, Clay saw at least 5 river otters around the barges lining the shores. It was too dark for him to get any photos of them though. They are the only otters any of us spotted outside of aquariums!
Early to bed because everything is a half-hour earlier in
the morning. I am not sure why. Tomorrow is Vicksburg, but we are to be moored
in Vidalia, LA and shuttle to Vicksburg. I don’t know why.
Photos
Photos
