Breakdowns, Blues & Rabbit Released - Days 11 - 14

 

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Let’s backtrack to yesterday, 10/21 —- we had just boarded the ‘City of New Orleans’ Amtrak in Hammond, LA which was supposed to be (there it is again) bound for Memphis, TN. Right away we met an interesting guy in the observation car who traveled the country as a meat inspector! He used to fly, but after years of at least 10 flights a month (!), he retired, became a contractor and insisted on getting around via train or car only. He ended up giving us some great advice on recovering funds with Amtrak if an issue occurs on their end. Within 1 hr, it did. 

We pulled into Jackson, MS for a 30 min stop. Our new friend got off for a smoke break and Tom gets a text saying our train has irreparable engine issues and we will all have to disembark! The most bizarre part is that the conductor said they were going to have buses come, in a couple of hours, and take everyone BACK to the original place of embarkation? Huh? Why not continue forward? Hard no! It was about 6pm and within minutes we had secured a hotel room in what appeared to be a decent part of town (Jackson isn’t known as the safest place) changed our hotel & car reservation for Memphis and reserved a one-way rental car for the following day. And, Amtrak was nice enough to quickly package our dinner to go so no worries about finding food! Though things worked themselves out, we are incredibly bummed to have missed that last leg of our train journey:( Positive take away is that at least the train broke down AT A STATION and not in the middle of nowhere!

—Quick ‘small world’ story: the woman at the Jackson Hertz rental counter was from Vallejo, CA, just 10 min from Benicia, AND her grandfather, Clarence Williams, worked at Cal Maritime in the galley (kitchen) during the time I was there! Unbelievable.

So, after a 3 hr drive, we found ourselves in Memphis by about noon on Wednesday, dropped our
stuff at the Springhill Suites downtown and headed right for ‘Charles Verga’s Rendezvous BBQ!’ Excited to compare Memphis BBQ with Austin, TX, we ordered the combo pork ribs & brisket plate with beans and slaw. Verdict: I LOVE Memphis BBQ and especially the vinegar based sauce, but Tom voted for Texas. Either way, it made up for the mishaps of the previous day.

I have to admit that our walk from the hotel to the Rendezvous BBQ depressed me. We were staying downtown, north of the famous Beale Street. The area feels like it’s stuck in 1960’s urban decay, with only a few bars and restaurants spotting each block and complete with some shady characters to really set the mood. Though we walked several blocks to Beale street to check things out, we agreed that taking an Uber later that night was a must. 

Beale Street! Live music, happy people and opened alcohol allowed in the streets make for an upbeat atmosphere. We felt completely safe as there were tons of police on foot, on horseback and in cars blocking access to Beale Street to foot traffic only. Yes, the National Guard were present as well, walking in groups of 3 to 8, but people we saw were pleasant to them. 

(Click on video and enlarge in upper left corner)

Adjacent to Beale is an NBA arena for the Memphis Grizzlies and a game was just getting out that night, so we were joined by an absolute flood of partygoers. We hit-up 4 or 5 venues and heard 3 different bands that night, each unique, talented and LOUD! We both loved the bluesy scene and caught an Uber back to the hotel late, but happy.

Thursday, October 23, 2025

Our 2nd day found us in the rental car and on the road of exploration to the suburbs of Memphis. Annie, my best friend from high school and her husband Matt own some rental properties out-of-state and gave us some pointers where to find a couple of really cute, safe towns less than 30 minutes away. One of them, Germantown, was our first stop. Absolutely beautiful spot, manicured, well kept lawns and yards with every home a seeming mansion in its size! And affordable! These huge homes seemed to go for about $550,000 — a bargain by California standards! In addition, we saw the most outrageous and dedicated Halloween lawn displays — what a wonderland for kids. 

Germantown has an upscale downtown area and some shops that drew a healthy sum from our pockets (I’m sorry to say that not all of it was for gifts…). Exhausted from this financial drain, we found a some delicious fish tacos at ‘La Tortuga’ before heading to our next stop of Collierville. 

Collierville was just as beautiful with just as many mini-mansions, but had the added benefit of a town square based around their old railroad station dating back to civil war days. Each lamp post was decorated around the base for the fall and they had old rail cars and an original pony express resting post open for tour. We shopped at the many stores around the square before heading back to Memphis.

Friday, October 24, 2025

I breathed a sigh of relief today — our agenda took us to The Arcade Restaurant for brunch

(oldest restaurant, 1919, in Memphis) which was located on the south side of Beale Street. My faith in the beauty of Memphis was restored! This side of town is beautiful, gentrified, but still retains the original architecture and appeal of old Memphis in its hey day between the 1940’s-early 1960’s. During those post-war days, the railroad was booming and the streets were filled with people day and night requiring crossing guards 24hrs a day!

And speaking of the railroad, the Amtrak station AND HOTEL (!) is located just across the street from The Arcade Restaurant and man is it a sight to see! Not only is the Central Station Hotel one with the train station, it is gorgeous and a place I wish we had stayed if I’d known! Having missed out on the opportunity to arrive here by train, I’m so glad we happened upon this place —see video for the lobby. We could see that staying on this side of Beale Street would have allowed us to walk safely in the evening without need of an Uber. (Click on video and enlarge in upper left corner)

 I finished my yummy chicken fingers and fries and Tom his taco salad and we did a little shopping around the area, meeting another California transplant along the way who owned a dessert shop (see cream-filled cookie pic!). We then took a short drive across the bridge from our hotel to Mudd Island /Harbor Town which was incredibly cute in an urban yuppy sort of way, complete with niche boutique grocery market and beautifully appointed condos just steps away from downtown Memphis. 

We finished off the day with a requisite visit to the massive, pyramid shaped Bass Pro shop and HOTEL (!), a behemoth mecca of all things outdoors with a ‘Welcome to Paradise’ sign arcing over all comers. Two hours later, our feet aching, we changed quickly and drove to The Coastal Seafood Company restaurant which is an absolute haven of delectable food and polished atmosphere! Again, Annie saved the day by turning us on to this spot located on a lake at the very outskirts of Memphis. One halibut with fried green tomatoes, a Caribbean pork ribeye (!) and a couple of cocktails later, we were happy and ready for a final evening of music on Beale before heading home the next a.m.!

Saturday, October 5, 2025

So, let’s circle back to that oddly-timed purchase of the smoked and over-wrapped rabbit that had, until today, been socked away in the hotel freezer awaiting our departure. I’m coming back to it because I was forced to when, yes, my backpack with the aforementioned hare was randomly selected for search by TSA at Memphis airport. Please, please watch the video and turn up the volume for some hilarious commentary by the female agent who had never seen a dead rabbit, let alone one wrapped so securely in its foam tomb. I will admit that on the monitor, the rabbit resembled a severed arm…There were a number of ‘lord Jesus’, and ‘Oh my God’s’ before she finally had to give the critter over to her counterpart (who informed her he has eaten many rabbits) to finish the unwrapping process. This drew a crowd as you can imagine, but the agents were so kind and even helped me to rewrap it afterwards! Given that TSA is not being paid during this government shutdown, I really think it made their day.

We’re almost home! Hope you’ve enjoyed our adventure and looking forward to seeing everyone again soon!