Craig and I left Wakarusa on Monday morning bound for Tennessee where we were going to be slinging cream at St. Jude Children’s Hospital
and Bonnaroo. Since sticking to smaller roads had worked well coming from Washington, we followed suit and rolled through Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama on as many back roads as we could find.
Before we actually hit the road we stopped by Local Burger again and Hillary made some veggie burgers for the road. It was, by far, the best veggie burger I’ve ever had…yum. We pit-stopped along the way in small towns to get some grub, coffee, and lots of pics. After crashing in West Memphis we awoke early to get to the Memphis Ice Cream Man who was donating all the ice cream we would be giving away at St. Jude’s. Rick was super cool and he hooked us up with over 500 Rich’s Ice Cream treats including Sandwiches, Cotton Candy Swirls, Lemon/Lime pops, and Nutty Sundae Cones. Everything about Rick’s setup was nice and it was good to see a clean fleet, nice warehouse, and someone who truly loves what he does (even if he’d rather be fishing in the Florida Keys).
I had been trying to line up an ice cream social at St. Jude’s for over a year. Last year we weren’t able to make it so I started work four months ago this time around to make sure everything would be set. Lindsey greeted us as we entered the campus and we parked Bessie in front of the gift shop where we gave away ice cream to kids, their parents, and all the people helping out at the hospital. Craig and I were both so excited to be there and after everyone got their fill we locked Bessie up and Lindsey took us on a tour of the hospital and research center.
As much as I had looked into St. Jude’s, I still had no idea how much was going on there, and how big it was, til we started walking around. Danny Thomas started the hospital back in 1962 with the purpose of helping ALL kids with life threatening diseases. Since then they helped tens of thousands of kids from all over the world. The thought that stuck in my head the whole time was that one personal had the vision and, thanks to the help of numerous people, the vision has become a reality. Before we took off for the day we stopped by the gift shop and talked to the lady running it who had been there for over 20 years. One of the biggest compliments I’ve ever received was when she said, “You and Danny Thomas would have gotten along real well. You guys think alike.” Hopefully we’ll be able to make it back soon or find some other ways to help St. Jude’s.
We didn’t have too much time left in Memphis and decided to skip Beale Street and head east to Shangri-la Records. I wanted to hit up the Stax/Soulsville museum but they closed at 4. I did the next best thing though and bought a brick from the original recording studios from Shangri-la. After some scrumptious grub at Central BBQ we stopped back by Rick’s to pick up some stuff we left behind then headed into Mississippi.
Craig was hoping to hit Graceland but it didn’t work out. To make sure he got his Elvis fix we stopped in Tupelo, Mississippi to visit his childhood home. It was pretty cool to see but the highlight was heading a few blocks over to get some breakfast at Johnnie’s Drive-in. The staff there was super friendly and Craig and I took the booth that Elvis sat in back in 1956 when he stopped by the stand after his daytime concert in Tupelo.
Our next stop was Cullman, Alabama to visit my grandma. On the way we pulled over to check out the largest natural bridge on the east coast then I dropped Craig off while I headed to the nursing home. My grandma’s had Alzheimer’s for over a decade and she can’t remember her sons or grandsons anymore. She was sleeping when I arrived and, after trying to wake her a little bit, I realized it’d be better just to let her sleep. Since I wasn’t sure if there’d be any food restrictions with the people staying at the home I gave a couple boxes of popsicles to the staff. As I drove away I saw the lady handing out the treats to the residents on the front porch which put a big smile on my face.
Meghann and Lisa helped us line up some free ice cream from Mayfield Dairy for Bonnaroo so we headed up to Chattanooga, Tennessee for a morning pickup before making our way to Manchester for the festival. Of course we had to stop at the largest fireworks store I’ve ever seen and also grab some BBQ from Jasper BBQ, where I got to ride a pig.
We took our time getting to Bonnaroo because we knew it was going to be crazy there and we “only” had 2500 treats and they needed to last through Sunday. By the time we arrived the thunderstorms had passed and the sun was getting ready to set. We parked Bessie in the best spot backstage then worked into the night getting everything ready for what turned out to be another amazing Bonnaroo. We’re working on all the pics and words now and we’ll have the full review up as soon as possible, my guess being Monday.
Thanks to everyone at St. Jude’s, Rick, Lisa, Dawn Garren and Mayfield, Levi’s, Craig, Gooch, our Bonnaroo crew, and everyone else who helped along the way.
