Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome back to Exploring America. State by state, after the theme parks and tropical islands of Florida today we're heading into Mississippi, a state of Delta blues, riverboat history and a genuine Southern soul. Running through, every small town will pass along the way. Mississippi is known as the Magnolia State, named for the fragrant white blossoms that bloom across the region every spring and still show up on the state flag and quarter today.
[00:00:27] This is the birthplace of the blues, the childhood home of Elvis Presley, and a state carrying deep literary roots. Through writers like William Faulkner and Eudora Welty. Mississippi rewards travelers willing to slow down along the river, listen to the music and taste a culture built on genuine hospitality.
[00:00:47] The Natchez Trace Parkway runs its full length through Mississippi, a genuinely peaceful drive, free of billboards and commercial trucks, tracing an ancient trail used by Native Americans and early settlers alike for centuries. The Great River Road follows the Mississippi river itself, passing levees, farmland and historic river towns most travelers never expect to find this scenic Highway 61, often called the Blues highway, cuts straight through the Mississippi Delta, connecting the small towns where the blues genre was actually born a century ago.
[00:01:21] And Highway 90 along the Gulf coast offers open water views past Biloxi and Gulfport, with casinos and beaches lining the shore for miles. Clarksdale sits at the legendary crossroads where blues legend claims Robert Johnson made his midnight deal. And the town's juke joint still hosts live music most nights of the week. Windsor ruins a collection of towering columns, all that remains of a grand antebellum mansion lost to fire, stands eerily alone in a quiet field most visitors never expect to find. Wall Doxie State park offers a genuinely peaceful lake and forest setting in north Mississippi, far from the busier tourist routes most travelers stick to. Anne Rowan Oak, William Faulkner's home in Oxford preserves the writer's study exactly as he left it, with plot notes still scrawled on the walls in his own handwriting. Vicksburg National Military park preserves the site of a pivotal Civil War siege with monuments and preserved trenches spread across rolling hills above the Mississippi River. Natchez's antebellum homes, some of the best preserved in the entire south, offer guided tours through genuinely stunning historic architecture and grounds. Elvis Presley's birthplace in Tupelo lets visitors walk through the small two room house where the king of rock and roll spent his earliest years.
[00:02:41] Biloxi's Gulf coast casinos and beaches deliver a genuinely different kind of Mississippi experience, blending gaming with warm Gulf water just steps away. And the B.B. king Museum in Indianola traces the life of one of the blues greatest legends born right in the surrounding Delta cotton fields. A few things worth Biloxi's casino resort restaurants often charge premium prices for food you can find better and cheaper at local spots just outside the gaming floor. Natchez's antebellum home tour bundles sometimes include more houses than most visitors actually want to see in one day, so picking one or two favorites often makes more sense than the full package deal. And Clarksdale's blues clubs occasionally charge a cover that duplicates what a nearby venue offers for free on a quieter night, so ask locally which spots are worth the extra cost.
[00:03:35] Mississippi's major interstates, I55, I20 and I10 offer wide, well maintained routes connecting Jackson, the Delta and the Gulf coast comfortably for larger rigs. The Natchez Trace Parkway itself has a lower speed limit and bans commercial trucks, making it a genuinely pleasant, unhurried route for RVs specifically to enjoy.
[00:03:59] The Delta region is almost entirely flat, making it some of the easiest RV driving found anywhere on this entire trip.
[00:04:07] For paid camping, Tishomingo State park in the northeastern hills offers a scenic wooded campground near rock formations and hiking trails. Unlike anywhere else in the state, the Mississippi side of Gulf Island's national Seashore near Ocean Springs provides coastal camping close to the Gulf's warm water for free or low cost camping. The Homochito and Bienville national forests allow dispersed camping across large sections of public land.
[00:04:34] Genuinely generous free camping option, though specific rules vary by district and should be checked ahead of time. Biloxi and Gulfport's casino resorts offer full scale stays with gaming, spas and beachfront views built right in a completely different kind of Mississippi night. Natchez's antebellum bed and breakfasts, many housed in genuine pre Civil War mansions, offer a uniquely immersive historic stay.
[00:04:59] And Tupelo's hotels put you within easy reach of the Elvis Presley birthplace and the surrounding Natchez Trace corridor. Amtrak's City of New Orleans line stops in Jackson, connecting Mississippi to both Chicago and New Orleans along a single scenic route. Beyond that stop. Mississippi is largely a car dependent state, so a personal vehicle or RV is genuinely the most practical way to see it. Jackson has a limited local bus system covering the downtown core. For visitors basing themselves, there's Mississippi's food culture holds genuine regional pride from the Delta down to the coast, Delta hot tamales, a uniquely Mississippi tradition brought by early 20th century immigrant laborers, remain a beloved roadside specialty found almost nowhere else in the country in quite this form.
[00:05:49] Farm raised catfish With Mississippi producing more than any other state shows up fried at diners and family restaurants throughout the region.
[00:05:58] Mississippi Mud Pie, a rich chocolate dessert layered with ice cream and fudge, closes out meals across the state at nearly every diner. And Comeback Sauce, a tangy spiced condiment found on nearly everything from fried seafood to salads, is a genuine Mississippi original. Spend an evening in a real Clarksdale juke joint listening to live blues performed the same raw, unpolished way it has been for generations of musicians.
[00:06:25] Tour Natchez's antebellum mansions and imagine the complicated history behind their grand facades. Try your luck at a Biloxi casino before stepping outside to warm Gulf water. Just steps away from the gaming floor and follow the Delta Tamale Trail through small towns, sampling a genuinely unique regional food tradition most visitors never expect to find in Mississippi. Summer brings peak beach season to the Gulf coast, with warm water and casino nightlife running all season long without slowing down. The Delta gets genuinely hot and humid through summer, so morning blues club visits and afternoon indoor stops help balance the heat, and summer blues festivals across the Delta draw musicians and fans from around the world to celebrate the genre's birthplace. Mississippi runs genuinely affordable by national standards outside of the Gulf coast casino towns, which, with hearty meals often costing well under $15 and camping running 20 to $35 a night, the Gulf coast casino resorts run a bit higher during peak summer season, so budget accordingly if that's part of your trip. Overall, Mississippi delivers strong value for a state with this much music, history and food packed inside it. Cell coverage is strong along the interstates and throughout Jackson and the Gulf coast, with reliable signal for navigation and streaming in most populated areas of the state. Coverage drops noticeably in the more rural stretches of the Delta and the state's national forests, so download offline maps before heading into those quieter regions. That's Mississippi, a state holding Delta blues, riverboat history and genuine Southern soul all inside one deeply musical set of borders. Next time, heading into Illinois, a state stretching from Chicago's soaring skyline down through prairie farmland and historic river towns along the Mississippi. Pack the cooler and I'll see you there.
