Oxford to Greenville, MS to Monroe, LA - Day 18

Today in Oxford, MS, we walked to the courthouse square, had lunch, and spent time at the well known store "Square Books". The store is a classic bookstore in an old building that specializes in Mississippi culture and literature, but has everything. Our lunch was at the well known John Currence restaurant, City Grocery. Lunch was great. Our evening goal was dinner at Doe's Eat Place in Greenville, MS and on the way there we passed through Clarksdale and other small towns on the Blues Trail in the Mississippi River Delta. Many well known southern blues musicians came from this area and there are blues clubs, museums, etc. commemorating this. Doe's Eat Place is well known for big oven broiled steaks and Delta Hot Tamales. Marybeth grew up in Greenville and knows the family that has always run Doe's. After our Doe's dinner, we drove on to Monroe, LA to be in position to get home tomorrow at a decent hour.

Square Books. All those pink slips say "Signed". I think all authors must feel it is important to get to this bookstore.

Square Books upstairs coffee & snack bar.

Oxford was William Faulkner's home for most of his life, and this bookstore has him covered.

The bathroom doors at our hotel, "The Graduate", a new college oriented chain. It was decorated in an Ole Miss decor.

Shrimp & grits from City Grocery.

Rain on the square in Oxford. These are the first rain drops that fell on us since Day 3. We had two rains while we slept on other days. The heat and humidity was also back after so many nice days.

All that remains after the fireworks are gone.  July 11.

Rural Mississippi.Rural Mississippi.

The following five photos are blues related places in Clarksdale, MS.

Blues Alley.  Morgan Freeman is a co-owner of this place.

The following six photos are from Doe's Eat Place in Greenville, MS.

You enter Doe's through the kitchen, first through the large ovens that broil the steaks.

Next you pass or may sit next to the area where salads are made, and homemade french fries are cooked. Olive oil salad dressing is kept in ketchup bottles.

Delta Hot Tamales are a variation of the Mexican tamales we are used to in Texas.

You could say that Doe's is rustic.

Dishes are washed in this area too. There is no dishwashing machine. They are done with a sink and human hands.