The last posting elicited a response from the Topfs who we last saw in January at Deer Creek in Florida, where they were wintering. At the time of their response they were in Jackson, MS headed for Memphis, TN. A quick look at the map showed that with a minor adjustment Memphis could be on our route. It took us a few minutes to decide that Land Between the Lakes, KY would be there another year, but the Topfs were heading our way now. We set out from Springfield, MO headed toward a campground in West Memphis, AR on the banks of the Mississippi. The rain and stms we had experienced and that had preceded us were playing havoc with the rivers and streams. As we drove we saw that everywhere we turned the water was over the banks, in some places seeming to threaten the highway itself. Many side roads were inundated and we saw parks and campgrounds ad lakeside houses all underwater. Soon we had a call from Shelley, the Tom Sawyer RV Park in West Memphis was underwater and did not expect to reopen for three weeks. Shelley located a campground in T O Fuller State Park on the Tennessee side of the river that was above the floods. They went in there on Friday and we joned them eaerly Saturday having spent the previous night in a Wal Mart Parking lot in Jonesboro, AR. (actually, as I write, we are in a Wal Mart parking lot in Smithville, TN).

On our way into Memphis we realized, with my sister Sandy’s help, that my cousin Bob Levey teaches in Memphis during the week. A phone call and an email yielded contact and a date to have dinner together on Monday night. After some confusion, the restaurant Bob suggested is located on a back alley and is hard to locate for the uninitiated and it also is closed on Monday, we met in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel, the home of the trained lobby ducks. We had a drink there and then moved on to Club 61 for dinner and much more talking. We certainly have gotten together with many people in many different ways on this extended trip.

Tueday we waited for the FedEx package with the tax returns that needed to be signed and posted with the appropriate checks enclosed. Having dealt with that, we went back to Memphis to go to the Cotton Museum. This museum is located on the old Cotton Exchange trading floor which has been preserved as it was when the business faded away from a live exchange to traders sitting at computer terminals with even faster access to pricing and news. In the process we learned just how important cotton was and is to Memphis. This was the center of the cotton trade not just for the US but for the world in its time. That time was as recent as the 1960’s The coming of electronic communications moved the trading away from the street and government grading eliminated the jobs of many people who had graded and blended cotton before the standardization. Still much of the cotton trade is based in Memphis. Carol and I were both fascinated with the videos of the many characters giving their oral histories and the history of cotton, the blues and Memphis that is housed in that museum. Earlier we had taken a tour of the Sun Recording Studio which was the place that first recorded Elvis and Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins and Howlin’ Wolf and . . . well this list seems almost endless. The actual studio is as it was 40 years ago and the microphone that they all used for vocals is prominent in the studio.

Wednesday we left for the east and found ourselves, after heated debate, headed for Malena and Dan’s for Pesach. We had set out to drive a piece of the Natchez Trace Parkway again and so we did. Eventually we got off looking for a road to I 40 that did not go through Nashville. After many twists and a couple of wrong turns we found ourselves in Murfreesboro and on the road toward Smithville, not too much of an improvement, but at least in the right direction. Thus we find ourselves in the aforementioned Wal Mart which was in no database or book we had with us. But Carol’s sharp eyes spotted the sign hidden behind a tree and here we are. Now this Wal Mart store will soon be in the “Overnight RV Parking” database for other back road wanderers to locate and know they are welcome to spend the night.