Valentine's Day Weekend

Peanut and I had a slow trip on Valentine's day. Maybe because the sun was shining or maybe I didn't get a great night's sleep, but this day found me stopping off a couple of times for a nap. We got within 20 miles of our destination after driving a really boring stretch of Highway 78 when traffic was redirected to one lane and came to a crawl at best with many intermittent stops. Getting to the cause of the stops it became obvious that there was a crime scene alongside the road. Men who had arrived via about 10 squad cars, a couple of "road ranger" trucks and the local sheriff's helicopter (parked on the median) stood on the bank of the Coldwater River in Olive Branch staring down toward the water. I immediately noticed the lack of rescue vehicles, no ambulances or fire trucks, and thought there must have been a traffic fatality, a car run off the road. Going the wrong way? Eventually we got the story; here is a link to one of the later reports. http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/feb/15/grisly-find/
I'm not sure how long this link will be good. NOTE: This is not for children!

Jim met us at the Flying J in Olive Branch and we took the RV and his car to his extended stay apartment then went out for dinner. Dinner was at Neely's BBQ. Delicious ribs, pork, beef and turkey! I recently saw an ad for a show about this family that is coming to The Food Network. Here's a link to their site:
http://www.neelysbbq.com/home.htm
Anyone coming to Memphis to visit us/Jim can be assured of a yummy meal at Neely's! Peanut enjoyed a bit of the turkey for her Valentine's Day dinner.

Back at the apartment we turned on the TV for the news and heard about the shootings at NIU. What a tradgedy! This is a horrible situation that parents shouldn't have to think about when they send their beautiful, bright, promising children for a higher education. All affected by this crime are in our prayers.

So it's nice for Jim and I to be reunited on Valentine's day but I can't stop thinking about what's going on in this country. The sad ways some people live and/or behave here is appalling. Is there any hope for change?

Back on the positive side, we spent our Friday afternoon (2/15) moving Jim's things to the RV and then on to the Missippi River RV Park. Here's a little breath of spring I brought with me from Florida. Very pretty and we have enjoyed the scent for a week already!
P seems to be adjusting to our new home pretty well and had begun letting us know when she needs a walk. This, I'm sure, is no easy task for her considering she is used to going out at will with her doggie door in Tampa.

We did some driving around over the past few days checking out neighborhoods and looking at houses. This is time well spent getting to know our surroundings even though the purchase of another house is largely dependent on selling the house in Tampa.

On Sunday Jim took me to Beale Street. Remember it from the song "Walkin' in Memphis?" We all probably remember the original by Marc Cohn -- you can listen to a sample of Cher's version here: http://www.amazon.com/Its-Mans-World-Cher/dp/B000002N5A/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1203538494&sr=1-17

"Walkin' in Memphis, with my feet ten feet off of Beale . . . "

We had lunch at the Rum Boogie Cafe which I am told is the primo spot to visit on Beale Street. It is one of those dingy places where you don't look to closely at the surfaces, just enjoy the ambiance. There are too many guitars to count suspended from the ceiling and labeled apparently according to their donors, from Bo Diddley to Axel Rose.

Sorry, my phone camera doesn't take the best photos!

We're hoping to get back to Beale to try B.B. King's place next weekend. Beale Street isn't a place to visit, it's a place to HANG!