Day 27 - 11th November

 Veterans Day here in the U.S. The post-election fallout continues, and we watch CNN and, to a lesser degree, Fox to see what the talking heads are saying. In general it’s agreed that everyone expected a Clinton win and a lot of people voted for Trump who were expected to vote for Clinton ‘just because’ , e.g. because they’re women , black , Hispanic etc. etc. However the more we watch the more we realize that a larger voice of the electorate was ignored by the Clinton campaign, and these are the people in what is known as the rust belt, where once manufacturing was a primary industry. They saw Clinton as part of that Washington machine that signed free trade deals that gave away their jobs and they saw Trump as an outsider who will shake up the political landscape. That remains to be seen but a couple of our observations so far are that

-          We think that Clinton expected to win and had no concession speech planned. Her defeat was such a shock that she couldn’t face the crowd. However to us this is an example of a failure of leadership, and to our mind she should have fronted the crowd even if to just mouth platitudes and clichés.

-          The riots that are currently happening in U.S cities against Trump are being given a lot of almost approving press. However as one commentator pointed out, that if these had been directed against Clinton after her win these people would be vilified, and another commentator said that Obama & Clinton should be speaking out against these riots and get people to accept the results of the election. By saying nothing they are tacitly approving of them.

Its certainly an interesting time to be in the U.S and we’re seeing some good information about what’s happening. Of note is that Trump has given a full interview on 60 Minutes and it appears he has toned down and mollified some of the harder rhetoric, so perhaps he may not be such a bogey man after all. I think we have been here before with the election of George W. Bush and the U.S survived.

Our day dawned a bit cold and grey. We had a free day in Memphis so decided to start by going down to the large pyramid we’d seen down by the riverfront and hopefully have breakfast there. We had wanted to go to Mud Island (as seen in the movie “The Firm”) but it was closed for the Autumn & Winter months and opens from April – October. Mud Island is a large area and contains several subdivisions as well but access is either by footbridge to the museum, which looked to be closed, or car to the housing area.

The pyramid is 32-stories tall, and inside is an absolutely huge outdoor and hunting & fishing store. The store is all open at its base with a mezzanine floor around three of the walls. In the center of the pyramid is the tallest free-standing elevator in the world that takes you to the top of the structure where there’s a restaurant and a viewing platform. However the structure otherwise is open to a great height.

However the interior is something else. The floor area is bisected by waterways that have huge fish swimming in them as well as ducks of at least two breeds that we saw, wandering around as well. Surrounding the base of the elevator area is an alligator pen that has three ‘gators there, with the water and rocks they lie on kept to a perfect temperature for the beasts. It’s an amazing structure, and inside almost anything and everything outdoors related is for sale, including boats, dinghies, and electric ride-on cars for the kids and all-terrain vehicles for the grown-ups. There are several large aquariums as well dotted around the place. This in addition to everything else needed for the great outdoors (or catching or shooting what moves in the great outdoors)

Entry to the store is free, but to ride the elevator is $10 so we decided to do that, have a look at the viewing platform and see if the restaurant was open for breakfast.  The elevator only has two floors, G for Ground and O for Observation. The ride up is amazing and as the elevator is glass you can see the floor drop away alarmingly. At the top, the restaurant has another large aquarium as its centrepiece on the bar, and the area makes full use of the stunning views. Of the two observation platforms, only one was open and this gave us views to the south, over the city and down the Mississippi. The land is completely flat for dozens of miles around, and Memphis itself does not have a lot of overly high structures. The outer edge of the platform is reinforced glass and is vaguely uncomfortable to stand on initially, but fortunately it’s opaque so you don’t see fully below you as you stand on it. Both Deb and I only had our phones for use as cameras, and as the barrier is a wire barrier just below chest height it would have been all too easy to drop the phone over the edge! Over firm grips ensured that didn’t happen and we got some stunning views of the city and landscape.

After spending several minutes taking in and photographing the view we went back in to see about breakfast, but the restaurant only did lunch so we headed back down to the main shop floor to see if there was a café or something.

The first place we saw was a fudge shop that sold beautifully flavoured fudge of all kinds, and we picked 6 while chatting with the very friendly lady behind the counter (almost everyone we have interacted with has been incredibly friendly and very interested in us and our journey), and grabbed some coffee and went outside, picked a bench, and supped our coffee while taking the shop area all in. It seems a bit mundane to call it a shop really.

We spotted a grill so went over there and got ourselves sat down for breakfast. I decided to try grits, as a side, because I’d heard them mentioned often in stories of the south and was keen to see what they were like.

It was just as well I tried them as a side to a main meal as they were awful. They’re basically like polenta (similar grain I think) and then boiled up to a very mushy consistency. It’s like over boiling rice then mashing it. The taste was really bland and I think they need to have butter and/or some kind of seasoning added to give taste. Glad I tried it, but never again!

After that we had a wander around the store and in the main aquarium it was feeding time for the fish, This is turned into a bit of a show and there’s a compere out front who introduces the diver (yes, diver) who goes into the tank and feeds the fish. The diver has a microphone in the facemask so provides a running commentary on the types of fish being fed. It’s a pretty good idea and was great entertainment for us and the attendant kids.

We then went for a wander round the mezzanine floor where a lot of the duck hunting kit is located including some impressive gun racks (there are gun safes at the store front for those visitors who are packing!) and after several more minutes, called it time and  wandered our way back into the Memphis CBD.

The riverfront has been nicely sculpted and an effort made to beautify the space, so it was a nice wander back, as by this time the sun had come out again and we were enjoying some warmer temps.

 Memphis CBD is an odd place. We had expected there to be some main retail areas (much like Wellington’s Lambton Quay & Willis St area) but instead the CBD was a very quiet area, and the main street, unsurprisingly called “Main St”, seemed to be mostly cafes, restaurants and hotels. Running the length on Main St are tram lines but amusingly, the trams are now buses made to look like trams, and I don’t know if genuine trams are used anymore.

After wandering the length on Main St and not seeing a lot we headed back to the Hotel room to gen up on where there might be some retail action. It looked like most of the main retail stores are now in malls outside the CBD however there was a part of the Main St a few blocks further down that featured some eclectic shop stores so we took a breather and carried on down. It took about 10-15 minutes to get down there through some pretty derelict real estate but alas it wasn’t quite what we expected. A few small boutiques and a bookshop (I duly purchased a book as well, to add my support) but otherwise was more of the same as we’d seen further up Main St. However down this end of town was the Lorraine Motel where Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr had been assassinated in 1968. The motel fell into decline after his death, and was purchased to be kept as a memorial. There were some plaques around to describe what had happened, and adjacent to the Motel is now the Civil Rights center, though we didn’t explore that as our travels up till now have been very informative in that respect.

We wandered back to our Hotel following the same path. As noted before, central Memphis seemed a bit quiet and there wasn’t as much there that we thought. There were large derelict sections with broken concrete, footpaths in disrepair and bent & rusted fences. Most of the action revolves around Beale St which itself is a bit smaller than we imagined it would be, especially after Nashville. However the main attractions, like Graceland, the Gibson factory, Beale St, the Lorraine Motel and the Peabody ducks are all within a manageable distance. 

Speaking of the Peabody ducks, we decided to go back to the Hotel and stake our claim to a spot early. Downstairs in the lobby area, all the seats & tables & chairs were taken, so we went up to the Mezzanine and found a perfect place with two large chairs and a table. Deb staked our claim while I went downstairs to the bar to get a couple of drinks. The place was incredibly busy and it took me about 20 minutes to get served. We then had a 30 minute wait and during this time our perimeter started to be overrun by enemy forces. There were a group of three European tourists (we think German or Swiss) to whom the concept of personal space was an alien one, and they kept moving forward to try and get a better view. The duckmaster is very good and managing the viewing and ensures people in the lobby are seated and that the area around the ducks is totally clear. Nevertheless by the appointed time the mezzanine was crowded by the time the ducks did their thing and marched off. Just before, while we were watching them, the ducks would jump up on the fountains edge and stretch their necks down the other side but they never left the fountain edge. Very well trained. 

After this we had another drink to enjoy our spot and then went back to the Hotel, via the Peabody Hotel shop which has a very strong duck theme!

Then it was off for dinner. A place had been suggested on Main St. called “Flight”, a bit like a tapas bar where small dishes on the meal could be served in groups or each dish as a larger main (much like our bourbon flights oh so many miles ago in N.O!) however on arrival we were told, despite many empty tables, that the next available table was at 10:20pm! So it was back to Beale St and the “Blues Café”, recommended to us by the lady at the fudge shop in the Bass Pro store.

The Café was loud, noisy, and smoky,  and seemed like organised chaos, but we were seated pretty quickly and I chose a steak while Deb went for the ribs. We both ordered a red wine and it arrived in thin plastic cups, much like a Hotels one. Classy joint! The kitchen area was right next to us, it was an open kitchen, and we watched the guy prepare & marinate huge pieces of steak. He massaged cooking oil into the steak and then literally pounded the seasoning into it. When I got mine it was perfect!

That nicely finished off our time in Memphis. Tomorrow it’s on the road heading for a waypoint at Little Rock then off to Dallas for our penultimate stop.