Walking in Memphis

We spent the night before sleeping and listening to some crazy storms, with the rain pounding the roof and some thunder thrown in for good measure. We waited an extra 45 minutes for the storm to pass before leaving, as the radar was showing a break between storm systems (or as I refer to it as: Green with a chance of light bulbs). David and I took off with the plan of riding fast enough to get into Memphis before the next storm (which ended up going south of where we were). We were first into lunch, with a large group rolling in just minutes later. After lunch, we took off in a huge paceline (12 people deep) and every time a small group would try to break ahead, they would get reeled back in by the pack. This lasted for about 15-20 miles before the pace broke the pack apart and people then rode at a more leisurely speed (but still pedaling). Once we got the host site, we walked over to get some BBQ (wish I was in Texas to enjoy the beef BBQ, as most of the BBQ here is pork). Since the next day was an off day, most of us headed grabbed cabs to downtown, and after dinner at Rendezvous (more BBQ!), it was off to Beale St. I had never heard of it before, but it was a good time. Reminds me of a small Mardi Gras, where the streets are blocked off to vehicles and people can walk in the street with drinks. The also had some street performers and this one kid did about 15 back flips, with the last couple only 1 handed. After walking around enjoying everything, most of us ended up at a small bar and took over the juke box, pushed the tables aside and started dancing. Yes, even I was up and dancing, or at least on my feet trying to move to the music. We left around 1am, jamming 10 people into a mini van cab and after raiding the coolers for some food, went to bed.

I was hurting the next morning and did not get up till 11:30 – way later than normal. Headed over to an Italian car show fundraiser for Memphis Habitat before taking care of some leader responsibilities – went shopping at Costco (tried a bunch of samples), Kroger and then took the laundry crew to the laundry mat to wash our dirty clothes (they always need to be washed) and finally swung by Macaroni Grill to pick up dinner.

Hard at work at the laundry mat - we brought a thermarest and pillow to rest on.