Road Trip to Mexico - Part 2

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Sunday, October 10

Our trip to Mexico delayed by some minor car issues, we spent the middle of the day in Memphis.  First, we went to the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks march from the roof to the fountain on the first floor of the hotel.  This draws quite a crowd at 11 AM as seen in my photograph.

The legend of the Peabody ducks goes something like the following: "Back in the 1930's Frank Shutt, General Manager of the Peabody Hotel, and a friend, Chip Barwick, returned from a weekend hunting trip in Arkansas.  The men had a little too much Tennessee sippin' whiskey and thought it would be funny to place some of their live duck decoys (which was legal at the time) in the beautiful Peabody fountain. Three small English call ducks were selected as "guinea pigs" and the reaction was nothing short of enthusiastic.  This began a Peabody tradition which was to become internationally famous. 

In 1940, Bellman Edward Pembroke, a former circus animal trainer, offered to help with delivering the ducks to the fountain each day and taught them the now famous Peabody Duck March.  Mr. Pembroke became Peabody Duckmaster, serving in that capacity for 50 years until his retirement in 1991.

Nearly 90 years after the inaugural duck march, the ducks still visit the lobby fountain from 11 AM to 5 PM every day."

The Peabody ducks (shown from above in the lower
center of this image) march down on a red
carpet to the fountain in the center of
the lobby.  (You can see the large
crowd in this image.)

Here, two of the five Peabody ducks
enjoy a swim in the fountain.

From the Peabody Hotel we walked down to Beale Street (maybe two blocks away) and had lunch at the Blues City Cafe, across the street from BB Kings Blues Club--I had seafood gumbo as an appetizer and fried catfish as my meal (very southern!).  Even in the middle of a Sunday afternoon, the blues clubs were filled with good music.

The famous BB Kings Blues Club was on the intersection 
of Second Street and Beale Street in Memphis.

Beale Street Mojo is a good caption for this 
photograph of a shop front on Beale Street.

After our tourist excursion we came back to our hotel and watched some NFL football games on TV.  Outside it was hot (80's) and humid.

Monday, October 11

My primary goals for the day involved getting our Mexican car insurance before we get to Mexico and getting our Mexican tourist VISAs online ahead of reaching the Mexican border. (I am hoping that completing both items will reduce our time at the border.)

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My tourist visa (actually called "FMM") got approved very quickly and our Mexican car insurance was obtained online very quickly--however, Maggie's FMM was slow to obtain even though I used exactly the same process as mine (an online agency that guaranteed a quick turnaround).  

Part of my FMM form needed for entrance
into and exit from Mexico

We printed our new documents at a local FedEx office and then went out to lunch at Olive Garden. When we returned to our hotel I realized that there was a mistake on the gender on my FMM form.  (I contacted the responsible agency by email about the mistake--I doubt that I could pass for a mujer but I could try.)  

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As I was working on my iPad in our room and Maggie had gone down to the lobby to work on something, all our room lights went out.  I called the front desk about the problem with the lights and they advised me to open and close the front door to reset the lighting system.  I only got within six feet of the door and the lights came back on.  Apparently there are motion sensors in each room that turn off the lights when there is no motion in the room.  (This seemed like a good energy-saving effort.)

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We have noticed that the pandemic mask mandates are much more strict around Memphis than anywhere else we have been so far.  Most, if not all, restaurants require masks for entry and almost everyone wears them indoors.  Also we noticed signs on the front doors of most shops and restaurants in downtown Memphis saying "No firearms allowed."  (I thought this was unusual since back home in Maryland, this would be assumed but I suppose a lot of unwanted pistol-toting Texans find their way to Memphis.)

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Most of today featured an overcast sky and light rain sprinkles were frequent throughout the day.  It was windy with cool temperatures in the mid 70's.

Tuesday, October 12

We had a 9 AM service appointment at the Toyota dealer in Jackson TN this morning to get our vacuum valve assembly replaced.  This meant driving 60 miles to the east, get the short service work done, and then drive 60 miles west (back through Memphis) and continue on our way southwest across the northwest tip of Arkansas and into Texas.  We had a long travel day ahead of us.

I caught Lola by surprise for getting her into her carrier this morning—I couldn’t do that too many times (she is so smart!) but we only have three more “wake up and leave” scenarios remaining until we get to San Miguel de Allende.  (Kali was so easy by comparison—she simply waits to be picked up and put in her carrier.)

The local weather was apparently cancelled for today since the local weather station (for our cell phones) was unavailable.  However, outside, it seemed to be in the upper 60’s as the sun was rising and the sky was perfectly clear.

Lola and Kali in their cat carriers while
in the Toyota dealer's waiting room.

After paying our bill for car service ($305), we were on our way to Greenville TX, tonight’s stopover.  We started traveling from Jackson TN at 10 AM and got to our hotel in Greenville TX at 5:30 PM.  It was a long day, considering we were on the road at 8 AM on our way to Jackson TN from Memphis.

We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in Greenville because it was “pet friendly” while the nearby La Quinta wasn’t.  The air conditioner in our assigned room didn’t work and we changed to a room on one floor lower.  This involved putting the cats in their carriers again which was stressful for Lola.

Tomorrow we travel to Laredo...Thanks for following our blog!