Continued…….
My reason for stopping in Corinth, MS was to cross this state off my list of states I have visited. I have strict rules that govern this list. I don’t just tick the state off my list because I drove through or stopped to eat. Nope, I have to actually do something to experience the state. Corinth, MS was an important railroad cross roads during the Civil War. Today the most important relic of that part of the Civil War is the Corinth Earthworks. These were a series of earth fortifications that were used in the battle fought in the area. There were museums and antebellum homes. But, sadly, I was really the only one that any interest in these, so we decided pretty early on in our trip to skip them, and just get to Memphis as soon as possible. We did stop to eat at the Shoney’s in Corinth
The trip to Memphis was completely uneventful and boring. The most noteworthy thing we saw was the kudzu that was taking over trees and telephone poles alike. We arrived in Memphis after dark, and we were all beat. This was the second time I have staying in Memphis. We stayed at a Motel 6 nine years ago, and the hotel turned out to be in a not so good part of town. This time we decided to stay in a Studio 6, which is the extended stay arm of Motel 6, and looked to be of a better quality.
Apparently God felt that I needed to really learn my lesson with respect to Motel 6 and he decided to drive the point home that I should avoid this chain in the future. We pulled into the parking lot and the first thing we saw was a number of people leaning over the second and third floors just hanging out and drinking beer. Uh, Oh! I was getting a bad feeling. I made my way to the office and promptly found out a number of things. First, they were renovating the hotel and the Handicapped room I had specifically reserved was not available. Nor were there any other handicapped rooms available for my folks. The handicap rooms have walk in showers and a number of other amenities to make life easier for people that have a hard time getting around. Strike One! Next, we would not have adjoining rooms. I had both requested and confirmed this before we left. My folks would get a ground floor room, so they wouldn’t have to deal with stairs, but our room would be on the 3rd floor. Strike Two!! Then as we walked around we discovered the pool was closed and all those people hanging around were long term guests. Apparently Studio 6 serves as some sort of low income housing project. In addition to the people loitering about and drinking, there was a distinctive odor in the air that told me that alcohol was not the only mind altering substance being consumed. Strike Three!!! We had officially crossed Motel 6 off of the preferred list.
To put the cap on our Memphis experience I was told at the front desk that no oxygen had been delivered. I called the company, thru their 24 hrs number, and they claimed they had no record of my order. Funny, they knew all about when I confirmed it five weeks ago. We had enough oxygen that they wouldn’t be anything more than an inconvenience, but I was still annoyed.
Next time I go to Memphis we will stay in nice hotel, in a good part of town, enjoy Beale St and Mud Island. But, today I just wanted to leave. We would do that in the morning. Tomorrow we would be in Little Rock, AK and then Branson, MO.
