Monthly Archives: June 2018
Catching Up . . . Kind of
As I said in last night’s abbreviated blog, we had a smooth trip up from Byram, MS yesterday, and stayed pretty comfortable.
We left Swinging Bridges RV Park about 8:15 to stay ahead of the heat, and it worked. Of course, as Jan said, it was kind of ‘overcasty’ which helped a lot.
Once we got settled, we just enjoyed the view out our windshield, at least while it lasted. Those two open sites will fill up pretty soon. In fact I think the park stays pretty full all the time.
I know I made our reservations on May 3rd, so 7 weeks ago, and still could not get on the front row right on the water. So plan accordingly.
It’s a beautiful park, with friendly staff, free laundry, hiking/biking trails, and garbage pickup 3X a day right at your site. And did I mention it’s right on the Mississippi River, close enough that you can faintly hear the tugboats going by, pushing long strings of barges.
Of course when the Mississippi floods it’s a whole ‘nother story. Here’s where the water came to in 2011.
‘How long can you tread water?’
Later, about 3:30, we headed into downtown Memphis to have dinner at one of our all time favorites, Charlie Vergos Rendezvous. Located on an alley, it’s been a Memphis tradition since 1948.
They’re known for their ribs, and one taste will tell you why. These are not your slow-smoked over mesquite type. These are grilled over charcoal, not wood, and not slow smoked, or anything like that. They’re grilled 30 minutes on a side about 18 inches above a blazing charcoal fire.
This produces a delicious crust on the ribs that is then mopped with a mixture of vinegar, water, salt, and barbecue spices. Then before serving, the ribs are sprinkled with the secret Rendezvous seasoning.
Jan and I both got the same thing, the small order of ribs, with beans and slaw, and we split a side of their potato salad. Everything was delicious, and had a unique taste, unlike anything else.
For example the BBQ beans have a Smokey, slightly burnt caramel taste, probably the best beans I’ve every had.
The only strange is the tea. While I was parking the truck, Jan had already been seated, and she ordered our usual two unsweet ice teas. And was told that they only have sweet tea, not unsweet tea. So why?
I mean, don’t you have to start with unsweet tea before you can get to sweet tea?
I’ve got a lot more to tell you about the last couple of days. But I just realized that it’s almost 10pm, and we have to be up at 5:30 so we can hit the road by 6:15.
I want to get diesel at the Flying J here before we get on back on I-55, and we want to get an early start to beat the heat as much as possible on our 320 mile run up to Mulberry Grove, IL and the Timber Trails RV Park, where we’ll be for the next six days.
gsdfg
Rolling On The River …
We got into the Tom Sawyer RV Park in West Memphis, AR a little after noon.
Later we had a great meal of ribs at Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous in downtown Memphis. Came back about 5pm to find the power off at the park.
First they said it would be fixed by 10pm, but that came and went. Now, at 10:45, they’re saying 11:45.
We’ll see. But this is all the blog you get for tonight.
