Our RV Adventures

This morning started off about 10:30 with coffee, and pumpkin bread from Bob Evans.

Mister started out with a nap in a handy sunbeam. The only problem was his sunbeam kept moving. He’d wake up, look around, realize his sunbeam had moved, and then move over to the new spot.

He didn’t like it when it disappeared completely.

After a morning of pleasantly doing nothing, we headed out about 2:45 pm to eat Memphis BBQ.

We had originally planned to eat at Neely’s BBQ. This couple has a show on the Food Network called Down Home with the Neelys. We enjoy the show and hoped to enjoy their BBQ, but the online reviews changed our minds.

Inside we headed for The BBQ Shop, a place that showed up on pretty much every “Best BBQ in Memphis” list I found.

And they were right !

Like most good BBQ places, it looks pretty nondescript on the outside, but the food inside was another story.

Jan had pulled pork sandwich piled high with meat and coleslaw. Once again, I had the Combo Platter with ribs and pulled pork. It was smaller than the one last night, but not by much. At least it only had two sides instead of tour.

The ribs are what they refer to as “half & half”. Memphis BBQ is usually cooked with just a dry rub, and not with sauce. You can add the sauce later if you want.

The BBQ was delicious, but what really set it apart was their sauce, or at least their hot sauce. We never even tried the regular one.

Their hot sauce was very, very, hot. But along with being very, very hot, it was very tasty and flavorful, maybe one of the best sauces I’ve ever had.

All in all, it was a great meal !

Then leaving The BBQ Shop we drove back toward downtown and The Peabody Hotel. The Peabody is/was the ritziest hotel in Memphis and i stayed here several times between 1964 and 1966 when I went to CMA (Columbia Military Academy). I was in the band, and we marched in several parades here, including the Cotton Carnival.

The other thing the Peabody is known for is their Duck March.  Their ducks live in a rooftop enclosure, and every morning five ducks ride the elevator down to the lobby and then march out to the pond/fountain in the middle of the lobby to the sounds of the King Cotton March. And then every night they march back to the roof. They’ve been doing this since 1932, though I assume it’s not the same five ducks. Hundreds of people show up to watch the parade.

We also used to drop water balloons from our rooms and the roof.

Did you know that if you manage to hit one of the ventilation fans on a city bus roof, you can soak everyone inside?

Good times !

Next we drove along the Mississippi River on Riverside Dr.

While taking these pictures of the Mississippi, I saw a familiar-looking plane flying over the river.

I could have sworn it was a Ford Tri-Motor. I quickly took a photo using my camera’s telephoto lens, and I was right.

So the next question was, what in the world was 1930’s Ford Tri-Motor doing flying over Memphis?

A little Googling gave me the answer. The EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) has a Tri-Motor touring the country selling rides. They also have a B-17 Flying Fortress that we saw in Elkhart, IN last month doing the same thing. This is their plane below.

I got to fly a Tri-Motor a number of times when we lived in Colombia, South America in the early 60’s. It was either take a 6 hour plane ride over the Andes, or a 27 hour car ride. And strangely enough I helped deliver a baby on one of these flights. I was fourteen at the time. But that’s another story.

And here’s a Tri-Motor we saw last year at the Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Ford Tri-Motors were built from 1929 to 1933. 199 were built, and at the time the Ford Aircraft Division was considered the largest commercial aircraft builder in the world.

As of 2008, there were 18 still known in existence.

And yes, it was part of Ford Motor Company.

And of course, what’s Memphis without the obligatory Graceland drive-by.

Crossing the Mississippi, and getting back to West Memphis, we stopped by Ray’s BBQ where we ate last night. He had mentioned that he was on the Web, but I couldn’t find his website. A little investigation told me that his domain name, RaysBBQWorld.com had expired back in June and had not been renewed, so his website was no longer on the Web. I told him he needed to contact the person who did his site to get it fixed.

Leaving Ray’s we stopped off and got some vanilla ice cream to have with the wonderful chocolate cake Jan’s sister Debbie made for us.

Coming back to the park I stopped off at the office to drop off a few copies of the Gypsy Journal. Unfortunately I forgot to get extra copies from Nick before we left Elkhart, so I don’t have many left.

We got back about 5:30 and just enjoyed the view of the Mississippi out the front of the coach.

Tomorrow we’ll head south to Jackson MS to spend the night at the Moose Lodge.

More tomorrow…

Quote of the Day:
"It is not MY fault that I never learned to accept responsibility!"

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We left the Vandalia IL Walmart about 9 am

and headed a whole 2 miles down the road to McDonald’s for an Egg McMuffin.

We don’t usually eat breakfast on travel days, but since we wanted to eat some good Memphis BBQ, we figured we’d have breakfast, skip lunch, and have plenty of room for BBQ at dinner.

But it didn’t quite work out like that.

After breakfast it was on down the road toward West Memphis, AR 310 miles away.

About noon we started seeing signs for Sikeston, MO.

Now Sikeston has a claim to fame for us. It is the location of the only one of the three Lambert’s Throwed Rolls that we haven’t eaten at.

Strangely enough we were just talking about this last night at my sister-in-law Debbie’s. The mug she served my ice tea in was from Lambert’s and we commented we had never eaten at the one in Sikeston.

So now we had a dilemma. Do we stop at Lambert’s in Sikeston and risk being too full for BBQ? Or do we blow this chance to complete our complete set of Lambert’s?

Of course, anyone that knows us knows we stopped !

They have Bus and RV Parking so we had no problem getting in there. And as usual, the food was great.

If you’ve never been to one, they really do throw the rolls, across the room if you can catch one. All you have to do is call out and hold your hands, and here comes a hot roll sailing over the crowd. And if you miss it, heads up, cause a replacement will be right behind it.

We both had the fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, and of course, the ‘passarounds’ like black-eyed peas, fried okra, and fried potatoes and onions. All delicious!

Leaving Lambert’s, the light sprinkling of rain we had encountered became a much heavier drizzle, but it never got too bad. And by the time we got to West Memphis it had cleared up nicely.

We pulled into the Tom Sawyer RV Park about 4:45 and got set up.

Tom Sawyer is a beautiful RV park right on the Mississippi River across from Memphis, TN.

And this is the view out our front window.

Barges go back and forth all day and all night. Sometimes they’re small, like this one, and sometimes they’re much bigger.

About 6 pm we headed out to a BBQ place we heard about near here, Ray’s World Famous BBQ. It’s a small place, only about 6 tables. But they have 4 delivery guys on the go constantly, so it’s certainly popular.

Jan got a pork sandwich with two sides.  I got the rib and pork combo plate, but I wasn’t expecting this!

No, this is not TWO orders. This is just one dinner.

Two meats and four sides, potato salad, BBQ beans, coleslaw, and BBQ spaghetti.

OMG!!

On checking the menu again, I found it also called “The Trucker’s Special”. Maybe I need to read a little closer next time!

And here’ the big man himself, Ray of Ray’s World Famous BBQ.

We got back to the rig a little after 7 pm, and thus completed our ‘Trifecta of Threes’

3 meals today

3 states today (IL, MO, AR)

and our complete set of 3 Lambert’s Throwed Rolls.

Ok, it’s a stretch. But you try coming up with a clever title every day.

More tomorrow…

Quote of the Day:
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe."  — Albert Einstein

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