Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Day 2 - Tuesday, December 5th - Exploring Memphis

 It was chilly last night. The temperature dropped to 30 degrees for several hours but the sunrise, over the top of the coach in the next row over, was great. We watched two “tows” going downstream and one going upstream. The shipping channel must be very narrow. There is a huge sand bar across the river from us and when we crossed the bridge to Tennessee we saw acres of sand. Last year the Mississippi river water level dropped to -10.8’ at Memphis. Barge traffic was stopped for two weeks. In October this year it dropped to -11.5’ but, because the Corps of Engineers had done a LOT of dredging during the year barge traffic kept moving. As we sit here tonight was have seen several tows go by. It’s not as much fun as watching the freighters when we are parked next to the St. Mary’s river in Sault Ste. Marie, but its still fun.

The morning sun over the Mississippi.

I haven’t heard much lately from those who want taxpayers to build a $60 million barge loading facility in Jefferson City. The Corps is supposed to maintain a 9’ channel for barge traffic on the Missouri. If the Missouri river water depth chart I just looked at is recent it appears that this  year they have not been able to so that upstream from Sandy Hook. OK, I’m back off my soap box.

We didn’t hurry getting around. After breakfast I did some minor coach maintenance while Kathy washed a couple of loads of clothes, then we headed to Bass Pro at the Pyramid for a lot of walking, and an interesting morning.

On the way out we saw this house (?). Its at the back of the campground. When we returned I was to lazy/tired to walk back up to the office to see what it is. Its round.

We remembered the laundry from when we were here before. The washers and dryers are upstairs, but not high enough to escape the 2011 flood.

 

The Bass Pro Pyramid. It is definitely an interesting place. The white strip across the top is an observation deck. We did not ride the elevator up to the top to check it our.

There were over 20 guns in the arcade area. Nolan, our great-grandson would have to have been dragged away from it.

After Bass Pro we went to a Corky’s for lunch. In the 80’s I used to regularly make business trips to Memphis. I always looked forward to my next trip because I loved Corky’s dry rub ribs. The Memphis Consultant who did work for us knew I liked them and when we worked through lunch they would have Corky’s bring us ribs. Andy, our grandson-in-law made us ribs on Sunday. The ones we got at Corky’s were really good, almost as good as Andy’s.

This is a newer Corky's. The one I used to go to was further away. It was a "hole i the wall" Mom & Pop kind of place.

The awesome hot rolls came after I took this photo. We carried away enough leftovers to make two more meals. The slab of ribs are half "wet" and half "dry". The onions rings were good but somewhat of a let down. They are called an onion loaf, they used to somehow come in a bread pan.

On the way back we passed by an IKEA store and Kathy wanted to stop and look around. A lot more walking, but IKEA stores are interesting. A trip to the cafeteria for coffee and a shared dessert is mandatory when stopping at IKEA.

It was a good day.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.
















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