Sitting in limbo

​Day 5: Tulsa, OK to Hot Springs, AR

I wish we could have spent another full day in Tulsa (who knew it was such a cultural mecca?!), but at least got to spend the morning exploring a bit more before pressing on. Brunch was a 'bang-bang' (hitting two restaurants right after another) - first fueling up at Tally's Cafe (another yummy Route 66-inspired diner), followed by a sweet bite at Savoy, a Tulsa institution (est. 1918, known especially for their cinnamon rolls). Well sated, the last stop in Tulsa was a visit to the very heavy (but extremely well-curated) Greenwood Rising - a living history museum dedicated to memorializing and processing the aftermath of the horrific 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. 

For those who may be unfamiliar, the historic Greenwood District of Tulsa (also known colloquially as 'Black Wall Street') became one of the wealthiest Black communities in the U.S. during the early 20th century, which of course upset white supremacists/business owners quite a bit. Racial tensions grew to a boiling point by the early 1920s, and culminated catastrophically on Memorial Day, 1921. Dick Rowland, a 19-year old Black male shoeshiner, entered an office building to use the segregated restroom on the top floor, as he was not allowed to use the restroom in a different office building where he worked. While the exact details of what occurred next cannot be verified, the most accepted version of events is that Rowland entered the elevator, tripped, and grabbed what was nearest to stabilize himself, which happened to be the arm of the 21 year old white female elevator operator, Sarah Page. Page screamed and ran out of the elevator, which another white clerk on the floor assumed to be an incident of attempted assault, and called the police. Local officials at the time did not believe these charges were credible; Sarah Page did not ultimately press charges, and the case against Rowland was ultimately dismissed. However, in classic yellow journalism fashion, the Tulsa Tribune ran with the assault narrative, and snowballing misinformation led to an altercation between an angry white mob and concerned Black citizens outside of the courthouse where Rowland was being held...which led the white mob to chase Black Tulsans into Greenwood, ultimately inciting one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history. White supremacist terrorists took to the streets and burned the vast majority of Black Wall Street to the ground, killing dozens and injuring hundreds of people, displacing thousands, and causing $2.25 million in damages (equivalent to over $40 million in today's dollars). Black residents were wrongfully blamed by local officials for the massacre, and denied any sort of reparations. The massacre was covered up by local/state government and omitted from textbooks for decades, simply referred to as the "Tulsa Race Riot," if it was mentioned at all.  The massacre did not even officially become part of the Oklahoma school curriculum until 2020. It is deeply painful to revisit this history and witness our country's civil rights plummet further and further on a daily basis; however, I think it is paramount (for white people, first and foremost) to understand and reckon with our role in this continued violent legacy, and ensure we are doing everything in our power to chart a more equitable path forward. 

​As our direction shifted southeast, it was sad to wave goodbye to Route 66 for the remainder of the trip, but I feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to travel well over half of the Mother Road during her 100th birthday year. The consolation prize was finally getting to visit Hot Springs, AR, which we had to skip on an earlier April 2025 trip due to severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings. Luckily, the weather cooperated this time as we left the freeway behind in favor of the beautiful and winding roads of the Ouachita Mountains and National Forest.

Hot Springs is definitely one of the most uniquely weird and interesting places we've visited! It is of course known as a wellness hub for its namesake thermal hot springs (with supposed healing properties) and historic bathhouses, which have drawn throngs of tourists since the 1800s. Thankfully, the area is now protected and managed by the National Park Service as Hot Springs National Park. You may not have known that Hot Springs was also the birthplace of Major League Baseball spring training, President Bill Clinton, and the Assemblies of God church...along with being a gambling mecca and favorite vacation spot of Mafiosos from the 1880s-1940s. While the natural surroundings here are really lovely, there are some bizarre vibes in Hot Springs, for sure. The fascinating dichotomy of seedy history juxtaposed to the pervasive presence of 'woo-woo' wellness culture parallels a bit too closely to our current 'MAHA' nightmare, for my taste...but it's still a fun place to visit. 

First up was the Ohio Club, the oldest bar in Arkansas (est. 1905) and one of the oldest establishments we visited on this trip, period! Many baseball and Mafia legends ate here, including Babe Ruth, Bugs Moran, Bugsy Siegel, and Al Capone, and Mae West even performed here back in the day. My experience was less than ideal (the AC was absolutely frigid and the burger was very salty...), but the vibe in the bar was lowkey and pleasant - I'd definitely return for a drink. 

Since the hot springs are federally protected, you cannot soak in the springs directly - but a number of bathhouses that pipe the water directly from the hot springs exist along the main drag (Central Ave), called 'Bathhouse Row.' This area was developed between 1892-1923, and includes the largest collection of early 20th-century bathhouses in the US. Only two bathhouses have stayed open for their original use, but the remaining buildings have been preserved and repurposed by the NPS for educational and National Park use. Many of the bathhouses are quite ornate and architecturally very impressive. While it was too late in the day to visit a bathhouse, we had a pleasant stroll along Bathhouse Row after dinner, and planned to try to get in the following day for a quick soak before hitting the road. We also had to stop in at the crown jewel of Hot Springs - the Arlington Hotel. It was a bit out of budget to stay the night for this trip...but some of the rooms have the option to pump the thermal hot springs directly into your room's bathtub, so I would absolutely try to stay there if I ever return. First opened in 1875, and rebuilt twice since then, this storied hotel is exquisite, and immediately gives major "Shining" vibes as soon as you walk in. Many famous figures have stayed at the Arlington over the past 150 years, including U.S. presidents, MLB players, gangsters, performers, and more...but the most storied ghost is Al Capone, who supposedly haunts the 4th floor...guests have frequently cited the unexplained smell of fresh cigar smoke in his favorite room (443)! After a nightcap at the hotel bar, we retired for the evening to our much more modest accommodations. 

Day ​6: Hot Springs, AR to Tupelo, MS

Determined ​to make the most of our last few hours in Hot Springs, we woke up with a start and booked it to The Pancake Shop (which is probably the most popular breakfast spot in town), and had arguably some of the best food of the trip. Open since 1940, everything is either homemade or locally sourced, and was absolutely delicious. The final quest was to try to fit in a quick soak at one of the bathhouses...we opted for the Quapaw Baths, which luckily had availability, and had a brief but pleasant soak in four of their pools. For those who have visited a Korean spa before, the experience is very similar to that, without the required nudity...which may or may not be a plus, depending on your preferences ;-)

We spent the majority of the rest of the day winding along fairly rural roads in Arkansas and Mississippi, with one critical stop in Clarksdale, MS, which is a major hub for the Blues. As the blues form the bedrock of the majority of American popular music (20th cent. and beyond), it's very important for every music lover to have at least a cursory appreciation for the art form and the basics of blues history. 

Music nerds may also know that the Crossroads (where US 61 and 49 meet) is the famed intersection where the legendary Blues musician Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his blues "chops" (technical mastery and musical prowess). Highway 61, which runs from Louisiana to Minnesota, is often referred to as the "Blues Highway" for its significance to blues history and spreading its popularity from the southern U.S. to the north (Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited is a tribute to this road, as well).  The area was the birthplace of many well-known musicians, such as Sam Cooke, Muddy Waters, Ike Turner, Son House, and John Lee Hooker (to name a few), and is also the home of the excellent Delta Blues Museum, which we had just enough time to tour before it closed for the day. We were both huge fans of the 2025 blockbuster hit Sinners (which, if you haven't seen it, pays great homage to Blues culture), and were very bummed that we didn't have time to visit one of the local juke joints...but it was a nice consolation to learn through the museum that the Sinners production team treated the residents of Clarksdale to a special free screening of the film at the local civic auditorium!

​On the way out of town, it turns out that the Crossroads intersection is located directly in front of Abe's BBQ (a local institution that has been serving top shelf barbecue and hot tamales since 1924), so we were able to have some delicious food and pay our respects to the Crossroads before heading to our destination for the night - Tupelo, MS. 

Day 7: Tupelo, MS to Atlanta, GA

We've arrived at the final day of this whirlwind cross-county trip - bittersweet for sure, but I'm consistently proud and perplexed by how much we're able to accomplish in a short amount of time. Our stop in Tupelo was of course for one reason - to visit the birthplace of the King! While Graceland is certainly a flashier and more extensive/expensive/crowded/over the top tourist destination (which we covered in April 2025)...the Elvis Birthplace and Museum is more subdued, and caters to the more hardcore fan base. If you've got to pick just one, go with Graceland, but serious Elvis fans will find a lot to appreciate about visiting his humble origins. Visitors have the option to see three different attractions - a small museum, the house where Elvis was born, and the church that Elvis grew up in. You can pay for all of these attractions, or just pick and choose. You may or may not know that Elvis grew up on the "wrong side of the tracks" in Tupelo. After he acquired fame, Elvis purchased the land surrounding his former home and donated it to the city of Tupelo, on the condition that the city provide a youth center that would cater to the local neighborhood kids. While the youth center no longer exists, the "early Elvis" compound survives. We didn't have a whole lot of time to spend here, but of all the attractions, I surprisingly enjoyed the presentation inside of his childhood church the most. Afterward, we had to grab a bite at Elvis's favorite local eatery, Johnnie's Drive-In (est. 1945) - his order was a cheeseburger and an RC cola, so we had the same. It has a ton of great vintage memorabilia, and is cash-only, but the staff is extremely friendly, and it's SUPER cheap (two meals for $13 is practically unheard of these days). 

For real Elvis heads, there is a map available at the museum with dozens of important 'sites' you can visit from his life in Tupelo.. We only had half an hour or so to explore downtown Tupelo, but found some lovely public art, and saw the outside of Tupelo Hardware, which is where Elvis notably acquired his first guitar. Then it was off to Alabama for a busy afternoon!

Our penultimate planned stop was "The Shoals" of northwestern Alabama, which encompasses the quad-city area of Florence, Sheffield, Muscle Shoals, and Tuscumbia, along the Tennessee River. While all of the musical destinations on this trip were fantastic...Muscle Shoals might be the place I was the most excited to visit, because SO much spectacular music was recorded in various studios throughout this region, especially in the 60's and 70's.  I won't go into too much depth here, but if you're curious about this long history of the countless rock, soul, and R&B hits that were recorded here, the Muscle Shoals documentary (2013) is an excellent overview that includes the backstory of the producers and studio musicians who cultivated this legacy and put this place on the map. There are still 15 professional operating studios in the Shoals, and we were fortunate enough to visit the two studios who arguably played the biggest role in shaping the "Muscle Shoals sound." 

FAME Studios opened in 1959, and was founded/run by producer Rick Hall. The studio began rolling out hits in the early 60's, and basically didn't stop. While Hall was usually listed as producer, the session musicians (known as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section) were the real workhorses primarily responsible for crafting the signature "Muscle Shoals sound." It's my understanding that they were able to capture this soulful, expressive, "down-home Southern" musical foundation by EQing the bass/drums to significantly boost the low end. But the real magic was the session players' ability to hear a song once, put together an arrangement very quickly, and then record the whole song in 1-2 takes (usually 15-20 minutes flat). This hallmark "swampy" sound earned the rhythm section the nickname "The Swampers" (forever memorialized in a lyric of a song I dislike, and won't be mentioning, but you definitely know it...). While at FAME, the Swampers recorded career-catapulting hits for Aretha Franklin ("I've Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You"), Etta James ("Tell Mama"), Wilson Pickett ("Land of 1000 Dances," "Mustang Sally"), and plenty of others. It's still an active recording studio today. 

​In 1969, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, Jimmy Johnson, and David Hood) decided it was time for the Swampers to branch off from FAME and start their own studio. For the next 10 years, the Swampers' own Muscle Shoals Sound Studio (3614 Jackson Highway) churned out hits for the Rolling Stones ("Brown Sugar," "Wild Horses"), the Staple Singers ("I'll Take You There"), Paul Simon ("Kodachrome"), Bob Seger ("Old Time Rock and Roll"), and so many others. The group moved to a much larger studio space in 1979, and the original building fell into other hands for several decades. After the 2013 documentary came out, interest grew in restoring the 3614 Jackson Highway to its former glory, and in 2017, the Muscle Shoals Music Foundation acquired and reopened the studio as both a tourist attraction (during the day) and working studio (at night). Much of the equipment remains the same, and it was extremely special to have the opportunity to hear this classic music in the space where it was recorded. 

Aside from its extraordinary musical legacy, there are SO many other attractions we wanted to explore in The Shoals, but sadly did not have the time :-( I was grateful we could at least stop by one of the oldest businesses in the area, Trowbridges (est. 1918), for some of their famous orange-pineapple ice cream (NOT sherbet) and a pimento cheese sandwich. I also discovered AFTER the fact that you can actually get an all-inclusive pass to see basically all of these attractions (including the studios) for as little as $40 (hire me, Alabama Tourism Board!!!). Other places I'd love to get to another time: 

- Alabama Music Hall of Fame
- Florence Indian Mound
- Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum House
- Helen Keller Birthplace (and the famous water well)
- W.C. Handy Home and Museum (we did get to see the outside)

We still had a few hours' drive to get to Atlanta, so we didn't make many additional stops, except for dinner at Golden Rule BBQ in Irondale, AL. Open since 1891, it's one of the oldest BBQ joints in the U.S.! I am not sure if it was because they were just about to close, or I just ordered poorly, but sadly my BBQ baked potato was pretty lackluster....Alex enjoyed his ribs, though. Just before midnight, after about 2,400 miles, we finally reached our final destination (my sister's house in Decatur), not too much worse for wear! I hope to keep blogging about my time here in Atlanta (and elsewhere), so stay tuned!

On a closing note...a song I've listened to and thought about quite a lot since the trip is one of my very favorite tracks ever recorded in Muscle Shoals - Jimmy Cliff's "Sitting in Limbo." I first encountered it on the soundtrack of The Harder They Come - a 1972 Jamaican film (starring Jimmy Cliff) that is widely credited for "bringing reggae to the world." While it is a crime film that takes on a rather dark tone much of the time, the scene in the film that uses this song takes place in the ocean, and is quite a serene and spiritual moment. I thought it was an interesting parallel with the water that also surrounds Muscle Shoals, which seems to play some kind of cosmic role in inspiring such a great wealth of music. In the documentary, Bono claims "the music comes from the mud."

For the past year, I have been sitting in my own sort of limbo, trudging through the "mud" of figuring out which direction I'm going in, what to do with my life, who to share it with, and where I belong. As someone who is prone to depression, this is an especially difficult way to move through the world. I'm trying my best to soldier through these incredibly trying times (for everyone) in one piece, but many days it's a struggle. Hope isn't lost, but the best path forward is frustratingly opaque. While I can't pretend to have come to any great conclusions, I have found such resonance with this song..although, unlike Jimmy, I still believe that love and friendship are the two things that keep me going...and personally, any remaining 'faith' I have comes from that :-) 

"Sitting here in limbo
But I know it won't be long
Sitting here in limbo
Like a bird without a song
Well, they're
Putting up resistance
But I know that my faith
Will lead me on

Sitting here in limbo
Waiting for the dice to roll
Sitting here in limbo
Got some time to search my soul
Well, they're
Putting up resistance
But I know that my faith
Will lead me on

I don't know where life will lead me
But I know where I've been
I can't say what life will show me
But I know what I've seen
Tried my hand
At love and friendship
But all that is passed and gone
This little boy is moving on

Sitting here in limbo
Waiting for the tide to flow
Sitting here in limbo
Knowing that I have to go
Well, they're
Putting up resistance
But I know that my faith
Will lead me on..."