My sweetie arrived in West Virginia on Monday, June 22nd, at nearly midnight. We stayed at a hotel that night because the house AC was not working and he gets hot easy. We ordered sandwiches in and went to sleep. We overslept in the morning and the clerk had to call to wake us because we slept past checkout time. Packing was slow going once we got home.
We rented a car on Thursday and I dared C. to pretend he had a French accent to the clerk. Even though I couldn’t stop laughing, he stayed in character. The dare was that he would speak to her with the French accent and at the end of the transaction he would go back to his normal Texas accent. She didn’t even seem to notice.
Thursday night we went to Target to shop for some things for our apartment. We saw my aunt and uncle there and I enjoyed seeing them, especially since I don’t know when I’ll see them again. I love them so much, and since the kids and mom were pretty much shitty to me for my decision to move, it was nice to see them. They did express their concern for my leaving but didn’t make me feel bad for my decision.
We picked up the U-Haul truck on Saturday morning. I had to do some major power packing in a very short time, which meant that I forgot a lot of things I wanted to bring. We were finally on the road by 7 or 7:30 p.m. on Sunday evening. We stopped in Munfordsville and ate McDonald’s in their parking lot, and then we drove on to Bowling Green, KY to spend the night. It was pretty much a dump but it was a place to sleep.
We got up on Monday, starting the day with a big ole fight, as usual. Instead of having breakfast we just got in the truck and drove. We ended up stopping to eat at a Shoney’s in Nashville, TN and we had breakfast since they served breakfast all day. We drove some more and then stopped at Loretta Lynn’s Kitchen, but I don’t remember what town that was in. We did some shopping and when C. went to pay for our purchases, the sweet lady who was so nice to me was very short and almost rude to him. He thought it was because he had tattoos since she was fixated on one especially. We decided to have some pecan pie in the restaurant part of this place, and it was SO good!! When we went to pay for it, I decided to test the sweet ole country woman who was so nice to me to see if she, indeed, disliked tattoos. I pulled my top down just enough that she could see my own tattoo, and when I paid for the pie she was just as nasty to me as she was to him. We got a big laugh out of that, and she’s still probably praying for our heathen souls.
When we got to Memphis that evening we decided to check it out and wound up on Beale Street. If you’ve never been to Beale Street in Memphis, it’s so much fun. There are many restaurants and shops. There were so many people there that it looked very festive. It’s sort of like a smaller version of New Orleans in Memphis. The street was closed off, and two young boys were doing acrobats in the street for money. We went into Silky O’Sullivan’s to eat. It had such a nice Irish atmosphere, and it was a cool place to rest – it was very hot outside. We had catfish Po Boys and watched some live entertainment. The food was great! Our waiter was transplanted there from Katrina, and all of his family are scattered in different places in Texas. He hasn’t seen his mother in 2 or 3 years, and I felt (and still feel) so bad for him. If I had a lot of money I would most definitely send him home to see his mom. There is just something so sweet and so sad about a big ole boy missing his momma. I said some prayers for him/them to be reunited. I hope something good happens for him.
After we ate we did some shopping. We got the Girlie a onesie that says, “Elvis may be the king, but I’m the princess.” And indeed she is!! We also got her a little purse. She loves to pretend to be her mommy with purse, shoes, etc., (she’s such a girl) so hopefully she’ll like her little purse. I got a really cool t-shirt that says, “No black, no white, just the blues,” and a really pretty coffee mug and a pen. C. got a t-shirt at Silky O’Sullivans and a shot glass. We stopped and watched a jazz band outside on the street and had a blast listening to the music and watching the crazy people. An older man, clearly drunk, was trying to get his groove on, to the amusement of all who had the misfortune to have to watch. He was thought he was good. A young guy was dancing his heart out while two other girls kept trying to dance with him. One especially really liked him and wound up following him into another place later. Yep, I’m a people watcher.
We decided to take a buggy ride through Memphis. What was supposed to be a nice quiet romantic ride turned out to be a frustratingly manic episode with Chatty Cathy at the peak of her caffeine overdose high, who just would not shut up. We should have gotten our first clue when she said everybody so far were very boring. Well, yeah…the buggy riders aren’t there to entertain the buggy drivers. It was still a cool ride, but it would’ve been so much nicer if she’d only shut up for a few minutes. That night we stayed at Holiday Inn Express and it was a great room. We had a huge king size bed, and we actually woke up in time to have the free breakfast. They, by far, had the friendliest staff of any hotel we’ve ever stayed. That reminds me, I still need to fill out and return the complimentary card.
We got back on the ride after our 11:00 a.m. checkout time, and drove till we reached Little Rock, Arkansas. We stopped and spent a few hours at the Little Rock Mud River Market. By the time we got there, some people were starting to close up shop. Not sure why, unless they don’t get much business in the afternoon. We got an awesome pen from a man who made them himself. Mine is made from wood from an olive tree from Bethlehem, and it has a gold music cleft on the pen. I absolutely love it!! We also got the girlie a personalized ladybug plaque for her room. It is adorable. Then we went into a (barf) Clinton (puke) shop on (Gag) Clinton Blvd (ick) and then we got back on the road. We ran into a rainstorm, so we stopped to eat at Crackle Barrel in Arkadelphia. We decided to go ahead and stay there in Arkadelphia for the night. The next day we arrived in Texas. Now the real journey begins.
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