there's no place like home?

We woke up and lingered in our luxurious bed in our comfy little suite. I told Lindy I wanted to live here but we knew we had a drive ahead of us so we got going. The breakfast at the Hampton was included and it was pretty good. They had great waffles, decent biscuits and much better gravy than what we had in Memphis. 580 miles is a long way to go in a day. We left about 10 and drove, stopping every couple hours for water and potty breaks. Traffic was pretty good, but we kept getting road construction. We had gotten a gift card from Crapplebies and decided to use it in Dubuque to eat supper. We thought maybe the one in Eau Claire was just atypically bad. Well, it wasn't, but at least we didn't have to pay. We kept on chugging on. Lindy made it through Potosi without getting a speeding ticket and we kept on going north. Every damn road in Wisconsin had road construction. I guess that's where our cut in pay went. I joked about stopping at the casino in Black River Falls, but she would have none of that. We finally made it home at 9, only 11 hours after leaving St. Louis. With Lindy promising me not to start wash until tomorrow we crawled into bed and slumbered off to dreamland. We were glad to be home, but we have many great memories of our last vacation of the summer and, who knows, the last one we'll be able to afford. She refused to get on the scale the next day, but I had to face reality. I was only up 4.4 pounds. The good thing I was down 3.8 the next day. Well, there it is, the last travel blog of the year. I hope you enjoyed it and thanks for your patience in my getting this on. Ta!

Day 5: meet me in St. Louis, Lindy

Tuesday, August 23 found us bidding farewell to our beloved Memphis with the promise that we would be back. After finally deciding on where to stay, we set our gps to St. Louis. It wasn't too far away, but if we wanted to get home the next day, we have a long drive home. We thought about taking an slow route, but in the end opted for the freeway. But before we left Memphis, we had to eat one last time! We went to the Blue Plate Cafe which was another highly recommended place. It is actually inside a redone house and decorated in kinda Southern French. The biscuits were better than the day before and so was the gravy. I had an omelet which was very good. Lindy had banana pancakes with peanut butter syrup which was kinda strange. It was chunky peanut butter and syrup but the waitress brought it in a styrofoam cup and hadn't stirred it, so the peanut butter was in a glop on the top. Once I realized it had to be stirred, she said it was a little better. My review matches most of the reviews I have read for this place. The food was pretty good but the service was not great. I don't want to sound racist, but all the waitresses were white and it seemed like the kind of place that you wouldn't see too many African Americans if you get my drift. This was just my impression. It was really the first place in Memphis that I had the same sense that you get further down south of the separation that still exists.

We made our way to St. Louis to the Hampton Inn just south of the downtown area. It had just opened in the last year and was very nice. The person at the desk offered to show us the different rooms available and we found out that she was the mother of 5 children who had just recently re-entered the work force. She was so helpful. We thought she was a college girl. We decided on the King suite.

The desk was in the middle of the room. it was a welcome respite from the tiny Four Points rooms we had stayed at the last 4 nights.

We actually had two separate bathroom areas.

Eschewing all of the gourmet spots available in St. Louis we headed to Steak and Shake . It is one of Lindy's favorite chain restaurants. We then decided to head downtown to the Lumiere casino but on the way saw signs for the Rivercity casino so we followed the signs. It was a very nice looking casino, but we didn't have much luck there so decided to keep heading downtown. Once we got there, a ball game was going on but we were able to find a good parking spot in the casino lot. I still wasn't doing good, but  Lindy started playing a game called Mr Woo and started winning!

I was still losing so I tried the very last Mr Woo game in the row and then I hit!

We decided to cash in and take our money and run for once and headed back to our hotel. We had a long trip home ahead of us.

Day 4: Exploring Memphis

I was so glad we had decided to stay an extra day because today was a day to just explore the city. We only had one set agenda for the which I will talk about later. Our first stop was breakfast at Bryants Breakfast.

They were supposed to be the best breakfast in town with the best biscuits. We both got omelets and they came with three huge biscuits and grits and gravy. The omelets were very good. I thought the biscuits were kinda heavy but the prepackaged peach preserves were pretty tasty. I'm not a grits fan, but Lindy liked them. The gravy was downright nasty.

You order up at the window and then the waitress brings the food to you. It had a diner-like atmosphere to it. Next, we headed north out of Memphis to go to Mirimichi golf course, our main destination of the day.

This is the course started by Justin Timberlake. His vision was to have a great golf course that was open to the public and didn't break the bank to play on. It is also one of the "greenest" courses in the country using native plant species that are more resistant to drought. We drove through the gate and up the hill and down to park by the clubhouse.

I had at one time thought of playing, but my aching back and the high 90's temperatures persuaded me not to. We went in the clubhouse and found a couple of shirts to buy. Even though it was very nice inside, the people were very friendly. We asked if it would be possible to rent a cart to just drive around the course and the guy said to just go ahead remembering to respect the other golfers. The carts were super quiet and had gps screens that gave you all sorts of information about how to navigate and how far away your ball was from the hole. The hole markers were really cool.

Naturally, Lindy had to drive.

The course was beautiful in a wild, natural kind of way.

This was the 5th hole marker.

This was one of the bathrooms located throughout the course. A bit different from the porto potties at Mondovi.

As you can see, it was warm that day, but we had our Mirimichi bottled water along.

Lindy told me to take this picture so Julie could see what it was like to go over a real bridge with water under it.

It was a great time. I would love to come back and play sometime when it isn't quite so warm.

On the way, we had passed a school in Memphis so we found our way back to it to see if we could visit. We knew that the schools were already back in session. We were initially taken aback by the sign, wondering if it was a private school.

We buzzed in and were told that it is a public school with 4K-5 grades. It was very culturally diverse with Hispanic, Arabic, African American and white students.

They were getting ready to have a fire drill and the Kindergarten teacher had taken her students out early. They all had uniforms. We met with the school secretary and she called the guidance counselor who came and gave us a tour. It was very interesting. The students seemed to be very well behaved.
We had a chance to talk to a couple of teachers. Their enrollment had really jumped so they were cramped for space but were using mobile units brought in to house all the students.

It was fun to compare notes and see how things were done in other places. They said that 90% of the students were on free and reduced lunch so they had quite a bit of Title money to spend, but also needed ESL teachers in most of the classrooms. The fire drill bell rang, so we thought we had better leave. This was a shot of the benches underneath this huge tree. You can see the kids in the distance lining up outside.

We decided to go back to our hotel and cool off as it was very warm that day.
Eventually, we were actually starting to get hungry believe it or not. The secretary at the school said we should try Corky's for ribs so we headed there.

It was really good! You get get them either dry rub or wet, but we got the dry. The ribs were smaller than Rendevous but had more meat on them and seemed more juicy even though they were crunchy on the outside. The beans were OK, but the coleslaw was really mild and creamy-a nice contrast to the ribs.
Sorry, no picture, but believe me, we both cleaned up our plates!

It was time to head down to Mississippi and try our luck at the casinos at Tunica. It was about a 40 minute rive down into delta country. We had stayed at Sam's Town a few years ago, but it was a little bizarre. The casinos are out in the middle of nowhere and kind of spread out. We went to the Horseshoe first. These casinos are huge.

We walked way to the back before we found penny machines, but didn't do so well there so we decided to go over to Gold Strike. This one was at least right next door.

We didn't do so good there either. The games were kind of crappy at both of these. Then we drove a few miles to Bally's. This was the most down-to-earth of the casinos. They had a few more fun games but we didn't do so good there either. So, we made our way back up to Memphis and headed back to our room. It had been really nice to be able to just spend time in a city much like we had in Detroit rather than driving from city to city every day.

Al, Gus, and Eric Day 3

Sunday morning came too soon after our big night at Wild Bill's, but eventually we had to get up to go to church. After all, it was Sunday, and we were in Memphis and we were hoping that Al Green would be preaching at his church. Even though church didn't start until 11:30, we had a hard time getting motivated. There was no time for breakfast so we made our way to South Memphis, past Graceland, and found a Piggly Wiggly to get something for breakfast. We ended up getting some breakfast bars and bananas and made our way to the church. We were there last year, but no Al Green, so we were really hoping that he would be there. We made it in time to catch the end of Sunday School and then, all of a sudden, there he was sitting in the chair that said Bishop Al Green.

The music is amazing at this church. There were some talented singers and a great band. I kept thinking about all the people you hear on the radio that aren't half as good as these people are. But then Al started preaching and singing and you could tell why he became a star. What he does with his voice is indescribable and still great after all of these years. Lindy had tears because she grew up listening to him. He was one her very favorites so it was like a dream come true for her. I wish I had taken more pictures but felt I shouldn't seeing as how it was in church. I took a video of him when he was really wound up towards the end.
You can't go here and not feel the power of God. Some of the people just  had the Holy Spirit come over them and went into a frenzy of dancing or chanting. The people next to them fanned them and watched over them that they did not fall and run into something and just let them feel the power of the Lord. There was nothing phony or put on about it. It was an amazing testament to the faith these people had and how important God is in their lives. We could not have been more welcomed by the members as we always have been when we got to church in the South. Church lasted about two hours, but it did not seem long at all.
We decided to go back downtown to have chicken at Gus's. It is the best fried chicken ever. They marinate it in Louisiana Hot Sauce and dip in thin coating and drop it in the grease. It comes with coleslaw and beans. Underneath the chicken is two pieces of white bread to soak up any grease but there really wasn't any. If you want it extra spicy there is more Louisiana Hot Sauce on the table to put on the chicken. I don't really like Tabasco, but this stuff is amazing. It is hot, but flavorful. As if that wasn't enough, we had to have pecan pie because they make it right there at the restaurant.
Our next stop was on the other side of town to Trilogy Tattoos to find the guy that had done our tattoos last year. There he was standing by the counter and Linda had him add a little bit to the one he had done last year. Sorry, we didn't take a picture-guess you'll all have to see it in person sometime. So this was the Eric in the title. We said we'd be back next year to see him again.
By this time, the noise and the rum from the night  before was really getting to me, plus the excitement of church, so we moseyed back to our hotel to relax a little bit. We both relaxed for awhile and finally went out to get some frozen yogurt at Yolo's.

It was very good and all we needed for supper. Tomorrow was going to be kind of a lazy day, but we never seem to be too lazy so stay tuned!

Day Two: Cairo, ribs and Wild Bills

Sorry for not keeping up with this so well. I got to hear it from Margaux today who is my most faithful reader. Since I'm so far behind, this entry is about Saturday, August 20. We left Peoria, and had breakfast at the IHOP in East Peoria. We made our way down the rest of Illinois (damn, it's a long state) to revisit Cairo. I had written a song about this town and wanted to get some footage for an accompanying video. If you care about the history of this town you can read about it here. It was once a booming town at the junction of the Ohio and Mississipi Rivers but has since fell into disarray. Here are some pictures.

I'll let everyone know when my video is done and post it on YouTube-it could still be awhile.

Anyway, after leaving Cairo we crossed over to Missouri and made our way down the freeway to Memphis. We were both getting kind of hungry so it was a good time to get there. We called the Rendevous rib place and were surprised to hear there was no wait so decided to head there before checking in to our hotel. We had eaten there last year and were not disappointed. Our first mistake was having a beer before dinner.

Our second mistake was ordering the full rack of ribs.

These are dry rub ribs but they are served on a bed of vinegar to dip them into. They were very good. There is nothing like this in Eau Claire-sorry Mikes and Famous Daves. What is nice is that you get beans and slaw but no huge potato kind of thing to waste your time with so you can get right down to eating the meat. Both of us cleaned our plates and licked our fingers clean! We  slowly made our way back to the parking ramp and headed for our hotel. We had made reservations to stay at the Four Points by Sheraton. Unfortunately, their website lied about the way the rooms looked too. This was a bit nicer than Peoria, but the bathroom was still teeny. At least the staff was very nice during our stay but it would have been nice to have a bit bigger room for the three days we were there.

We laid around for awhile digesting our pig meat and about 9:30 decided it was time to make our way to Wild Bill's. We stopped at a liquor store to get some booze because Wild Bill's only sells big 40 oz. cans of crappy beer or set-ups for what you bring in. We got there about 10:00 and there still weren't too many people there so we got a decent seat. This a juke joint and is not fancy, but the music is amazing. Here is a picture of the teeny area where the band performs.

There weren't too many people there this night, so it worries that this place may be on the way out. I sure hope not. Here is a picture of the tables and seating area.

The waitress brought us a set-up for our rum.

The band started playing about quarter to midnight. We only stayed until about one-thirty because Lindy was getting scared when a guy started fighting with his girl and the bouncers pulled them apart and the guy started reaching into his pocket. We never got to see if he had a knife or a gun 'cos the bouncers grabbed him and took him outside. Lindy said-"OK, it's time to go". The music and performers were incredible. It is so dark in there that even though I took video, it didn't turn out to be able to see anything. So off we went back to our hotel. We made sure to take our rum with us! We had to sleep fast for tomorrow was another big day.

Back to Memphis. Day 1 Peoria

After being able to have our son visit for a week, we decided we had just enough time to take one more trip this summer before school starts. We really don't know what the new school year will bring us so we figured we might as well enjoy ourselves while we can.
We decided to go to Memphis for a few days to revisit a few favorite haunts and find some new ones. Our first stop was to stay at Peoria, Illinois.
On the long, monotonous drive through central Illinois, we saw quite a few wind turbines.

It would make sense that all of this wide open flat land would get some breeze once in awhile. It is nice to see that some states are doing something about this. Our state made it more difficult to put them up.
It is truly amazing to see the amount of corn and soybeans planted for endless acres mile upon mile.
I snapped a picture of this interesting conglomeration of grain silos.

We eventually made our way to Peoria which is situated on the Illinois River.

We had made a reservation at a Four Points by Sheraton Hotel. We had stayed in one near East St. Louis a couple years ago and liked it. The rooms looked nice judging by the picture on the website. Unfortunately, when we got there, the room did not look like the picture. It was an older hotel that had been bought by this chain. The room wasn't terrible, but it was kinda dusty and the bathroom was very small. The bed was pretty comfortable with scratchy sheets, but in the morning when we got up to take a shower, the water kinda trickled out. We complained when we checked out and the lady at the front desk was very surprised that the pictures on the website did not look like the actual rooms. She actually comped us for the room, which we didn't expect but it certainly made up for the experience.
I digress, though. After checking in we looked around looking for a place to eat. We decided on an Irish Restaurant called Kellerher's. It was in a neat area close to the waterfront that had a bunch of restaurants and bars built in old buildings. All along the front was an open area with tables and stuff to sit outside and for the smokers. We sat down by a lady with two children. Lindy went to the bathroom. Meanwhile the one child spilled his pop and fell off his booster chair and ended up standing on his head. I didn't realize the pop made a huge puddle right by Lindy's chair so when she came back she slipped on it, but thankfully didn't fall. The mom was apologetic but if she had been watching her kid in the first place it probably wouldn't have happened. Anyway, we moved to a different area and ordered a couple of beers.
They had a number of different kinds of draft beers so Lindy ordered a De Struise/Stillwater Outblack and I had a Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Black Ale.

I guess black ale is the latest fad in beer, but neither of us were real excited about them. They do have a high alcohol content. Lindy's was 10% and mine was 8.7% We ordered our food and got an appetizer of Guiness-marinated roast beef cut in thin slices over dark rye bread with Swiss cheese melted over the top. It was really yummy; so yummy it was gone before we remembered to take a picture.  We decided to try a couple more beers. Lindy got a Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat and I got a Flossmoor Station Railhopper Double IPA. We liked both of these better. Next we got our food. Lindy ordered a Banger Toastie which was a grilled pannini sandwhich with mini sausages and Swiss Cheese.

I got a Sampler Platter which included Shepherd's Pie, Cabbage Casserole, and Irish Champ potatoes.

Lindy's was pretty good and mine was OK. The service was pretty crappy, though.  We decided to drive around a bit and then go to the casino. On the way we saw a sign for the Dan Fogelberg Memorial. We didn't realize that he was from there. We thought of Sandy because she was a big fan of his. We crossed one of the many bridges over to East Peoria where the Pair-A-Dice riverboat casino was located. It was a very nice looking casino-especially for the riverboat variety, but it had pretty old and crappy games. One good thing is that there is no smoking allowed in Illinois casinos so that was really nice. The other good thing was I won 2000 credits on a game.

I came home with my money, but Lindy didn't. We still had a good time and made our way back over the river to our hotel. Tomorrow we are on to Memphis via Cairo, Illinois.

Badger, Take Me Home

If you read the last post, I explained that we had to get up early to catch the ferry home. Here is the view from our room-no this isn't a sunset!

We had good driving and made it to Ludington before 8:00 to get a spot on the Badger.

This was another ship in the harbor, but the Badger looked pretty similar to it. They could fit many cars. This trip, a coach bus was driven in along with a couple of large motorhomes.

Ludington was kind of a dumpy town, but the condos on the waterfront were pretty spectacular.

This was the view of the harbor as we pulled away.

There was also an extensive breakwater with this big marker on one side

and a lighthouse on the other side.

This is a panoramic view of the harbor.

This is a view of some of the many sand dunes along the western coast of Michigan. We would like to go back and see these. You can take a ride on a big dune buggy.

I thought this picture of a sailboat turned out pretty neat.

The color of the water was amazing; much different from that of Lake Erie.

After many attempts, we got a decent picture of the two of us with the water in the background.

We sat on the rear of the boat because it was less windy there and we could soak up the sun. It was really relaxing.

Even thought the ride was 4 hours, it seemed to go pretty fast. Soon we were approaching the harbor in Mantiwoc.

Before we landed, I snapped this picture of my beautiful wife. It reminds me of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis on her yacht. I'm a lucky man!

Once we got off the boat, we made our way up to Green Bay and had lunch at Krohls. We had the fried chicken which was really scrumptious. This was the first really hot day we had had on our vacation but our air worked fine in the CRV as we made our way across the state back home.

So that's the end of this trip. I hope you enjoyed the Travelblog! Thanks for all the comments.