Memphis and More

This past week feels like a year. So many emotions, so many people, so much going on around us. The week began with a bit of free time and ended up being somewhat busy. As I mentioned before there has been a volunteer group here from Seattle this week and we’ve had a good time hanging out with them. They did a lot maintenance work on the grounds in spite of the very hot weather. The place looks great and just in time for the Youth Conference, which will be held here next week. When volunteer groups come down, the Perkins center has a house across the street from ours for them to stay at. The house is a great resource complete with lots of bunk beds, a kitchen, and a large meeting room. On Tuesday night we turned the lights on out on the basketball courts and played some late night ball. We invited a few guys from the neighborhood and they ended up bringing 7people to play and more to watch. During the game I took a spill and broke or severely sprained my big toe. I finished out the night playing a few more games not realizing until later how bad it was. It’s still a bit sore and looks as though it has been tie-dyed purple and red. It’s been nice to have the group from Seattle here. Many of the leaders were our age and we enjoyed talking with them.

On Thursday we headed north to Memphis for a one-night getaway. Shortly after leaving Jackson we saw a young hitchhiker with an orange guitar on the side of the road and since we had room we picked him up. His name was Gabe. I will now quote from a letter that Emily wrote while making the 3-hour drive to Memphis.

“We’re on our way to Memphis and just picked up a hitchhiker. He’s about our
age and travels the country, sometimes picking blueberries, sometimes playing music, but most of the time with the Incognito Traveling Circus. His character is the Southern Metronome Rapping Redneck with the backdrop of an enormous, inflatable purple cow. His sidekick is a puppet that has a puppet that has a puppet.”

We had some good talks with Gabe about hoping trains across the country and of coarse about the circus with which he traveled. About an hour and half after picking up Gabe we spotted another hot sweating soul along the side of the road looking for a ride. We had room so we picked him up. His name was Steve and he was trying to get to Chicago. He was an older man who seemed to have come upon some hard times. He told us about his travels and he and Gabe shared advise on hitching. We left them on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi river at a Flying J rest stop. Hopefully they are both home and safe.

Memphis seemed very touristy to us. After arriving in the mid afternoon we went and explored the famous Beale Street and walked down town for a while. We found out that Memphis has a minor league baseball team and we were all over that. We watched the Memphis Redbirds take on the Sacramento Rivercats in a really cool little stadium right downtown.
The next day we had breakfast at the Arcade restaurant and by chance sat down in the back booth where Elvis is rumored to have sat on many occasions eating his fried banana and peanut butter sandwiches.


We then went to visit the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The motel has been turned into the Civil Right’s Museum. The motel room he stayed in is still intact and you can look in it. We met a really cool lady outside the museum who has been protesting the museum for over 17 years. She lives on the street corner right in front of the motel. She thinks it’s wrong that so much money has been put into making a “tourist trap” money making museum and that Dr. King would have preferred that the money go to help the homeless or be put to work in some sort of social justice action. She was the highlight of the visit for us and we walked away agreeing with her. We were amazed at her dedication to what she believed.



This morning we said goodbye to the Seattleites and then went to Stew Pot to prepare and serve a meal to the homeless. Stew Pot is a group that is based in our neighborhood and serves lunch everyday. They occupy a really cool old church building and the dinning room is in the old sanctuary. Emily and I took charge of making the potatoes and I think they turned out well. We had to use our math skills for the first time since high school as we tried to multiply the serving sizes to feed 150 people. I then ended up on the grill flipping burgers, which took me back to my old Wendy's days, while Emily served on the food line.