The Big Apple

I remember when I was 10 years old... Dad, Mom, Brad and myself traveled into New York city for a three day stay. After one day we took a vote to stay or move onto our next destination early... the vote was unanimous and we left the big city in a hurry...

Man have things changed, New York is amazing... what a city, talk about impressive ! Eight years ago or so Mayor Rudy Giuliani took a no tolerance stance on crime, and boy did it work ! we have been walking all over the place.... at 10 o'clock at night we walked about 20 blocks from a restaurant to our hotel and felt as safe as houses... the city is clean... well as clean as a city of 8,000,000 can be and there are kids and old ladies walking around as if they were in a church yard. I like this place, it is abuzz with life and energy and the thing I have found most noticeable is the shape of most New Yorkers... they are all thin... no fatties anywhere, its as if all the Americans left town ! Its not surprising really though, everyone seems to walk in this town... we took a stroll down to Central Park and there were literally hundreds of people jogging or speed walking through or around the park.

We only booked into out 2nd Avenue, Manhattan hotel for three days, its a real bummer because I don't think you could touch sides of this city in a month of Sundays. Either way though, we'll try to get up early tomorrow to get a start on the four museums that I would like to see on Fifth Avenue on our way down to the Rockefeller Center for outdoor ice skating and to see New York's biggest Christmas tree.

Just by the by, we spent last night in Stamford, Connecticut... unfortunately we didn't get to see to much. Although what we did see while driving in and out was very nice. We picked up a home buyers guide and Annmarie joked that Connecticut was a state full of mansions... I looks like a very well to do State.... we were chatting to people today who said that the people who work on Wall Street in New York all have homes in Connecticut.... go figure !

Tomorrow we have a big New Years bash just off Park Avenue, to ring in the new year.... The party is being hosted by some long time friends of Annmarie's... they are having it fully catered in there home with 15 waiters, 10 entertainers and about 100 invited guests. Interestingly enough Park Avenue is probably the most expensive Real Estate per Square Foot in the world... Woody Allen used to be their neighbor..... I suppose we ought to behave our selves !

Politically Incorrect

“IF” taxation without representation is Tyranny, I call fowl on Washington DC.

We were really looking forward to our day in the Nations Capital, but what a huge disappointment the political center of the “free world’ is. Since I’m pretty soured by today’s experience there is a chance that the tone of today’s Blog may come across as exaggerated. But let me assure you, there in no need to over play the downside of Washington…. Its disgusting !
There was a point on one street where if suddenly a blind fold I was wearing was removed… there is no way I would know if I were in Harare, Zimbabwe or in Washington DC. There were five homeless beggars staggered along the street at roughly 100 foot intervals and the ransacked buildings were either derelict of just owned by long gone absentee slumlords. There were obviously no trash cans… or if there were there were hidden under the trash strewn around the place. All this in the same place where the highest elected official in the world lives. Like I said… if taxation without representation is Tyranny then there is something seriously wrong in America. The village idiot, aka George Bush has found a way to piss away billions and billions of dollars in Iraq, but obviously isn’t interested in looking after his own back yard.
Let me close my little Washington DC rant with an analogy. If you take a pint glass and fill it with raw sewage and then add a spoonful of Coca Cola… that pint is going to taste like shit. In the same way if you take a pint of Coca Cola and stir in a spoonful of raw sewage…. Guess what its going to taste like !
Having said that, I don’t care if Washington is home to a spotless White House, I don’t care if the Smithsonian is spectacular or the Lincoln memorial, marvelous…. When you stir in the ghetto, that’s the only thing I see, and that’s Washington DC.
We, got in and crawled out… the traffic was hideous and lets just say I understand why the President fly’s into DC instead of going by car like the poor tax paying idiots that fund his party. I was especially keen on having to slow to a stop every so often to pay for toll roads that look like they were built in the 60’s so I can’t figure out why there is still a toll required on them. But in the last day I have contributed $19 to the East Coast road ways…. Someone remind me again why we pay taxes ?
Anyway… enough’s enough… I’ll bring today’s Blog to an end by saying that as you know I love a good metaphor… and in the spirit of creativity I’m going to ditch my “Chalk and Cheese” metaphor and change it to “ DC and Sydney”.

December 26th & 27th

The day after Christmas saw us on board a ferry with car and dogs intact and headed to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. After a seriously windy and rainy Christmas. "Boxing Day" was clear and mostly sunny. Compare this to a tornado that damaged buildings, cars and even an airplane in Dayton Beach, Florida on Christmas day... we had driven through Dayton just a few days earlier on our way to St Augustine's. Since it was a two and a half hour trip, Annmarie had been worried about hurricanes, tidal waves, tsunamis and all other manner of potential natural disasters... instead it was just a very smooth ride across the water at a comfortable 13 miles an hour.

Once back on dry land we speed across a very dramatic little spit of land that looked like a seen out of the future on a lost island. Sand lined and in some cases covered good portions of the road, there was next to no traffic coming towards us and other than the others on the Ferry ride, the island was ours.
The Ferry trip was a two part journey, we had met a great couple from South Carolina on the first leg and spent the second 40 minute trip chatting and getting to know our new friends. Hopefully we'll get the opportunity to visit them in Augusta on our travels in the future.

By the time we got to Nags Head I was pretty sacked out. I settled down to write the Blog and guess what... I'm writing yesterdays update today because I got called into a meeting or something like that...... riiiiiight ! (it bears mentioning that since it was going to be a long day we woke up at the crack of dawn... )

NAGS HEAD - KILL DEVIL HILLS - KITTY HAWK

Today was great, we started early again and went directly to Kill Devil Hills... 'No kidding" that's the name of the place. I'm not sure what or where Kitty Hawk comes into play but the name of the town where the Wright brothers took the first powered flight is called "Kill Devil Hills". Anyway we went to the spot where Wilbur and Orval reshaped mans future...

This picture shows La-Poo and I standing on the mark that saw Orval Wright complete the first ever flight on December 17th 1903. Annmarie shot the picture from the launch mark.

Annmarie poses for a 1903 photographer who momentarily is distracted from recording history. In the background is the Wright brothers memorial and hill that overlooks Kitty Hawk.

After an hour or two with the history of flight we headed off to Virginia Beach to see how we felt about it compared to all the other spots we have seen over the past three weeks. I don't know what it is about Virginia, but there is something special about the place. I was convinced that I would feel differently about Virginia after seeing places like Hilton Head and Nags Head. But this place is really amazing... Virginia Beach still takes the Cake. Our plan was to get to Richmond Virginia and do a few historic battle fields and possibly get to Williamsburg. But for some reason I made my first navigational error. Funny how one can travel over 3000 miles before getting it wrong... but long story short is I took the Chesapeake Bay bridge instead of going up the Chesapeake bay.... for anyone familiar with this part of the world... the Chesapeake Bay bridge is 20 miles long... over water with the exception of two tunnels which disappear into the ocean and then reappear a mile or so later. Once your on the bridge your committed... 20 miles later your on the others side of the Chesapeake and heading towards Maryland.

(Light at the end of the tunnel - Annmarie very relieved to be out from under the sea) So as I was saying, we were headed to Maryland... the trip from the bridge to where we are now - Salisbury, Maryland is no where near Richmond. The road trip to get here was very pretty. Red roofed farm homes, small towns, tree lined roads and all in all very calender picture perfect. We got to our hotel after dark so there isn't much I can say about Salisbury. Tomorrow we will head up to Washington and just see how the day plays out from there.

“The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.”

Today is Christmas and to save Santa the trip, I decided to be naughty. Not really of course... instead we drove from Myrtle Beach to Morehead Island on the beginnings of the Outer Banks or Barrier Islands - depending on who you talk to.

We left a very rainy Myrtle Beach at a little after 11:00AM and its still raining now as I watch the Miami Dolphins play the New york Jets on Monday Night Football. We are of course on Morehead Island as I mentioned... and I'm watching drenched football players in Miami... apparently this rain covers a pretty decent stretch of land.

Unfortunately there isn't much to report on as far as the transition from South Carolina into North Carolina is concerned. The rain kept my focus on the road and for the most part we couldn't see that far into the distance. I can say we took the coastal route and with that came some of the typical coastal scenes... some interesting lagoon crossings, lots of vegetation and the somewhat small but rinky dink towns who's main industry seems to center around fishing or at least fishing boat sales.

Once we arrived in Morehead we discovered that we were in the town that Black Beard (The Pirate) called home... no doubt due to its remoteness... its kinda out there a bit. Its easy to close your eyes in this windy and rainy weather and turn back the clock a hundred or more years... the ocean today is rough and menacing, the cold rain gets through your clothes without much of a fight and suddenly its easy to see how only the really tough and rugged sorts would be attracted to these remote shores. Page through the glossy brochures in the lobby of the hotel however and suddenly Morehead looks like the ideal summer escape.... the beachy town looks reminiscent of "sea side" towns in England. Colourful beach side homes, sandy parking lots and ice cream shops that only a kid could find inviting. our experience though very pleasant has been anything but beachy... the only eatery open on this Christmas Day was a little Chinese hole in the wall... I was reminded of the "Christmas Story" movie where Ralphy and his family sat down to Christmas dinner in a Chinese restaurant after the next door neibors dog ate their turkey. "jingle brows, jingle brows".

Tonight we need an early night... tomorrow we have a date with a Ferry at 10:00AM and its a good one hour drive away... for the Price's that's the equivalent of waking at the crack of dawn.

South Carolina couldn't be finer

Today we drove from Hilton Head Island to Myrtle Beach (both in South Carolina) Looking at how far we still need to travel we thought it prudent to push on and skip enjoying Christmas Island style. We had planned to spend two nights in Myrtle Beach instead, but whilst the town looks like it could be fun in the summer... on December 24th, its a ghost town.
We drove through Charleston and lots of little hamlets along the ocean route to Myrtle Beach, but for the most part we just covered ground. The picture above was of a suspension bridge in Charleston and it was pretty much the only sight worthy of a photograph from the car whilst ''on the road". Although we continue to see alot of the countryside while driving through, we are just driving on the main roads and it goes without saying that generally speaking, the best things to see don't line the main roads. So to put South Carolina in a nut shell when taking into account only two towns and a drive almost the full length of its coast line I have to say that South Carolina is on a par beauty wise with Virginia... Its very lush, very clean and nature abounds. Mind you, there was one strange or at least different thing thing about today's drive... along the road prior and following little towns we saw lots of road side shack stalls selling hand woven baskets and local crafts. We haven't seen any of that since Arizona and New Mexico with all the Indian crafts.
So right now we are in Myrtle Beach close to the South Carolina / North Carolina border. We are going to push on tomorrow (Christmas Day) and will try to get as far as... or as close (depending on how you look at it) to Morehead City. Morehead looks to be just about the closest point with Hotels before we'll need to get on a ferry to the Outer Banks and Nags Head and Kitty Hawk beaches... I'm looking forward to seeing where flight first took place.
So as I was saying.... Christmas Eve in Myrtle Beach... well no friends and family to sit down to dinner with but we did go all out ghost town style... After a dinner of Awesome Blossom Onion and Bean burger and fries we played mini golf... hey and not just 18 holes... we went big and put in 36 par two's and almost managed to walk off the Onion.

Whilst I understand there is going to be some jealousy regarding our rather festive evening, it bears mentioning that with the right planning and careful asset management... next year, you too could have a Christmas Eve filled with fast food and putt-putt.

Merry Christmas's all,
Warrick and Annmarie.

See you Later Alligator

Hilton Head Island rocks... its truly wild, there is a real connect to nature here. From the subdivisions (called Plantations) to the wild life everywhere. Everything seems to be alive on this little island. Its very pet friendly, with dogs being allowed to walk on the beach's and we were invited to have our dogs join us for breakfast at the Skillet Restaurant. The air is filled with scents of Forrest mixed with ocean and every thing is spotlessly clean. While driving through one residential neighborhood we spotted the Alligator above hanging out in a little creek by the road, he wasn't bothering anyone and no one bothered him... life here is very interesting.
In addition to big lizards, the little lagoons that are literally everywhere are home to birds and turtles which in turn are surrounded by trees filled with squirrels. Its a real natural paradise. If only it were summer, I would go Scuba Diving... I'm sure the ocean here must be full of monsters. But winter here seems to sort of play its hand... the water temp is currently around 54F and the air temp has been around 60F during the day, so very pleasant indeed.
The only downer I can come up with on this almost perfect little Island is that its in seriously short supply of waves. We walked on the beach on both ends of the island (which is shaped like a foot) and the biggest wave I saw topped around the 1 foot mark. I don't think there are any immediate plans to book the Gunston 500 on Hilton Head.
The street are lined with trees, a grey moss sharing some kind of symbiotic relationship with the trees hangs almost festively off the branches and gives the island a very established feel.
The homes are grand and haven't been seriously bothered by a Hurricane since the late 18th century.
Better yet, many of them are backed up to water ways, lagoons or the ocean.

In the proverbial nut shell, Hilton Head Island is wonderful and Annmarie would like it mentioned that she liked it "This Much"....

Just Peachie

Georgia, Georgia, Georgia... there are more mobile homes along the roadways on the route that we took today than we have seen the entire trip. Having said that however it was quite pretty. We took a little detour and came across the smallest church in the USA... it was actually deeded to Jesus Christ in 1947 and with room for 10 parishioners and a priest the place is packed every Sunday.

We had planned to spend the day and night in Savannah, Georgia.... but drove past both our dog friendly hotel options and decided that life was to precious to risk checking in. It turned out to be a brilliant decision. We noticed that just up the road was a place called Hilton Head Island, South Carolina... watch this space... So far this place is full of promise....

At first site you wouldn't believe that St. Augustine was home to so many firsts... first American School House, First Fort, first something else that I can't remember right now... but with real touch and see history dating back to 1565 this little town is really quite something. Its very quaint and offers all kinds of distractions, we had Pub grub (A Plowman's lunch) at the Prince of Wales Pub, a very fine establishment that would serve us twice today. Once for lunch and then again in the evening after a few drinks at another pub where we put the misery out of a 6 pack of Castle Lagers (good old Charles Glass, he still has the touch !)

We also spent some time at Castillo de San Marcos, the fort which begun construction in 1672. It is amazing to see how different construction was in this region compared to in England's castles of the same period. The single most interesting fact about this "Castle" is that it has never been taken by force, actually the reason it has never been taken is the really interesting fact... its made from the materials available in the area, namely shells, sand and water. Of course when you heat or burn oyster shells you get lime, when you add lime to sand and water, you get..... concrete. But shells are porous and basically consist of millions of tiny air pockets, so when you make big blocks of shell and concrete building blocks, lay them side by side one on top of each other 16 feet thick and many many times taller, you get what is essentially an incredibly resilient and tough Styrofoam fortification.... the real advantage being, when cannon balls hit your walls, instead of shattering the walls, the cannon balls just absorbs into the wall and makes it stronger...... kinda hard to take a fort without artillery... just ask the British who took 50 days strengthening the walls in 1740 before marching back to Charleston South Carolina dejected and carrying alot less cannon shot.

To end off the day, a walk on the beach with La Poo... this dog loves water, she caught her first wave today. Although it wasn't entirely voluntary... at first, she took to it like a veteran. Always focused on the task at hand (retrieving sticks) the waves were minor obstacles in her sundowner walk in water. At one stage however she showed signs of losing her marbles... placing a stick at the foot of a washed up jelly fish, presumably hoping it would throw it for her.

All Quiet on the "Eastern Front"

So far the Eastern shore of Florida's panhandle is really working for us, we left Sarasota and headed East... we passed Orlando and had to fight the urge to visit with Mickey, Donald and the gang, but with the dogs on board and my need to see some waves, the temptation was averted and the happiest place on earth shot passed at 70 miles an hour. Our first destination was Cocoa Beach. Instantly I was reminded of Grand Cayman, the beach town is situated on a long spit of land that forms a barrier island to the the mainland. Its right next to Cape Canaveral or Kennedy Space Center and the feel is vacation central. We both took to Cocoa Beach immediately, the beach went on for miles and we almost had the entire shore line to ourselves. As a side note I should mention that if you like your space and traffic frustrates you... visit Florida in December, Annmarie and I have had our pick of hotel rooms, have not waited for anything, we have gotten great deals and coupons are treated like currency in these "seasonal" towns. Additionally, the water is still warm, the day time temperatures are very comfortable and the humidity is almost a non-issue. just to paint a mental picture, I have been wearing baggies and a T-shirt for most of the day, when I went body surfing for over an hour I was just wearing baggies (no wet suit or rashy) and never once felt cold. In the evening I'll wear light longs and a long sleeve sweat jacket and never feel cool... (temperature wise - I always feel "cool" its a narcissistic thing).

While in Cocoa Beach we went window shopping in a few Surf Shops, among them "Ron Jon's" and "Cocoa Beach Surf Co." but it was only when searching further down the coast towards Sunset Beach that we came across the home of "Island waveski's". Now I have an Island Waveski back in Vegas, they are the biggest manufacturer of Waveski's in America and were the guys who originally imported Macski and Kolaski Waveski's from South Africa. So finding myself in the mecca of North American Paddle Ski's country what could I do... My new Ski is being shaped as I write, its a super quick model, the newest design that allows super sharp carving whilst stable enough for aging fat asses like myself. The Ski is being custom shaped just for me, keeping with tradition I'm having the Australian Flag graphed on the under side (down under) and waves on the rails... it should be brilliant !

After I had placed my order, paid my deposit and arranged delivery I borrowed a Ski from the shop, walked across the road, crossed the beach and spent the next hour or so on the waves. Let me just say this... my lack of fitness is embarrassing, it took me a good five minutes to recover from each paddle out... my lats are cooked and I almost found religion when facing a big set that I didn't think I was going to make on one desperate sprint. I left the water highly endorphined and pleased to be back on the beach.

One of the consistents we have managed to keep for the last week or so has been finding Indian Food, Cocoa Beach was no different... The taste of Goa gave us a very pleasant introduction to food from the Goa region of India... its always such a pleasant experience for us eating in Indian restaurants, there is never disappointment and they really look after vegetarians.

When we woke up this morning it was windy and a little overcast, so we decided to head on up the road... since we have made the decision to drive to New York rather than board the Dogs and fly, we need to cover another 1000 miles or so to reach our destination. Today's stop over is St. Augustine, its a very beautiful town and one that so far Annmarie and I are very keen on. We have decided to stay here at least another day because there is just way too much to see. Its a very old town, with some building boasting a 400 year history... when your used to Vegas, 400 years is pretty impressive from a historical point of view. We had just a small taste of it since we got here late, but after 18 holes of miniature golf and a quick bite, we went on Ripley's believe it or not Ghost Tour of the towns Historical District. I must say it was a blast, we didn't have any paranormal experiences but the history was very interesting.

Tomorrow we are going to see more of the Historical down town area... unless the weather is great, then it'll be to the beach !

Simmering in Sarasota

Its winter.... apparently ! at around 82 degrees and 58% humidity winter just loses its sting. La-Poo has been swimming in the Gulf every day, and I'm sweating as I write.

Sarasota is very nice, its clean and has a beachy feel, the Gulf is just like its described... just about a mill pond... not a wave in site. Its odd in a way, even in the Caymans there are waves, but here on the gulf its as flat as the horizon. The beaches on the other hand are amazing, I would describe the "sand" as powder, Annmarie says its like Flour and although we differ on the description I'm sure you get the picture. Each step on the beach squeaks, for the most part its spotlessly clean but in comparison to the water in the Gulf its self, it borders on dirty. The water is crystal clean, I waded in the water a short while and a school of four small rays swam past my feet, obviously unconcerned with my presence.

We have been exploring Sarasota a little, its been primarily the beach and walking the dogs. But we also went to a place called St. Armand's Square, its the snooty part of town and of course managed to calm Annmarie's frayed nerves all be it for a day, they were having a Porsche show and that made a pleasant distraction for me.

Last night we went for drinks with some friends at the Sarasota's Brewing Company, all in all a bloody good night out, the beer was good, there were four or five sporting events on as many 150 inch plus screens and at least everyone not driving managed to get plastered.

Lakeland Layover

As seems to be becoming the norm, instead of taking it easy and having a short day and going to the ocean. We completed the task at hand and drove to Lakeland. Now we have an additional 2539 miles on the clock, have consumed just shy of 164 gallons of gasoline, covered three time zones, slept in 6 different beds and most importantly taught Poosie to chase Sticks, Stones and most recently Pine Cones (see picture).

Finally we will be staying put for a few days... we will of course be visiting more of Florida in the coming weeks but for now resting is just fine. Lakeland in pretty cool... a little far from the beach, but it rained today... which is a first for this trip and we found an Indian restaurant which is brilliant. Having spent a week surviving on toasted cheese and tomato, veggie burgers and Starbucks coffee... having Aloogobe Masala for dinner was like eating a home cooked meal after a term at boarding school.

The weather in Lakeland is amazing... I went for a swim in the hotel pool after we had booked in and then for a long walk in my Baggies and a T-shirt. I don't know if winter is supposed to be like this in Florida, but if it is... see ya, I'm going surfing !

Alabama the Heart of Dixie

Annmarie wanted to put in her 5 cents of the trip so far, these are her words:

We arrived in Tennessee yesterday Dec.11th. we stayed across the street from Graceland, Elvis Presley's mansion. it was much smaller then expected, he bought it when he was 22 in the 50's so back then it was considered big! the tour took us through his home, pool area and the trophy hall full of gold albums and his famous jumpsuits he wore on stage. it was really neat and so sad at the same time. what a time that must of been, that house felt so lonely now. Memphis was scary...we went to look for a restaurant and we were the only white faced people. So we left today and drove thru Mississippi and stopped off at a Starbucks (Arkansas still holds the record for the slowest service) but Mississippi came in second, its unbelievable! so we tried to get thru as much as Alabama as we could desperately trying to get to the ocean but we only made it as far as Dolthan, Alabama. We found this town to be very charming. We had a great dinner at a place called Charlies. They put together a Cajun pasta just for us vegetarians...between new Mexico and Alabama there is no such thing as a vegetable or green salad, just iceberg lettuce and lots and lots of steak! Alabama is very beautiful and the people are really sweet. They don't say happy holidays here they actually say have a merry Christmas.. there are churches on every corner and Confederate flags everywhere. literally Methodist and Baptist. Although Vegas has the most churches per capital its not the same you just gotta see it to believe it. we are going to head to Tallahassee Florida tomorrow so we hope to be in Lakeland Florida to see our friends Mark and Bonnie. after that we head out to the Siesta Keys (the whitest sands you'll ever see they say) and then to Sarasota to look at property. we are almost there! will let you all know and I hope you are having a great week too!

(Warrick Back) That's pretty much the sum of it.... today was a long long driving day... we covered three states in all... Tennessee, Mississippi and now we're in Alabama... I must say, Alabama is aw some.... the towns are very clean (or at least Dothan where we are staying is - "Birmingham and Montgomery not so much"). Troy university is in Alabama and we have seen both campuses from the road... huge brick buildings, very impressive looking... almost like Michaelhous in fact. for interests sake we picked up a homes magazine. For the same price that we sold our place for in Vegas, we could get a 3500 SF home, 5 beds, 4 baths, Pool, Barn, Granny Flat, Basement and on 6.5 acres with great views. Not bad if you consider that the temperature right now is 65 Degrees F and apparently according to our waiter there is no better place in the world.

Right now we plan to head towards Tallahassee and beyond... since we had such a long drive today I doubt that we'll try to get all the way to Tampa or Sarasota tomorrow. But both Annmarie and I agreed this morning that we were in need of some salty air and I am in desperate need of some salt water on my skin, so were heading to the ocean and we'll just figure it out from there.

Southern Hospitality ???

We left Arkansas early so that we could have some time in Memphis, Tennessee. What we should have done was leave Arkansas early so we could see Graceland and then get out of Memphis.
First thing first…. Graceland wasn’t bad, it’s a whole lot smaller than we expected. For less than $30 both Annmarie and I got to see Jefferson home “Monticello” in Virginia and walk the grounds for hours. For $66 we got to see the bottom floor of Elvis Presley’s home (the second story is kept private because apparently it was his private place - kinda begs the question what was Graceland’s first level to Elvis ? ) and a few out buildings and the garden, his grave etc… Whilst I’m glad we got to see it, I don’t think we will ever return to have a second look… I would also say that unless you actually worship Elvis, you could probably get through life without making the pilgrimage.
Once we had exhausted the things to do at Graceland and once we were about $100 lighter in the pocket, we left Elvis Presley Boulevard to see Memphis. We took a right onto the freeway instead of a left which would have taken us to the Mississippi River and downtown area and instead found ourselves in the ghetto. It didn’t take long for us to realize that with a few more days of exploration ahead of us a mugging or traffic accident would put a damper on the experience (not to put to fine a point on it, the motorists in this area consider driving two feet behind you car normal and adding 20 units to the posted speed limit on surface streets is the actual recommended pace) … we hightailed it out of there and got to the waterfront. For anyone coming to Memphis in the near future… remember to check with the eatery that you intend dining at when they open… we wanted a late lunch or early dinner at around 4:00PM. We literally went to 5 “five” restaurants whose lights were on (one who’s doors were open) but were all closed until 5:00PM. We landed up driving back to Graceland and Elvis Presley Boulevard to settle for a pretty standard Veggie Burger . On the up side the restaurant kindly included their tip “gratuity” on the bill for us… so that was nice.
Tomorrow we are going to try to leave early… not sure how much more Southern hospitality we want before getting to Florida, but since we have it on good authority that the Deep South only becomes “deeper” through Alabama and Georgia, we want to have time to decide whether to stop or push on depending on our ‘first impressions”.