If It's Wednesday, This Must Be Miss-ipi

Two Hundred and thirty eight miles southwest of Nashville via I40 and I55 finds Nessie in Southaven, Mississippi, just south of Memphis, TN.  Our goal is to visit downtown Memphis for a day or so before moving on west. I40 out of Nashville is a great highway through some of Tennessee's most beautiful rolling hills. Past the village of Bucksnort, know for the Bucksnort Trout Ranch; running just south of Grinder's Switch, known far and wide for the vineyard and winery named for the town.  We climbed out of the Cumberland River watershed and then fell down into the Duck River watershed where we chose not to stop at Loretta Lynn's Dude Ranch and Restaurant…..

Up and out of the Duck River valley and down into the Buffalo River valley took us past the northern end of the Natchez Trace at the Natchez Trace State Park.  A few miles southwest took us into the Jackson, TN, area, and the Parkers Crossroads Civil War Battlefield.  We didn't have the time to stop, but this area is also on the list for another visit!

East of Memphis, we turned south onto I55 toward Jackson, MS, and just over the state line we bailed off the interstate and found the EZ Daze RV Park.  A beautiful park with concrete pads to park on and grass areas for a nice, cool "lawn". The weather had turned cloudy with a chance of showers.

The temperature was in the mid seventies this afternoon, with a little more humidity than was comfortable for us West Coast residents, but it was a great change from the cool weather we had last week.  We drove a couple of blocks into Southaven to have a look around and found Jazzy's, a unique coffee place with the added attraction of having live jazz on Saturday nights.  We met and talked to the co-owner and her 19 month old daughter. The shop was very quiet at 3:30 on a Wednesday afternoon, so we had a great "conversation" with the little girl, Caitlin, who spent some serious time collecting to-go coffee cups and filling them with small rocks. The shop owner was very nice, and told us of some interesting places to visit in the area.  They don't roast their own coffee at Jazzy's, but order custom blends. Donna ordered iced coffee and it was smooth and mellow.  I had a hot drink called "King Coffee", which was probably the best cup of coffee I've had in years. Maybe it was the sweetener and whipped cream that made it…..

My compliments to the coffee shop owner and her husband for making a go of their own business.  Her husband has a full time job in Memphis, and looks after the store in the early morning and late evening, while she takes care of the majority of the day. Wow! And taking care of a little one as well! It's the American Way.

Our hour and a half conversation with the shop owner convinced me that I need to buy a Rosetta Stone language course made for the South. When we got to Louisville, KY, the other day, we heard that the correct pronunciation is Loo-a-vul. We got that straight, and then we were introduced to Memphis, which is Mem-fus.  I had trouble  programming the address of the EZ Daze RV Park this morning, because the website listed the address as We Ross Parkway, and the GPS didn't know where that was.  Turns out the correct address in W.E. Ross Parkway; who would've known?  I called the park office to verify the address, and got specific directions as to which exit to take and such.  I was writing down the instructions, and wrote "charts" Street.  Turns out the correct name is "church" St! We're definitely in the south here, and while I love the soft, melodious tones of the language, but I have some homework to do in the translation area! Ya gotta love the Honey's and Ma'am and Sirs, though! Finally the grey hair is worth something!