Clarksdale: Crossroads

We made a stop for breakfast in Clarksdale - maybe the most famous place along Highway 61 in Mississippi. This is one of the places that claim to be where legendary blues player Robert Johnson "sold his soul" to the Devil, in return for mastery of the guitar. There are various, conflicting accounts of what supposedly happened, and nothing suggests that Johnson himself ever claimed to have had supernatural help to play the guitar. In other words, legend = bullshit.

This is the current intersection between Highways 61 and 49, but the old crossroads is a bit west of here, as we soon found out.


The crossroads is clearly marked...


The intersection.


This stretch of road north of Clarksdale is the longest in the world without any curves whatsoever. It goes straight on for 30 miles (48 km), and let me tell you, it is very easy to become oblivious to your speed here. Several times I caught myself cruising at 95 mph, instead of my usual 85 (the speed limit was 65, bah!).