"DRIVE ON, SHE SAYS" VOL. 9

Hey, how about some more ScavenTour?

Let's talk about Jackson, another city along the way of ScavenTour where I simply couldn't resist selecting more than one ScavenTour winner.

To begin, Jackson is pretty, and it's prettier when you crank Johnny & June as you roll into town and sing at the top of your lungs. I set out to meet up with book publicist extraordinaire and aficionado of the delightfully dark and offbeat, Matt Staggs and his super cool wife, Meg Pearson. They showed me a bit of Jackson, and treated me to a delicious dinner at the lovely cafe below the Lemuria Bookstore, and I had the best time chatting with them about books, Troma, horror films, books, books, books, the south, the north, stupidity, snarks, books, publishing, books, writing, Twitter and the like. These two are the bees knees if you ask me.

But, also while I was in Jackson, I took some photos!

The divine Miss Quoted thought it might be fun to see me hard at work on my next novel on the steps outside the Eudora Welty house. Here's as close as I could get. I can't very well type and photograph at once. I took this one, and then thought perhaps I could whip out my laptop and go photograph it sitting open near the front door. I turned to do as much, and a car whipped past and issued an invitation to my rear-end as it hung out of the trunk of the car. I moved on, but let's welcome Miss Quoted back into the ScavenTour winners' circle.

Friend-of-Bigmouth, Louis Green, suggested I visit the Governor's Mansion in Jackson. Done! In fact, it's where I met up with Matt Staggs. I also watched a man walking five dogs nearby flick a cigarette butt and a dog turd through the fence and onto the lawn. Maybe Gov. Barbour isn't everyone's favorite. Fair enough. I can't say I know much about the guy, other than the fact that he has a ciggy butt and a dog turd on his lawn. In any case, big round of applause for Louis Green, in the ScavenTour winners' circle.

HellaSound.com's John Frenette asked me to stage a "NOLA or Bust" sort of hitchhiker photo on the side of I-55, the highway which stretches from New Orleans, north through Jackson, and alllll the way up to Chicago. The Chi-Nola Express, if you will. Anyway, I'm one arm short of being able to hold a sign, photograph myself and thumb for a ride, so this will have to do. In any case, please welcome HellaSound.com's John Frenette back yet another time as a ScavenTour winner!

Another friend-of-Bigmouth, Gruven Reuven, wanted me to visit Congregation Beth Israel, the only synagogue in Jackson. Surely that can't be right, right? Nope, it's true. Not even Chabad is there, shockingly enough. Congregation Beth Israel is the only one. I was there late on a Friday afternoon and the place was deserted, unfortunately. Everyone must have gone over to the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience. A place I certainly want to visit on my next trek through Jackson. So, let's go ahead and welcome Gruven Reuven back into the ScavenTour winners' circle again, too!

Missed the previous ScavenTour winners? Read about Oklahoma City here, and the wildcard category here.