On the road in the South

"The Mississippi delta was shining
Like a national guitar
I am following the river
Down the highway
Through the cradle of the civil war
I'm going to Graceland
Graceland
In Memphis Tennessee
I'm going to Graceland"

Tonight we are in Memphis.  All day I have been humming the Simon and Garfunkel tune.  We just drove today so I am going to sum up some observations about being below the Mason-Dixon line:

     In a TV ad one of the candidates for Mississippi Lt. Governor says, “Them taxes is too dadgummed high.”

     Another candidate advertises himself as John “Boy” Smith.  (I was so taken by an adult male running for office still using the nickname “boy” that I forgot his actual name.)

     An ad for a local restaurant says, “Come eat with us and get closer to Jesus.”  Either they plan to feed me something that will kill me, or they have the idea that I am more likely to find God in their place than, say, the McDonald’s down the street. 

     Folks riding around in the bed of pickup trucks – on the highway even.  Maybe it isn’t illegal in Mississippi.

     A jeep painted in camo and confederate flags carrying a father and two young sons all dressed in fake camo uniforms.

     A women’s hair style worn by women well over 60 that consists of very long, bleached blond hair held back with a sequined headband.  These women apparently are both sun worshipers and smokers as their faces are so lined they look like prunes.

    Men’s fashion of cutting the sleeves off every style shirt and wearing them either very tight so their bellies hang out or so loose that the shirts hang off one shoulder.  Rick is hoping that I brought a scissors along so that he can join the fashion.

     Shorts so tight and so brief that the wearer cannot possibly sit down or bend over.  In the South these are worn by women until they are in the nursing home.

     We have met many delightful people and have experienced very friendly service almost everywhere we go.  There have only been a few instances where I thought that the person speaking to me was from a mysterious foreign country as I tried to decipher their thick southern drawl.

     We have run into interesting folks in the campgrounds as well.  Yesterday there was a gentleman who said that he travels all over the country in his RV but has never used the stove and has only crackers in his cupboards.  He and his wife eat out every meal.  Somehow that seems like more work to Rick and I than having some fruit and yogurt for breakfast and making a sandwich for lunch.  But everyone travels their own way.  They traveled a lot because his wife is a professional horseshoe champion.  I guess I didn’t know that you could play horseshoes professionally.

     Tonight we talked with a couple from California who are driving to Nova Scotia.  The lady plays a harp.  They are driving a small RV.  The harp rides in the cab over bunk.  We have extra blankets and some maps in our cab over. 

     We are sometimes tired, sometimes annoyed, usually interested, rarely bored.  Life on the road has lots of variety.