Day 19 - Travel Day to Memphis

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 – St. Louis to Memphis

By:  Carl and Sandy Wenger - Adventure 19

The armchair travelers are on the move again. We left early this morning with Lee and Laurie in the lead and Gunter and Sandy pulling up the rear on our 300-mile journey from St. Louis to Memphis.  It was another gorgeous morning.  We took a more rural route than others for the early morning portion of the drive and were glad we did. This was a beautiful, wooded passage with occasional glimpses of the river. We were all sad to see it end when all too soon we met up with the Interstate.

About 100 miles down the road we deviated again to drive through the sleepy Missouri town of Cape Girardeau to check out the Missouri Wall of Fame, first passing this cute pumpkin patch where the the display was in the shape of a pumpkin. We went on by, choosing not to mess up their design by buying any pumpkins!

The Missouri Wall of Fame is a 10-foot high by 500-foot span of flood wall in downtown Cape Girardeau covered with a mural depicting events that shaped the Missouri’s history. The scenes are depicted along a timeline beginning as early as the Indians and ending in 2003 with the building of the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge—a 100-foot wide, 4,000-foot long cable stay bridge that spans the Mississippi at Cape Girardeau. In front of each scene is a sign with information about the picture and why the event was important.

 Louisiana Purchase1804

The Big Freeze of 1918

President Taft’s visit in 1909

The next set of murals are faces of 45 famous people who were born in the state or achieved fame while living there such as President Truman, outlaws Frank and Jesse James, sports broadcaster and St. Louis Cardinal Joe Garagiola, acclaimed author Samuel Clemens, news commentator Walter Cronkite, and the list goes on.

President Truman

Ten by twenty foot gates are spaced at intervals along wall to allow access to the river itself and of course capable of being closed should the river rise.

Gunter and Lee checking out the levy gates
that keep the Mighty Mississippi at bay.

Carl walking along the Mississippi
 in search of more pictures!     

Lunch today for many was in Silkston, Missouri at Lambert’s Café—“Home of the Throwed Roll.” Almost the minute you sit down a friendly guy yells “rolls” and throws a huge roll to anyone holding up a hand. If you miss it, no worries, he will just throw another one—at times throwing half-way across the dining room. The rolls are piping hot and absolutely delicious and you can’t eat just one! Throughout the meal wait staff walk around with large bowls of “sides” such as crispy fried okra, potatoes and onions, black eyed peas, and macaroni and tomatoes.  No matter if you don’t have a plate, the fried okra just gets dished onto a paper towel.

Carl, Lee and Gunter ready to catch;
Sandy and Laurie ready to eat.

The Travel Channel has recognized Lambert’s Cafe as one of the World’s Best Places to Pig Out, and if you need another endorsement, Elvis is among its long list of famous customers. Rolls have been “throwed” at Lambert’s since the 1970s. As the story goes, Norman Lambert, the son of founders Earl and Agnes Lambert, was serving the rolls in the crowded restaurant and couldn’t get to one patron who had requested a roll. Seeing Norman’s inability to reach him, the patron yelled for him to “just throw the dang thing!” and the rolls have flown through the air ever since.

But it doesn’t stop there; the portions are huge as well –as Sandy can attest. Can you tell by her face how pleased she is to get this chicken Caesar salad when all she wanted was a small side salad? Even the plate was groaning! Nearly everyone left with dinner for tonight!

Bev and Ira, Hank, Darrell and Linda patiently waiting for their food while everyone else has been fed!  Apparently, their chef was fired about the same time as their order was sent to the kitchen. All turned all well, however, with a reduction in their checks and free desserts all around! And speaking of desserts, we saw one pass by the table (although how anyone could even think of eating dessert given the meal portions is beyond us). It was a quarter of a pie with about a half-pint of ice cream on top!

The balance of the trip through the Missouri and a corner of Arkansas was flat farmland, mostly cotton fields  Farmers were baling their cotton and at times burning their fields.

At least we hope they were merely burning
their fields and not some other disaster.

We knew we were at our campground when we found Heartbreak Hotel on Elvis Presley Boulevard.

Shortly after setting up camp the “caravaners” were eating again from another table of food. Any gathering of this group seems to involve food—lots and lots of food!

Erv (with his “birddog”) and Carl try to help Carol

with her Dish Network; alas, to no avail.