Clarksdale · Stovall, Mississippi
Quick Change
I have lots of cool stuff to share about Memphis, but I like stories where things go sideways—so I have to share the latest.
We pulled into Clarksdale, Mississippi, eager to settle in and go out to hear some Delta blues at the crossroads.
Paula arranges all of our camping remotely, either in advance or on the road in real time. And she is fantastic at it. But sometimes circumstances conspire against you.
Turns out the ONLY campsite in Clarksdale is at the fairgrounds. That’s okay. But we pulled in around 4:30 p.m. to a pretty unsavory place: rundown slots next to a giant parking lot. Seems like all the other campers there are full-time. A lot of flat tires, grungy rigs.
Well, that’s fine. We just need a place to sleep, right?
We pick a spot and do our unhooking and leveling. As we do, a few heavily tinted vehicles drive in and gather a few spots down from us. Seems a few young gentlemen were having an odiferous safety meeting of sorts over there.
Well, um, okay, I guess. What do they care about us? Carry on!
Time to hook up to electric. I open the electrical panel lid and…
WASP NEST!
Really?
Quick thinking: I assemble my Starlink flagpole mount and flip the lid from ten feet away. Used the end of the pole to dislodge the nest and fling it away! Pretty slick, right? Got some bug spray and bleach and sprayed all around the panel. Wasps pretty much gone at that point.
So I plug in, and… no power. Ahem.
We pack up the rig, hook it up, and move across the way to a site where I test the electrical. Okay, power. So we reset the rig. In the distance I spot some of the residents and dogs milling around and, well, they look like what you’d expect. Didn’t see any Confederate flags but, well, you get it. So this whole thing was feeling sour.
Then the police cars whipped by in the parking lot in the distance.
OK! That would be the straw, the last.
Time for Plan B
Spoiler alert, we win! We found a Hipcamp ten miles away, and we are parked outside an old cotton gin on a farm. They use the land for events and music festivals and let rigs stay overnight.
It is super cool and unique, and no wasps or sketchy-looking squirrels so far. We are just a couple of miles from where Muddy Waters lived and was discovered, so it’s also historical.
A bit exhausted from unhooking and rejoining three times in “feels like 102 degrees” weather, but all good. This is just the way it goes sometimes.
More later on Memphis. Time to head into town for some Blues, Brews, and BBQ.
