On Wednesday, June, 3, Ko Ko taylor passed away as a result of complications following an operation she had soon after performing and receiving an award at the Blues Awards ceremonies in Memphis in May. Here she is receiving her award just before her last performance of her staple song, "Wang, Dang Doodle".

On Thursday night, I saw Eden Brent and T-Model Ford performing just outside of the Walnut Street Blues Club at a kickoff to the weekend of blues in Greenville/Indianola/Leland, Mississippi. T-Model is one of the old favorites around the Delta region and Eden is a tremendous talent and just won one of the Blues Awards a few weeks ago in Memphis.

Saw two markers of great entertainers in Blues history. Charley Patton's final resting place and Jimmy Reed's birthplace. I was fortunate to see Jimmy perform twice in the late 60's and love his distinctive guitar and harmonica style. Some of Jimmy's best hits were: "Shame, Shame, Shame"; "Bright Lights, Big City"; "Goin To New York"; "Baby, What You Want Me To Do" and "Big Boss Man". Jimmy's marker is located about a mile down a dirt road in the now forgotten community of Dunleith, Mississippi. I played "Ain't That Lovin You Baby" as I paid my respects.

Barbeque Reviews---Continued

Junction, Texas – Cooper’s since 1953– No Website. Now, this is Texas BBQ. So, mostly beef brisket. I had the ribs and a brisket sandwich. This was good but, not as good as good ole pig BBQ. Rated 5.1 on a scale of 0-7.

Austin, Texas – Guero’s Taco Bar, since 1986 – www.guerostacobar.com. OK, I know this is not BBQ but, both my daughters and one son-in-law went to Baylor University just up the road in Waco, and spent many hours, days and nights in Austin eating tacos, chips and salsa. No beer, I’m sure. So, as a tribute to them, I forced myself to partake of this excellent food. I had a tamale, one chicken taco and one steak taco. Guero’s food and atmostphere is excellent and gives good meaning to the term “ TexMex”. Rated a 6.1 on scale of 0-7.

Willie Nelson got it right. There's nothing quite like Luckenbach, Texas

Bank of Fredericksburg, Texas and other 1890 buildings

Monument Valley at various times

Some of the beauty of Monument Valley

Just outside of the Painted Desert we met Dan Stafford who was on his first leg of a ride to the four corners of the US. He is writing articles for Motorcyclist Magazine and Back Roads Magazine. We will look for his articles in last quarter of 09 and first quarter of 10. Best wishes to Dan.

Painted Desert beauty

Another shot at Canyon de Chelly

A beautiful shot at Canyon de Chelly

First, I must apoligize for not posting to the blog in more than a week. Internet service is poor at best in many of the places where I had time for an update. Won't happen again, I hope.

Phoenix, AZ – “Biker Chick” Patty came out and rode with me for a few days to see the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley and Sedona. In addition to the incredible sights and scenes, we were able to give Patty firsthand experience riding through rain, high winds, a sand storm, and a threat of pestilence from a truck load of tourists. Fortunately, we did not encounter locusts or great fires on Patty’s leg of the Cruise.

Bapchule, AZ - Jim and I spent a good part of Friday morning at St Peter Indian Mission School which serves the Gila River Indian Community. Jim has helped out this worthy school over the years and recently installed a new Sport Court. Sister Martha Mary Carpenter heads a dedicated staff and runs the school. As a result of Sister Martha’s regimen of exercise and diet this school is the only diabetes free school in the district. Here one of the sisters is preparing to hang a watercolor Jim painted of the school’s chapel.

Phoenix, AZ – Jim and Mary Alice Fox’s home. Jim and I got through with our swing through northern New Mexico and a small part of Arizona on Tuesday with an early run down from Flagstaff before the temp got to 105. We hung out at one of the Fox pools with Jim’s son, Jimmy and Jimmy’s son Jamison. Staying in the area for a few days of rest and change of oil, etc for the bike. Also, a photo of Jim’s oldest son, Mike, wife Phoebe and their boys, Aidan, Caleb & Asher .

Flagstaff AZ – Stayed here after traveling from Farmington, NM on Tuesday with a stop at Meteor Crater west of Winslow, AZ. This was the first known meteor crater in North America. Then, dinner in Flagstaff, AZ with a nice couple (Seth and Kande Jocobson) who own an artificial turf contracting company in Flagstaff and do work for Jim in this area. More important for me is their passion for motorcycles. Both are still young enough to be charged up for dirt bike racing in Baja Mexico and all around Arizona where crashing is more or less SOP.

Cammie Foster who, with her Mother and sister, runs Foster's Hotel and Saloon in Chama, NM.

Here is Barbara Reiss who is the extraordinary White Rock, NM Visitors Information Officer. Barbara "Browbeat" and "Scolded" us into going back to the area a second day in order to see the Valle Caldera and Banderier National Park Indian cliff dwellings. Thanks Barbara!

Other bikers Jim and I met at the Valle Caldera, the second largest known volcanic caldera formed by an eruption estimated to have been 600 times as large as Mt St Helen's.

Jim and I met this dedicated bicyclist named John who said he was just pedaling from California to Kentucky. He had stopped me here at the top of the Tusas Mountain to ask me what the altitude was. I said that I thought it was about 10,000 - 11,000 feet and he then said that he thought it felt like more than 11,000 feet and then continued on his journey. Later we found that the mountain is listed as 11,402 feet. We are on a cruise while John is on a real journey. By the way, John looked a little "wild eyed".