Hanging with Buckeyes....

Been a pretty lazy week here in West Memphis.  Was warm through Thursday, then Friday it got really cold (for us).  Lows in the 30's all through next week.  Brrrrrr.

Last night, we ventured over to Dan McGuinness Irish Pub where the Memphis Chapter of the Ohio State Alumni gather for game watches.  Service sucked and the food was spicy, but the beers were cold, the TV's were on the game, and the people were great.  They were also all Buckeyes, which helps.

We try to always look for the Game watches where ever we are.   We struck out in Corpus Christi, but everywhere else, we've been able to find one (or two) places as options.  For us, it's a fun night out.

Was surprised by the interaction (or lack of it) at this particular meeting.  Wasn't a whole lot of "great to see you again", or "see you next weeks" involved.  Don't know if that's just because it's a very irregular crowd, a very transient crowd, or what.  I do know the couple we sat with (Bob and Linda) were wonderful to talk to over the course of the evening.

Buckeyes win.  Great time.  On to the week ahead.

Ducks and Ribs in one day....

Wow!  Two posts in two days!  Not sure we can keep up this pace.

As we mentioned yesterday, our friends Fred and Vickie had left Memphis, and there were a couple of things we were going to do together.  Bob is anal about planning.  Connie just wants to know what time the bus is leaving.  She'll be on it.  Fred and Vickie are on the loose plan which works great for them.

One thing we've learned by coming to an area and staying for a month (or longer!) is it's so easy to say we're going to do this, this, and this.  Then put it off.  Until you're at the end of your time and you haven't done nearly what you'd like to.  For us, if we don't allocate a day to do this, a day to do that, we have found that we don't get things done.

So, looking at our last two weeks in Memphis, it was time to start allocating days to hit our targets.  One was the Ducks at the Peabody Hotel, and this morning was a great fit.  Pretty fascinating story you can read here.

We got to the Hotel at 10:25a for the 11:00a parade.  Very well heeled crowd.  Hotel "bouncers" were very good to say that there's no standing in the lobby and since they do it every day, twice a day, had the routine down.  We had great seats, everything was very calm until the last second.  Then it was bedlam.

5 minutes prior to the ducks,
and you'll notice the chair
to our left is empty.

5 minutes before it started, a woman took the chair to our left and asks if we can still see.  We could.  Then her husband/boyfriend, we'll call him "Dick" comes rolling in and kneels right in front of us with this huge, telephoto lens.  "Now, we can't."  He slid a little over towards Mrs. Dick.  We knew this guy was going to be trouble.  Sure enough, the elevator door opens, and "Dick" goes all paparazzi on the ducks in front of us and 'boom', it's over.  It was a little underwhelming.

You can see our video here.

The hotel itself was wonderful.  It's the essence of modernizing something while maintaining it's beauty of the time period.  The lobby phones were rotary dial, circa the 30's.  There was a piano built specifically for Francis Scott Key.  The ballrooms were terrific.  Beautifully preserved, but yet 2012 functional.


After the Peabody, we headed off to find Memphis' best ribs at Charles Vergos' Rendezvous.  It had a 2nd street address, but was basically in the alley behind 2nd street and the Holiday Inn that faced the Peabody.  They weren't 'open', which meant they weren't serving a full menu.  But, you could get a large or small order of ribs, baked beans and slaw (like we've never had!).  It was terrific, and probably had 10-15 tables full (with many of the people we saw over at the Peabody.)  Top 5 for rib places for us (Maybe Connie's #1).

Two weeks in Memphis...

Been a lot going on, even though we haven't been notating it regularly here on the blog.

Love the Tom Sawyer's Mississippi River RV Park.  Nothing like walking to the benches and watching the barges go by.  Great to see how busy they are.  Rallies, groups, caravans.  They have been 70-80% full every day which is good to see.

Met our friends Fred and Vickie here, which is always a great time.  They had to leave early for home, but the time they spent with us here was magical for a couple of nomads like us.  We truly appreciate their friendship.

We've been over to Memphis a couple of times.  First went over to "see" Beale Street for the first weekend.  Great street atmosphere, Blues blaring from each happening joint.  Fascinating in one place where you can tell they weren't going to tear down an old building, so they supported the front of it with huge beams.  Really odd.

Second time over, we did the loop trolley and saw the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968. They've done a great job of recreating and restoring the old girl to looking like that fateful night.


As a college football fan, we couldn't pass up going to an Ole Miss home game and seeing the tailgating at "The Grove" plus a lunch at the Ajax Diner.  What a great atmosphere for college football.  10 acres of tents, scores of tailgaters, it was fantastic.  Oxford is such a great little college town, but The Grove has got to be at the top of your tailgating list.

Ryder Cup Over, Moving on to Memphis!

When we planned our cruise to Hawai'i for Bob's retirement, driving back from San Diego at it's conclusion was hard to believe "it's over."  Boom, just like that.  We had that same feeling driving back from Medinah Country Club after the Ryder Cup was over.  So much planning, time spent, etc.  Boom.  Just like that.  It's over.

Monday was a rest day, and day to enjoy the company of our parents.

Tuesday was our last day at Sycamore RV Resort.  We really enjoyed our 3 month stay.  Off by 10:00 a.m. and to Mahomet, IL for the evening and the Tin Cup RV Resort and a hammering of the Hometown Buffet in Champaign, IL.  We put a hurt to it.

Wednesday, we split with our parents in the morning (always sad) and headed towards Memphis, while they headed towards Wilmington, OH.  Pretty uneventful as we stopped mid afternoon in Benton, IL at the Benton KOA.

Thursday was our arrival mid afternoon at our home for the next month at Tom Sawyer's RV Park in West Memphis, AR.  Our site has a clear view of the river, but it's down so far, all you can see are the tops and flags of the barges moving up and down the river.  The Mississippi River is amazing.  We're sitting in a spot that 18 months ago was 12 feet under water.  Now, it's 6 feet below normal.  Sand bars are clearly visible where water should be.  Amazing.