September 13th -Macon

Slept well last night. Drove down to Macon, home of the Allman Brothers and Otis Redding. Headed south down I-75, but then an alternative route was suggested by the satnav due to a serious crash further on. So I left at junction 212 and stopped for petrol at Locust Grove. On the way out from paying I attempted to unlock the wrong car ! Well it was black just like mine - fortunately I realised before anyone thought I was a potential car thief. There was a long traffic jam through Jackson, but it was fascinating to see something of small-town Georgia. I continued south down Highway 23, a long, straight road which the Romans could have built. I eventually rejoined the I-75 just outside Macon and arrived in the area I was seeking just before 13:00.

First priority was lunch (chicken caesar), and then I went in search of the Allman Brothers museum. I had trouble finding it as there was no sign outside, but I parked in a side street and found it eventually. The museum is in the house where the group lived, and it was very sad to see the two bedrooms of the members who died in the early seventies (Duane Allman and bassist Berry Oakley). The style of the living quarters upstairs was very hippy-ish, with elaborately-patterned bed covers, bongoes, and tapestries. It was very tidy and I suspect was designed and maintained by the group's wives and girlfriends. The music room had a huge turntable, speakers, and bongoes in it. A lot of amazing music was conceived here - songs like "Midnight Rider", "Blue Sky", and "Elizabeth Reed".

I bought a couple of CDs and a T-shirt, then left for Atlanta. I didn't have a chance to look round Macon, since I'd arrived late and wanted to get back before the height of the rush-hour traffic. As it happens the drive back was easy and maybe I could have stayed longer, but had I stayed an extra half-hour I might have been caught in a snarl-up. The heat in Macon was hyper-intense; there's a bit of  breeze back here in Atlanta which makes it bearable.

As for music, I played the first two Allmans albums on the way, and enjoyed the bluesy tone, jazzy rhythms, and astonishingly fluid guitar playing. Then I heard two Lynyrd Skynyrd albums and admired Ronnie Van Zant's gritty vocals and tough workingman's lyrics. Another tragic southern band, of course, with most of the members killed in a plane crash in 1977. On the way back I heard the Allmans' classic "Live at the Fillmore East" album, which is a dream for anyone who loves great guitar-playing and skilled musicianship. They really don't make albums like this now - far too musical for the attention-deficit generation.

Tomorrow I leave Atlanta to fly to Minneapolis. I've loved being in Georgia - the countryside is varied, Atlanta itself is thrilling, the people very friendly (when they can understand me !), and the women are gorgeous. I am looking forward, though, to getting out of the humidity. Minnesota is Dylan country, so loads to explore there !