Drivin’ To Memphis

I hope you have your traveling pants on. This week, I’m taking you on our road trip where we visited (or at least passed through) eight US states, brought home some contraband (you can lie by omission at the border, right?) and had a thoroughly great time.

I knew when we left that it wouldn’t be possible to completely ignore the news. I like to know what’s happening in the world. And even if I didn’t, there’s no way to escape it when a teenager murders 17 people in a high school and the US President loses his mind on Twitter, again and again. That’s saying something considering the amount of his mind he has already lost. Then there’s our Prime Minister in India, dressing himself and his family like they’re in a Bollywood film. And historic flooding in my city. But I digress.

We ultimately decided on Memphis TN as the destination for my first week off. We initially considered the generous offer of a friend’s time share in Mexico. Then, when Derek admitted that he really wanted to take a road trip, we targeted Orlando. Finally, we settled on the closer destination of Memphis, for its rich music history and its proximity to friends in Arkansas.

We don’t stop at McDonald’s for the food. We stop at McDonald’s for the smiles, the strong coffee (Americano!) and the free Wifi. But that came after a white-knuckle drive across the border in a snowstorm. Even the Customs guy was skeptical about why we’d choose to travel on a mostly snow-covered Interstate highway in such crummy conditions. Dude, there’s sunshine on the other side!

We spent the first night in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, and after a wrong turn, visited the blink-and-miss-it village of Blue Lick. Almost every business is named for the village but this one stood out. With this name, I’d hire them whether they did carpet cleaning, plumbing or massage therapy.

We were in Memphis on our second night, happy with our hotel and glad we booked outside the core of the city. Memphis isn’t the prettiest urban center you’ll find. When it comes to pretty cities, Nashville wins the ribbon for Tennessee.

We took the concierge’s advice to head over to a local roadhouse for dinner. The place was packed but we got a booth pretty quickly and our server, Chavian, was a gem. However, he forgot to take something off the bill and when it came time to leave, Chavian was a missing man. I left a tip on the table and found another server to correct the bill. Still no Chavian. We were advised to talk to the manager behind the bar. She took our cash and the bill and disappeared into the noisy crowd. Finally, we saw Chavian and he saw his unhappy boss. She slapped our change into his hand and he gave it to me with a healthy round of apologies.

Back in our room, I straightened up my wallet and noticed that he hadn’t given us the change – it was all of the money for the bill. We hadn’t paid! I called the restaurant and said we’d return the next day to pay but the hostess explained they couldn’t hold it over and would have to get the total from Chavian. Back we went, pushed our way to the front and asked for our worried server. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He had also assumed he had given us our change and thought nothing of it until the manager clued him in. “Most people wouldn’t have come back”, he said, obviously relieved. “But we’re Canadian!” I reminded him. Shoulder slaps, smiles and hand-shakes all around. Servers gathered around to get a look at honest tourists! It never occurred to us to take the money and run.

Southern hospitality isn’t just a cliché, it’s a way of life. People are unfailingly polite, happy to help with directions or to answer questions. In restaurants, servers and managers seem genuinely interested in knowing whether patrons enjoyed themselves. In hotels, they’re happy to accommodate requests for extra blankets or in-room coffee. Tour guides, parking lot attendants, gift shop employees – giving a great experience to customers is job one. Perhaps that’s why we love going back to the southern US. Tomorrow, the Memphis music history experience; Elvis and the Million Dollar Quartet.