Summer of Travel, Part 12

Beale Street, Memphis, TN, at sunset

After several weeks at home to catch up on work, finish up the summer semester and gear up for the fall semester, it was nice to take a mini-vacation to Memphis. Living Waters For The World called a Haiti Network Leadership meeting for Monday, but living out on the west coast it was impossible for me to simply fly in on Monday morning and arrive in time for the meeting. While I checked flights for Sunday, it was $400 cheaper to fly in on Saturday.

Our meeting spot was originally set for the Peabody Hotel, right in the heart of Memphis. It was a bit daunting to walk around Beale Street by myself on a Saturday night, but it was nonetheless beautiful and full of blues music! In fact, the band across the street from my hotel played until 2:00am! Thankfully, my body was on pacific time, and that was only midnight for me! One of my dear friends, Bill Mendenhall, arrived first on Sunday, and we began the festivities of celebrating friendship! Soon after Executive Director of Solar Under The Sun, Chris McRae arrived, and we enjoyed a night at the ball park courtesy of Bill. The Memphis Redbirds hit home run after home run to win the game with ease. Of course, we celebrated with a big plate of ribs and catfish at Blues City Cafe! Highly recommended!

Three Amigos!

Following the night on the town and the arrival of the last two members of the committee, we finally got down to business. Lunch at Huey's was another highlight! (Clearly, Memphis is known for food!) After the meeting adjourned, there were still many hours until my flight left. How lucky am I to have a friend who would stay behind with me, take me to GRACELAND, and risk driving back in rush hour traffic? Check one off the bucket list! I thought of my granny the entire afternoon. She loved Elvis, and I wish so much she could have been with us! What a great, great few days. There are no better words to describe how blessed I am to be part of such a crew of faithful servants.