A questionably auspicious start

Through storms, tornadoes, and more storms we finally made it and are here in Memphis.

Absolutely horrendous driving weather - it was the kind where your butt puckers, your shoulders tense, your jaw clenches and you can't see a foot beyond the car no matter how hard you squint or how fast your wipers go. And I was just in the passenger seat.

We were listening to CD's and had not heard any weather reports, I mean shit, it was right out the window it wasn't like we needed to hear the reports. As we approached Memphis we switched over to local radio at the exact moment the Emergency signal sounded, yeah, it was that emergency signal, the ear piercing one that this time wasn't a test. They announced a list of towns in immediate danger and one of them was the town identified on the exit sign we were driving past. Since the National Weather service was urging people to seek immediate cover, we had a brief pow wow and decided to take action. We drove by lines of cars stopped along the highway, but in the event of a real tornado (and one had been spotted) it is better to actually exit the vehicle. McDonald's or a gas station were our only options. The McDonald's employees were so totally low key we started to question what we had heard and weren't sure we had gotten the towns right. Using our "when in Memphis" thinking, we assumed we were mistaken. So I ordered my very first McFlurry with oreos(yum). We later saw the national news which showed the path of the storm......hmm, pretty much the exact route we had traveled.

Checked into the hotel, a glammed up Hampton in the heart of Memphis, proximate to most everything. We have an apartment size suite with a semi-circular wall of windows and balcony. King size bed with amazing linens and duvet, poofy and wonderful. Very sweet indeed.

We had dinner at Rendezvous, one of the well known Bar-b-que spots. Excellent dry rubbed ribs and pulled pork. Then wandered around town a bit on foot. I was delighted to find a huge Tower records across the street from the hotel. Naturally I had to indulge in every single listening station in the store where I heard some great new music and bought CD's. Happy Birthday to John or something like that, yeesh, am I a little piggy or what.