Never, never, ever, ever . . .

Order Brisket at a Memphis BBQ place!

Since we had a long 360 mile run today, we were up at 7, had our coffee and muffins, and were on our way by 8 a.m. This was made easier by the fact that we didn’t unhitch the toad, or even lower the levelers last night.

We stopped at a couple of rest areas for breaks, and Jan fixed us peanut butter crackers for a snack at one of these.

About 2:30 we pulled into the Tom Sawyer RV Park right on the Mississippi River in West Memphis, AR. We’ve stayed here twice before, and it’s one of our favorite parks.

After getting set up and resting up for a while, about 4:30 we headed across the river to have some Memphis BBQ. We had planned to eat at Charles Vergos’ Rendezvous where we ate two years ago and really loved, but to our disappointment, they’re closed on Mondays.

So checking on line for Memphis Best BBQ, Central BBQ kept coming up in pretty much every list. So we decided to give it a try.

And it was good, but it was no Rendezvous.

I ordered the Rib Combo Plate with ribs, pulled pork, and ‘brisket’. Note the ‘brisket’ is in quotes. For my two sides, I got BBQ Beans, and homemade garlic potato chips.

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First, the pluses:

The pulled pork was delicious. Really good.

The Ribs were also good, with a lot of meat on the bones.

The BBQ Beans were also very good, and chock full of meat pieces.

Also good were the homemade potato chips.

The mild sauce was very good, very tasty, so I had high hopes for the hot version.

Now the minuses:

Although the ribs were good, they were the smaller baby-back ribs, and not the full-sized pork ribs. But that’s just personal preference.

As far as the hot sauce goes, it tasted like they had just added Tabasco or some other vinegar-based hot sauce to their mild sauce. And again, it seems all I could taste was vinegar. So I ended up using the mild sauce, and then adding some of my ghost pepper/ground habanero powder to heat it up.

Now to the ‘brisket’. But I’m not sure I would call it brisket, and I doubt anyone from Texas would either. Note the pile of meat-looking stuff in the photo above, between the chips and the ribs.

It’s more like thin sliced roast beef, tough and chewy, and with no real taste. It reminded of deli meat you buy in a package at the supermarket.

But not as good.

I had seen a couple of references in the online reviews about the brisket at restaurants around town, but did not imagine it would be this bad.

As far as Jan’s meal, she had the pulled pork sandwich and said it was delicious.

Central BBQ 2

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One interesting thing about Central BBQ is that it’s right across the street from the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot in 1968. The entire area is now part of The Civil Rights Museum.

Central BBQ 4

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Getting back to the park about 6 we sat out on the river bank and watched the boats and big barges go by.

Mister enjoyed it too. It you look carefully below, you’ll see a big furry lump rolling around on the concrete.

Jan and Mister on the Mississippi

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The sites here have concrete pads and are right on the river.

Tom Sawyer River 1

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Mister certainly enjoyed it.

Tom Sawyer River 2

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Some enormous barges go by here. This one consist of 21 separate barges strapped together.

Tom Sawyer River 3

The tug’s props really stir up the water,

Tom Sawyer River 4

making a continuous ripple effect behind the stern.

Tom Sawyer River 5

We first stayed here in 2010, but the flooding of the Mississippi in 2011 just about wiped the park out. The sign below marks the high water point during the flooding.

‘How long can you tread water?”

Tom Sawyer River Crest

Tomorrow we got a short run of 137 miles up to Sikeston, MO, home of Lambert’s Throwed Rolls.

Guess where we eating supper?

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Thought for the Day:

"Truth is eternal, knowledge is changeable. It is disastrous to confuse them." – Madeleine L’Engle

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