(34) Meridian, Mississippi

Wedesday, January 21st: Today was the longest drive we have done on either leg of the tour. We drove 588 miles(7412 total miles) from Fenton, MO, through the Eastern edge of Arkansas, around Memphis, TN and into Mississippi. We ended the day in Meridian, MS which is in the South Eastern corner of the state. It took Rudy and I 10 ½ hour to drive the distance, including our lunch and gas stop. Caroline, Jeffrey, Jill and I went to dinner at the Cresent City Grill, which was suggested to us by the front desk people. It was very good food, and the service was humorous. Jeffrey kept saying “Don’t mind us, we’re from the North.” Our server turned to us the first time and said “Oh, I understand, my girlfriends from Tennessee.” Who knew that Tennessee was in the North! At one point I said “YOU’RE from the North, the rest of us are from the West!” (Caroline and Jill are from Colorado.) This was the first time that I’ve really been in the South so it was quite an experience. That southern accent on everything made for a bit of humor with everything.
Thursday, January 22nd: I spent the entire day in my room making phone calls. At 5:00pm we left for the venue and knew that this was going to be a very interesting load in. First of all, we had to fit everything up a 10’x14’ freight elevator (we have a couple of pieces that are longer than that.) We also knew that it was going to be an all volunteer crew which means we have no idea what the skill level is but it’s never that good. Everything took a very long time and lots of effort on our part to explain what we were doing and do it correctly. I also tried to do some touch up painting and found that my paint had dried out, I guess from freezing in the cold and then separating the pigment from the water, but it was unusable. Finally, a load in that should have only taken a 3 ½ to 4 hours took almost the whole 5 hours and was very frustrating.
Friday, January 23rd: We had two shows today at 9:30am(52) and 12:00noon(53). After load in, Jill and I went looking for post cards as a local bookstore but didn’t find any. Then we went to a restaurant called Faraway Place in the next town over called Marion, MS. It was a trailer with a front porch and very exotic décor on the inside. We got there around 5:00pm and were the only ones there. The woman who owned the restaurant sat us and started talking us up. She was very nice and knew that we weren’t from around here. She was also curious who had sent us, because they apparently don’t get new customers that often. The food was REALLY good, some of the best Thai food that I have ever had without a doubt. Afterwards, we went to Wal-Mart for post cards. This Wal-Mart was the epitome of your stereotypical Southern back country Wal-Mart. As we were walking in, there were three people in front of us who walked in the Exit and two other people who were walking out the Entrance. Jill and I, of course, walked in the Entrance, but it was truly baffling to watch. That night, Michelle and I had a compy date and then Carolyn had some people over to watch more “Lost” episodes. On a side note, yesterday and today’s hi temperature was around 65 degrees and absolutely beautiful. It’s amazing to know that in the last 10 days we’ve seen a 110 degree temperature difference!