Epilogue

My coworker/friends built Tom a place to dry out. Called the "Nine Lives Kitty Rest and Rehabilitiation Center", it is a nice atmosphere for watching the pink elephants, spiders, etc. that fly past.

The sign says "DO NOT give this cat any alcohol. Detox in progress."

Erie, PA and Home Again

BRRRRRRR!!! Looks like I need more than a short sleeve T-shirt out here.

The last stop was the Four Creeks B & B in the sleepy little suburb of Girard, PA. Shawn and Jeannie (left) are the innkeepers there, having recently come over from England. They were really cool, and their property has lots of room to grow.

Jeannie, it turns out, has done the caregiving stint too. She took care of her husband (injured in a car accident) for 15 years, while managing a family and full-time job. I asked her how she did it, and she shrugged. "At some point, you just go on Autopilot. Things need to get done, and somehow they get done."

In a way, it was the perfect note on which to end my vacation. People survive. They take care of each other, have a drink and some conversation and a lot of laughs. And somehow, one day at a time, they make it through. It's a very, very good thing.

So here's what I'm gonna do. Turn on Autopilot. Put some Memphis Minnie on the stereo. Pour myself a glass of sweet tea. Do what needs to be done. Then let tomorrow worry about itself.

Thank you for riding shotgun, y'all!

Bardstown KY - Pecan Waffles and Bourbon

Hey! Look who I found wandering around the Waffle House!

For you who don't know, that's Steven Sawyer, a longtime programmer and colleague of mine at CXtec. He left for a lucrative position at Fruit Of The Loom in November. I knew he was in Kentucky, but had no idea how close I'd pass until I came down a few weeks ago. The Fruit of the Loom factory was a stone's throw from I-65, so we arranged lunch on my way back.

Steven is doing quite well, I'm glad to report. He was smiling even! (No, I'm not kidding!) At work, he's supervising contractors, going to meetings, handling paperwork ... and even a little programming. Things have settled down enough that Steven, Patti and the kiddies are looking for permanent digs. Steven has found a lot of music buddies in his church - such is the South, y'all! Anyway, it was cool seeing him.

And yeah, that was my first trip to the ubiquitous Waffle House. Pecan Waffles, grits and cheese, pecan pie and sweet tea. Yankee food is going to be a shock.

I picked a B&B in Bardstown for one reason: it was 1/3 of the way home. I had no idea Bardstown was Bourbon capitol of the free world! 80% of US Bourboun is made in a 20 mile radius around here. After dinner, I went to the Jazzy Bar and asked for a mint julep. "That's like asking for a green beer at Christmas!" they said. Evidently, Derby Day is the only time most restaurants serve it. But since tomorrow was St. Patty's day, they asked if I wanted a green beer. "Naah. How about a bourbon?" I replied.

They pulled down the top shelf, single-barrel, reserve stuff. Ohhhhhh, mannnn! "1792" Reserve was a little sweet, like honey. Knob Creek Reserve was very nice smoky, oaky, ancient flavor. But my favorite, which the owner gave me a free shot of, was Jefferson's Reserve. It was as smooth as milk, a little apple-flavored, and yet indescribable. It was unlike any bourbon I've ever had. But I wisely declared my limit there, and stumbled back to the inn.

The Rosewood Manor is an "Old Kentucky Home," very appropriate for the land of Stephen Foster. It's very charming and well-detailed ... but it is clearly optimized for romance. All the other rooms were occupied by couples. I was in the Muir room, whose theme was rabbits. As in "get busy and multiply like ..." Ahem.

"If loving you is wrong, I don't wanna be right," sighed Tom. Sensing ecological disaster, I pulled them apart and dragged Tom off to the car.

Last stop: Erie, PA.

Memphis - One-Eyed Cats, GroupRides

The Memphis Hightailers bicycling club had their first TNT (Thursday Night Thrill) of the year. It's 25-35 miles of riding through the North Memphis countryside, depending on when the sun goes down. I joined them ... my first group bike ride ever!

It was a blast, and I kept up with the front-running pack fairly well. They say this is unusual for a novice - a boost for my ego! Of course I was dying by the end, but oh well. It makes me think I'll try some group rides in Syracuse this year. It's helpful watching the techniques of really, really good riders.

Before that, I went to Sun Studios downtown. That's where rock and roll really started - with Jackie Brenston's Rocket 88 (the first r&r record) recorded there, as well as a young Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, etc. A video of Elvis' first television appearance had him singing the raw version of Shake Rattle and Roll. You know, the version with "I'm like a one-eyed cat, peeping in the seafood store." I asked our tour guide why they didn't censor that, and she said, "They had no idea what he was saying." Oh, please. Someone did!

They had a picture of the blues belter Roscoe Gordon and his chicken, who would peck at a glass of whiskey while Gordon sang (eventually the chicken would fall over).

"Thash right. Go chicken. Yeah, go ... you chicken, woa! Stop spinning, you stooopid floor." Tom slurred. Lisa, I think you're quite right in your assessment of Tom. I'm dropping him off at Betty Ford on my way home.

Bye bye Memphis! It's tough to leave your BBQ, Blues and Sweet Tea. But all good things must end.

Memphis - Sweet Potato Pie

"Southern women. Man! They can't keep their hands off me!" Tom said.

Me, I can't keep my hands off Southern food. I just had the best BBQ ever ... just a notch above Charlie Vergo's Rendevous (from Saturday). It was at a very unassuming little dive called Cozy Corner. The menu was on a magnetic letter board. I had a pork sandwich with hot BBQ sauce. And you know those nice crispy edges? They were all over! The BBQ beans had minced onion and curry. And the sweet potato was the first I've had that didn't taste like pumpkin. It had little unmashed chunks of sweet potato. Finish with a big cold glass of Sweet Tea, and ooooooo weeee!

I went to Ole Miss in the morning. The magnolias were blooming and the daffodils were out in full force. I went to talk to the curator of the Blues Archive, Greg Johnson. The connection between us was instantaneous. Within minutes, we were finishing each others' sentences!

I won't bore you with all the details. Chuck Klosterman, in Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs said it best: "There's only one thing worse with someone with nothing to talk about. And that's someone with nothing to talk about except music."

But here's one thing: I saw actual Robert Johnson and Charley Patton 78's. They were beautiful! And you can play them on a specially designed laser turntable. Instead of a needle, which wears down a record, the turntable uses a laser which reads the analog grooves and converts them without touching the surface. Fantastic! Greg, in my humble opinion, has the coolest job on Earth.

Mostly now, I'm just resting and processing. Sleeping until 7:30 in the morning. (!!!) Strolling aimlessly. Just doing the things you'd do in Tahiti or Jamaica. Now if I could just find a mint julep...

Oxford MS - Music Snobbery, Peanut Butter

I ate my lunch in Tupelo at PB Loco, where all they serve are grilled Peanut Butter sandwiches! There was an Unwrapped episode that had a similar restaurant, but this one was quite refined. You can eat in a living room setup with huge comfy couches and a TV. I settled on the Cinny Vanilly, with Sumatran Cinammon, raisins, granny smith apples and caramel. (!!!) Along with the standard stuff - bananas, marshmallow fluff, etc. - you can get:

• Special PB: Curry, Tomato, Chocolate
• Vegetables: Lettuce, Tomato, Pickles (just like Dad used to make!)
• Meat: Bacon, Bologna
• Stuff Your Mother Would Never Let You Eat on a Sandwich: M & M's
  

Oxford MS, the home of Ole Miss, feels a bit abandoned - it's Spring Break after all. But it's very peaceful, and I have just had the best sleep of my entire trip. Over to the right, you can see the view from my 2nd floor balcony. Nice!

Ole Miss is best known for denying James Meridith admission in 1962. Not something you want to be known for. But they have come to some terms with it. I viewed some interesting letters to James Meredith on display:

• An African American woman: "stay with your own kind!"
• A white senator: "what you are doing is more important than Sputnik."
• A lawyer: "Why go where people don't want you? Stay and use your talents to further the proud Negro race." (It doesn't say, but you can probably guess this person's white.)

I was amazed at how many people countered Civil Rights organizations with "They're backed by the Communists." My guess is many believed it, but if there were incontrovertible proof to the contrary, it would've made no difference.

At the Ole Miss bookstore, I found myself published in the latest Rolling Stone. Yippee! OK, it's not much. But now millions of people from all over the world will read my letter and say:

"That Craig Reek is a music snob."

Yeah well. You should've seen the two sentences they cut! "You remember when you gave Nirvana's Nevermind three stars? This is right up there with that." OK, maybe after 15 years, I should let that one go.

But such is the life of music snobs. They live to handicap the horse race of popular music. The one thing, the only thing, that matters in music is to give people transcendent moments. You know what I mean if you and your partner have "a song". People react to these moments in different ways - some dance, some look up for a moment and nod their head. Music snobs respond by proselytizing. To do that, and find those transcendent moments still there 10 or 15 years later, is validation of their existence.

I bought 5 copies. The clerk rang them up. The person next to me said, "Wow, 5 copies!"

"For my mother," I replied. *

The guy next to me laughed, the clerk didn't. We snobs must stick together, you know.


* The joke is from Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show's immortal "Cover of the Rolling Stone.": "(Rolling Stone) Gonna see my picture on the cover (Stone) Gonna buy five copies for my mother (Stone) Gonna see my smiling face ... On the cover of the Rolling Stone!" Interestingly, I heard the Nashville variant "Cover of the Music City News" first in my childhood, and thought Dr. Hook was ripping it off.

Tupelo, MS - The Re-Education of the South

"Look!" Tom crawled underneath the warm pancake. "Bed as breakfast!"

"Hey! Get out of there." I said, ready to pour the syrup.

"When you wake up, your breakfast is right there on top of you. You just eat it! You can sleep in an omelette, waffles, oatmeal..."

"A cup of boiling coffee," I offered.

Ignoring me, Tom went on. "Tom's Bed As Breakfast. I'm a genius! I'll make a million bucks! I'm so excited!!" Pause. "Uh oh. I think I wet myself."

I pulled Tom out of my stack of pancakes. So much for breakfast.

Tupelo, MS was the first city served by the Tennesee Valley Authority. It's the birthplace of Elvis. It's the namesake of the great alt-country band Uncle Tupelo. I first heard of Tupelo in a John Lee Hooker song way back in 1988, and I've wanted to go there ever since. Blues songs, more than any other, are really big on name-checking actually cities. So seeing Tupelo, Belzoni, Clarksdale, Rodelle, Vicksburg ... is really cool.

On Monday I biked 30 miles on the Natchez Trace Parkway, Tuesday I did 20. It's the most perfect biking road I've seen. No trucks, therefore no potholes. Gentle slopes. Virtually no intersections. And beautiful pine trees and jonquils and budding lilacs on both sides. It's a popular destination for biking tourists.

Lois, the Innkeeper of the Mockingbird Inn, told me of a group of 15 ladies who biked the entire 440 mile parkway. They were all between 65 and 75 (!!!) "They were the most buff group of women I've ever seen," she noted. "And they all stopped here, broke out bottles of wine, and drank and played cards until 1 AM." I hope to be as lucky.

A side note on Southern education. Everyone seems to know the Crossroads myth. But there are signs of large educational gaps.

• I asked for a mint julep, and the server said, "What???" She asked the bar and twenty minutes later, returned with "we don't have any mint, sorry!"
• After the Garrison Keillor talk, I heard someone say. "Yeah, he was really good. I heard he does a radio show too!"
• On the Uptown Coffee menu board, underneath Espresso, it says "If you don't know what it is, you don't want it."

I know what I need to do. I need to stay here and become a teacher.

My stay at the Mockingbird Inn was extremely peaceful and lovely. When I dug out Tom for a picture with Lois, she gushed over him. "He's so cute! What a darling! How long have you had him?" When we checked out she said, "Take care of yourself. And Tom too!"

"Yeah, take care of me!" said Tom.

Oh, I'll take care of him all right.

From the Mailbag

Mike asked about my stint in Vista. Vista, Volunteers in Service to Americam was what eventually grew into Americorps. It was started in the late 60's, and aimed to be the domestic version of the Peace Corps. You sign up for a year and work on a dirt-poor stipend, forcing you to basically live like the people you're helping.

My stint in Vista was during the Reagan era, when funding was virtually nil. In the late 60's they used to ship people all over. When I joined, I was one of a handful of people who got a travel allowance to get from Lincoln to my home site in Utica.

Ideologically, MLK's writings really influenced me to join Vista. Practically, Wende Baker of the Lincoln Food Bank (where I did volunteer computer work) convinced me to go - she was an early Vista volunteer. She remains one of my favorite people on planet Earth - practical, generous, and a joy to be around.

That's probably more than you wanted, but I get gooshy about this time of my life. It was a blast.