We got the electricity hooked up, turned on the air conditioner and promptly left. It would be a few hours before the inside was habitable. Our youngest was riding with us and he suggested we go back across the river and explore Memphis.
We had been coming this way on trips home to Texas and Oklahoma for 22 years and for one reason or another we were never able to get over to Memphis and look around. This time we were going to make it.
Man it was hot walking around in Memphis, but interesting. I had been there on business in the mid-80's and had a business dinner at a place called Charles Vergos Rendezvous. It was a rib joint that was famous for its dry-rub bar-b-q ribs. I had been telling my family about it for years but on the one occasion we had a narrow window of opportunity to go, we could not find the place. This was well before GPS navigation systems and smart phones.
This time, on a whim I pulled out my smart phone, woke up Siri and asked her to locate the Rendezvous. I'll be a son-of-a-gun, it was just a half block from where we were standing! Okay, you say; "What are you waiting for? Get on over there." The problem is - I was standing in a TGI Fridays where we had just finished eating a full supper. I give credit to my family, they said; "we have been trying to get to this place for 22 years, let's go".
So go we did. No wonder we had such a hard time finding it before. This place was down a narrow little alley, the entrance was painted flat-black and looked like it might be fixed up as a set for shooting a scene in Gotham City.
They say that the best bar-b-q only comes from dives. I don't know who "they" are, but they are right. We were going to just go in and have a drink and maybe an appetizer but after seeing a couple of plates of ribs go by we could not help ourselves.
We told ourselves that we would have just one rib each and then take the rest back with us for later. Good plan, hard to execute. Kind of like the Lays Potato Chip challenge; bet you can't eat just one.
Check out the sheepish grin on Chad as he finishes his fourth rib.
But, like the camper, there was no more room for storage. We had to box up the rest and take it with us. It was not planned to be, but breakfast ribs were pretty good. Yep, we ate every one of them the next morning before hitting the road.
Our second day of travel began like the first, early, while it was still under 100°. But it did not take long before before the temp hit the century mark. At rest and fuel stops the tire temperatures were reading just a tad over 130°. Not bad considering how hot it was and how heavy the rig is.
We pulled into the Claremore Expo RV Park in the mid-afternoon. Made pretty good time. Chad and Cyndee got out to set the wheel chocks while I made final adjustments to line up the service connections. But instead of seeing them in my mirrors they both suddenly appeared in the passenger side window, eyes big as saucers and said; "You gotta see this" while pointing towards the trailer.
I got out an looked to find that one of the trailer tires had completely thrown its tread. There was nothing but bladder and side-walls. I have no idea how it was holding air pressure, but it was.
Looks like our decision to travel with more weight than we should was a little more than our Chinese-made trailer tire could handle. Decisions do have consequences. The other three were either Goodyear or Michelin and they did just fine.
The folks at Claremore Tire did a great job getting me a new tire (Michelin this time) and getting it mounted, for a price. We were all fixed up by noon on July 3.
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