Oink

Pork consumption total since Tuesday night:
-Barbecue ribs, three times
-Pig ear sandwich
-Smoked bologna sandwich with slaw
-Pulled pork sandwich
-Country ham for breakfast

Fortunately for my health we are moving out of pork country.
For further details on our meals, check out Eli's blog, Critical Dunce.

As neither Eli nor I know anyone in Memphis, we decided to give couchsurfing a try and connected with a resident of the de Cleyre coop. Somewhere between 10 and 15 residents, plus many temporary travelers, make up this fun and eclectic group. They were having a tie party for someone's birthday when we arrived, so we donned our ties (which someone had generously pre-tied into a Windsor knot) and spent the evening talking with people about life in Memphis.

I always thought Eli was strangely obsessed with barbecue, but turns out that other people are, too. This was the icebreaker of choice and led to spirited conversations about the best place in town. The abundance of good options meant that on Thursday we had fried chicken for breakfast and barbecue for lunch and dinner. My proudest moment of the trip was at lunch, when I managed to eat more ribs than Eli.I highly recommend the Cozy Corner to anyone passing through Memphis. See the smoke coming out the chimney? That means that delicious things are happening inside.

In between excessive eating we made it to two really interesting museums. The National Civil Rights Museum is attached to the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The exhibit starts with a moving film about the Memphis sanitation workers strike and the days leading up to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The strike had one of the most powerful slogans in recent history: I Am A Man. Ultimately, the workers won, but only got a 10 cent raise.

After going through the museum you go across the street into another building. This used to be a hotel and was where James Earl Ray stayed. You don't actually go into the room from where he shot Martin Luther King Jr., but are in a simulated room exactly next to it and look at a window towards the balcony where he was standing when he was shot. This felt both creepy, voyeuristic, and detracted from the message of the rest of the museum—remembering the civil rights struggle and trying to connect it with the problems that continue. Outside the building we saw a protester with signs asking people to boycott the National Civil Rights Museum. His signs stated that this was a $10 million tribute to the assassin and reminded people to “STOP worshiping the past START living the Dream.”

In the afternoon we visited Stax Museum of American Soul, focusing mainly on Stax Records. The grew from a little garage operation to making Memphis music famous with people like Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, Mavis Staple, on and on. They really emphasized hiring and developing people from the community. They taught sound engineering, let people audition when they needed a new backup musician, and had a record shop where folks could browse and talk about new hits from Stax and other studios. Great music.

In addition to tasty pork and a rich cultural history, Memphis is home to the world's third tallest pyramid.

The trip begins

We drove through the uninspiring landscape of southern Illinois. I love the Midwest, but this is not its greatest feature. Scientific studies have proven that this part of the country is actually flatter than the average pancake.

We knew we were in St. Louis when we saw the giant arch. I always thought that the arch was going over something, like the Mississippi or a highway. Actually, it's just in the middle of a park alongside the river. I'm a little confused as to how it is “The Gateway to the West” if you just go alongside and not through it, but in any case it is extremely shiny and impressively tall.

On Tuesday we visited another major St. Louis landmark, the Anheisur-Busch plant. We learned the horrifying statistic that 50% of all beer sold in the United States is an Anheiser-Busch product (includes Budweiser, Michelob, and Natural products). The second best part was the Clydesdales. Adolphus Buisch's sons presented him with the first set of Clydesdales and a wagon to celebrate the end of Prohibition. They made some of the first post-Prohibition deliveries of beer in Memphis. The company got through Prohibition with wink-wink-nudge-nudge sales of “baking products” like yeast, barley, and hops. Needless to say, those first deliveries were made to political allies of the company.


Meet Jake. He is a GIANT Clydesdale, 1 foot taller and 600 pounds heavier than all of the other horses. Since he can't fit with any of the other horses on the hitch, he only goes out for single-horse events and spends the rest of the time hanging out in the deluxe stable. This isn't so bad—there is a chandelier from the World's Fair and Tiffany glass windows. I hope my home is one day so nice.

The best part of the tour was that afterwards we got free samples of premium Aneiser-Busch products, like Shock-top, a Belgian white with citrus, and Bud Light.

Everything I own fits in a Chevy Cavalier

That isn't exactly true. Much of what I own is in a boxes, piles, and shelves around my parent’s house (thanks Mom and Dad!). But since last June I have repeatedly discarded all unnecessary belongings, filled the car, and set out for a new home. This recently acquired habit of leaving places after four months has brought me from Brooklyn to Vermont and then Minneapolis.

Now, once again, the trusty red car will take me and my dear Eli on a road trip to Memphis, St. Louis, and Florida, before what I hope is an equally-trustworthy plane brings us to Guatemala where we will spend the spring. After that, I will move somewhere for the summer, and likely somewhere else for the fall.

The US postal service can barely keep up with my requests for mail forwarding. I invite you to follow my travels here.