{"id":3914,"date":"2016-03-13T15:34:39","date_gmt":"2016-03-13T20:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=3914"},"modified":"2016-03-13T15:34:39","modified_gmt":"2016-03-13T20:34:39","slug":"cajun-vacation-walking-in-memphis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=3914","title":{"rendered":"Cajun Vacation: Walking in Memphis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, we are on the move again.\u00a0 We woke up to dry skies, but the clouds were very low.\u00a0 It\u2019s probably good we are leaving NOLA today.\u00a0 We start our first leg back to the real world and home.\u00a0 After packing up, Rich went down to the lobby for coffee so that he would be prepared for the drive.\u00a0 We would stop and grab something to eat on the way out of NOLA.<\/p>\n

I called down to get our car brought around by the valet and to have someone bring up a cart to help us get all of this stuff downstairs.\u00a0 I thought it would be easier to tip someone.\u00a0 I am on vacation, you know.\u00a0 The young man knocked on the door and even had his own doorstop.\u00a0 That\u2019s good planning.\u00a0 We got everything to the door and he loaded it up for us.<\/p>\n

Rich had not returned, so Rick and I headed to the lobby to try and catch him.\u00a0 No luck though, because we missed him somewhere.\u00a0 Rick sent a text to join us in the lobby.\u00a0 A couple of minutes later, Rich appeared with phone and coffee in hands.\u00a0 He said he got to the room and saw the guy taking the cart to the service elevator.\u00a0 He figured we were already downstairs.<\/p>\n

I thanked the ladies at the front desk for helping us around the French Quarter during our stay.\u00a0 They had the best information and always willing to help me figure out how to do something.\u00a0 The Courtyard was the best place.\u00a0 We had a wonderful stay with them.<\/p>\n

Down in the garage, our car was ready and waiting.\u00a0 The valet was giving me instructions for getting out of town and back on the road toward Memphis.\u00a0 Our luggage showed up and I packed the car with my usual expertise.\u00a0 Time to wave good-bye and creep out into rush hour traffic in New Orleans.<\/p>\n

We got lucky and traffic was clear.\u00a0 We headed west on Dauphine St and followed the Navi to I-55 going west.\u00a0 We had gotten on the other side of Lake Ponchetrain when the first rain drops started hitting the car.\u00a0 It was only sprinkles at this point.\u00a0 So we made it out of town before it got wet.\u00a0 Now that was great planning.<\/p>\n

We stopped up the road for gas and something to eat.\u00a0 That would take us into Clarksdale.\u00a0 The rain got a little heavier as we were getting around the Tennessee border.\u00a0 Then it really broke loose as we got off the interstate and onto the minor highway.\u00a0 There were times when it was a little hard to see.\u00a0 In some places, we hydroplaned somewhat where water just couldn\u2019t run off.<\/p>\n

As we moved north, the evidence of flooding was getting more and more.\u00a0 In several locations, the fields looked like good sized lakes just standing with water.\u00a0 A couple of places had water running from one field across the road to another field.\u00a0 It was a single lane of traffic at these points.\u00a0 Luckily, it wasn\u2019t trying to sweep any vehicles with it.<\/p>\n

We got into Clarksdale at the crossroads.\u00a0 The viaduct on 61 was closed because of high water.\u00a0 We snaked our way through the neighborhoods.\u00a0 At one point, the train was blocking the tracks because it was stopped for water.\u00a0 We got around it all and back over to 61.\u00a0 Across the Sunflower River, we found that Hick\u2019s BBQ was still open.<\/p>\n

We had just an hour before they closed for the day.\u00a0 We ordered half a dozen tamales, rib tips, BBQ pork sandwiches with fried okra and baked beans.\u00a0 Rich and I had been trying for a couple of years to catch Hick\u2019s open so we could eat the best tamales in the world.\u00a0 The guy behind the counter laughed when I said that.\u00a0 However, it is true.\u00a0 These were some of the best hot tamales that I\u2019ve had.\u00a0 We\u2019ll have to stop by and try them again.<\/p>\n

We got back to the crossroads and headed north for Memphis.\u00a0 I tried to stop for gas outside of Clarksdale, but apparently the pumps and computer system was down.\u00a0 With the storms and rain, it appears that things have been down off and on all day.\u00a0 I opted to get gas further up in the delta.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d be spending the night in Memphis and hopefully get to see some blues at Run Boogie Blues Hall.\u00a0 Rick can check out the act on stage next door at Rum Boogie, if he wanted.\u00a0 I knew Rick also wanted to go by the Gibson Factory.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t interested in the tour so much as the guitars on display and the fact that you could play them.\u00a0 I think we had a full day for our one night there.<\/p>\n

We got within 10 miles of Memphis when a sign said the road was closed.\u00a0 Apparently, the high water here had the road closed to traffic.\u00a0 We got on an east-west highway to get around the block.\u00a0 This took us out of our way by some miles, but it was better than nothing.\u00a0 This road took us back over to I-55 so we could head up to Memphis.\u00a0 The road was drier here, but there were still some places with standing water.<\/p>\n

The exit off to the interstate ran down into some of the industrial areas.\u00a0 At one point, we were detoured again because of high water.\u00a0 This wound us around through some of the older neighborhoods and right by Gus\u2019 World Famous Chicken.\u00a0 We turned on Union and right down to the hotel.\u00a0 We were across from The Peabody.\u00a0 I tell myself I\u2019m going to stay over there someday, but today was not that day.<\/p>\n

We got checked and ready to walk to Beale St.\u00a0 Somehow, Rick talked his Dad into going over to Lansky\u2019s first.\u00a0 When I caught up to them, they were standing by waiting for the famous Peabody ducks to go up to their penthouse for the night.\u00a0 I pulled them along to the Lansky store to shop instead.<\/p>\n

Once inside the shop, the colors and textures are wonderful.\u00a0 I find it hard not to run around and touch everything.\u00a0 Rich started looking through shirts and hats.\u00a0 Nothing was standing out for him.\u00a0 Rick saw shirts he liked, but he figured he would never really wear.\u00a0 One of the salesmen asked about our day.\u00a0 I explained we had stopped by to look.\u00a0 Rich then found the perfect shirt.\u00a0 It was a black camp shirt with guitar picks and a fret board on the front.\u00a0 On the back was a full guitar and the words, \u201cHome of Rock and Roll\u201d in bright colors.\u00a0 It was beautiful and it was in Rich\u2019s size.\u00a0 Out came the credit card and Rich purchased it.<\/p>\n

I ran the shirt back over to the hotel while the guys walked down to the Gibson Factory.\u00a0 By the time I came back down to the street, it was starting to rain.\u00a0 I had left my rain jacket upstairs guessing that the rain was over for the night.\u00a0 If you have to decide something, I figured I\u2019d go for warm.\u00a0 Darn, I got that wrong.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t see the guys when I got to Gibson.\u00a0 Inside the door, I looked around.\u00a0 A young lady who worked there asked if she could help.\u00a0 I explained I let my kids come down where and I couldn\u2019t find them.\u00a0 Rick walked from behind one of the racks about then.\u00a0 I told her I found one of them.\u00a0 She laughed.\u00a0 Rick sat down and started to play a Les Paul that he had admired.\u00a0 Price tags here are to be admired, but not paid either.\u00a0 Rich sat down on a couch and waited as Rick and I walked around and around the guitars.\u00a0 It is an impressive place with lots of guitars just hanging around.\u00a0 After buying a new guitar strap that says Gibson, Rick was ready for me to drag him out of the store.<\/p>\n

We walked back down to Beale Street, but no one was playing any live music yet.\u00a0 That would be around 8:00.\u00a0 We checked on the schedule for a couple of places and getting the names of groups who would be playing.\u00a0 We walked down toward the Handy Park to check out some places.\u00a0 Across the street, Dyer\u2019s was open.\u00a0 Rick decided he was hungry again.\u00a0 We went in for burgers and beers.<\/p>\n

Back out on the street, we wondered up Beale Street toward B.B. King\u2019s place and then around the block back to the hotel for a rest.\u00a0 The rain had pretty much quit and it was getting a little bit chilly.\u00a0 We\u2019d rest our feet and then head back down to Beale for the 8:00 shows.<\/p>\n

Live music started up at 8:00 PM on Beale Street.\u00a0 We left the hotel just after the guitars started.\u00a0 The rain was coming down slow and steady.\u00a0 The five minute walk up to Beale Street didn\u2019t soak us through.\u00a0 We got to the door for the Blues Hall Juke Joint with the music coming through the door.\u00a0 The doorman checked our IDs and stamped our hands.\u00a0 Luckily, the bar is free to enter.\u00a0 We stepped inside and the music surrounded us.<\/p>\n

We took over one of the high-topped tables and shucked the raincoats.\u00a0 Rich stepped up to the bar and got us three bourbon high balls.\u00a0 Well, they were actually Canadian whiskey high balls since that\u2019s all they had.\u00a0 The Blues Masters were on stage.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t say they were exactly blues.\u00a0 They were playing mostly R&B and Soul.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t bad though.\u00a0 We heard three or four songs.<\/p>\n

The crowd was ebbing and flowing around us.\u00a0 People would move between the Juke Joint and Rum Boogie Caf\u00e9 through the adjoining door.\u00a0 A large group of guys and girls came in at one point and tried to find seating together.\u00a0 They ended up at a table behind us and a table right up front.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t stay too long before they picked up their Big Ass Beers and moved back out to the street.\u00a0 I assume they were looking for a specific type of music and hadn\u2019t found it yet.<\/p>\n

The band brought up their singer after the first few songs.\u00a0 Her name was Queen Anne.\u00a0 To my ears, it sounds strange to name your child with a title as their name.\u00a0 She had a nice voice.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the lead guitarist was also the sound guy.\u00a0 To hear Queen Anne over the band, he cranked her mic up over the other sounds.\u00a0 This meant the sound now made your ears bleed.<\/p>\n

We hung out for a couple of songs and finished our drinks.\u00a0 It was time to go while we could still hear.\u00a0 I would prefer to hear more music.\u00a0 I asked the guys to walk through Rum Boogie Caf\u00e9 in hopes that the band there was still on stage.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t having any luck though.\u00a0 No one was on stage and the lights were dark.<\/p>\n

On the street, we could hear music blaring from several locations all at once.\u00a0 The rain was coming down harder.\u00a0 Maybe it was time to call it quits for the night.\u00a0 We were planning to be on the road early tomorrow.\u00a0 It would be a long day as we planned to drive on home for the 8 and more hours.<\/p>\n

The street was dark with the rain coming down.\u00a0 In a couple of spots, we had to skirt puddles to keep our feet dry.\u00a0 We debated crossing the street at Peabody Place against the light because there was no traffic coming down the one-way street.\u00a0 At the last minute, the pedestrian light changed in our favor.<\/p>\n

We joked about melting before we could get back to the hotel.\u00a0 Good thing none of us were that sweet.\u00a0 As we passed the Peabody Hotel, Rick told me we\u2019d be home now if I had just made reservations there.\u00a0 I told him I would have, if he were paying.\u00a0 We crossed the street and entered our warm and dry hotel.<\/p>\n

The night in Memphis didn\u2019t work out as well as I had planned, but we did manage to do a couple of things we wanted.\u00a0 Rick got to play guitars at Gibson.\u00a0 Rich shopped at Lansky\u2019s.\u00a0 We got to see the Peabody ducks walk to the elevator.\u00a0 The live music was short, but enough to remember.<\/p>\n

\"Beale<\/a>
Beale Street in the rain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Gibson<\/a>
Gibson Factory<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rick<\/a>
Rick with one of his favorite guitars<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Love<\/a>
Love is a new guitar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Little<\/a>
Little dobro with that song<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Peabody<\/a>
Peabody Hotel on a dark and rainy night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, we are on the move again.\u00a0 We woke up to dry skies, but the clouds were very low.\u00a0 It\u2019s probably good we are leaving NOLA today.\u00a0 We start our first leg back to the real world and home.\u00a0 After packing up, Rich went down to the lobby for coffee so that he would be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,6,12,13,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3914"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3914"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3922,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3914\/revisions\/3922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}