Stop #1: Walkin’ in Memphis

Our trip commenced later than planned after stopping at the post office, bank, and gas station but we managed to mosey on our of town around 11:15am with lunch in hand (mouth?) and our eyes on the horizon. The kids quickly turned their eyes to the borrowed DVD player with accompanying headphones and we weren’t sad when we realized that while they enjoyed their movie at comfortable volumes, we enjoyed comfortable silence. Best. Invention. Ever.

Our first stop was Memphis, about an 8-hour trek. As we approached Nashville, our original first stop, we decided to duck into town and drive through Honky Tonk Highway just for a quick taste of the city. It sure was hopping with lots of people and fun music. Andy wants to go back to visit Nashville as a separate trip.

We soldiered on to Memphis and traded drivers so Andy could work. He’s going to be working most days while we drive, a benefit of of his type of self-employment. The kids swam in the pool until we were all tired and ready for an early (for us) bedtime, knowing morning would come early.

For what is probably the first time in our entire lives, we went to 7:30AM (like, in the morning) Mass at Holy Rosary Church in Memphis. And...we were 5 minutes early. If I wasn’t there to witness it, I wouldn’t believe it myself. The church was Beautiful and the people were very kind, So I’m asking if we were visitors and others commenting in the parking lot about our beautiful children. It was a perfect and well-timed homily from a priest who mentioned at the end of the mass that he is being relocated to a different parish. The lector had a great voice and I wondered if she works in radio. If not, she missed her calling.

After eating breakfast at the hotel and checking out, we headed to the Lorraine Motel, the site of Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s assassination in 1968. The hotel has since been turned into a museum, and for several reasons, both political and personal, we did not go in. But just visiting this sacred space and to imagine the chaos, loss, and trauma that happened there was moving. I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to visit here and from my conversations with others in town doing the same thing, I wasn’t alone.

To lighten the mood, we realized we were thiiiiiiis close to Mississippi, a state not originally on our vacation plan so we decided to detour about 20 minutes south to pop over the border to cross this place off the list. I am on a mission to find a bumper sticker from each of our locations so we stopped at an exit to look for one. The exit we took was the exit for Graceland so we haaaaad to take a peek at Elvis’s house. It was pretty far back off the road but the grounds were stunning and there were signatures from all over the world on the front stone wall.

We did make our way to a small town just over the Mississippi border and had lunch in a little park. The breeze was nice and the geese were certainly plentiful in both number and attitudes so that was nice. After lunch we packed up and headed toward Murfreesboro, AR. We’re here now at a really cool place and that post is for tomorrow. I’ll only say that I’ve seen more turtles crossing the road than I’ve seen hotels, so....