March 22- Things happen for a reason. Follow me for a moment here...remember Jack's Fishing Resort in Mountain View, Arkansas? (See March 17). Remember Earl Brown? So Earl had told us to check out the Rendezvous restaurant in Memphis, Tennessee, and to say "Hello" for him to Nick and Charlie. I learned pretty quick to listen to what Earl says, so I was planning to go to the Rendezvous. Last night we stayed at a bed and breakfast in Senatobia, Mississippi, the Spahn House. (See March 21). So Daughn Spahn, (Miss Daughn Spahn, pronounced Dawn Spawn..uh huh) and I got to talking about the trip and where to go and what to see and how Martin Luther King marched on another march from Memphis to Jackson, Mississippi and how at that time, the people in her neighborhood actually shot at the marchers and yes, there has been progress and yes, there still is hard core racism. I told her how I was going to the Rendezvous and she also said I MUST say "Hello" to Nick and Charlie for HER. Then we check in to the Peabody hotel, which is truly grand in the old-fashioned, everything-works-and-we-can-fix-what-doesn't style and while negotiating with the Manager On Duty about following the ducks in the elevator he also says hey, you MUST say "Hello" to Nick and Charlie for ME, and by the way, the restaurant is across the street from the hotel. Uh huh. So off we go to have Dry Barbecue Ribs (ribs with special spices, not soaked in sauce) and I bring along some Polaroids of me and Earl fishing (See March 17). So I meet Nick and I give him regards from Earl and Daughn and show him some polaroids and he flips out. He saw Earl and me and my big trout, and when he heard about Daughn he was double flipped. "It's amazing" he said, "that you have met these people and ended up here at the Rendezvous". Not since the Point of View Restaurant in Jasper has there been such an appropriate name (See March 15). Are you still with me? The ribs are great, the people make you feel like you have been there all your life and there's all kinds of rooms and stuff on the walls. There's nothing fussy about the place and there's a scale at the front door, you weigh in and you weigh out. (I gained 2 pounds..and I don't mind). Everyone there is really comfortable with each other, from the guys who work the pit (Heavy D) to the manager, PJ. PJ showed us every room and even the roof, and everyone started giving us help and advice and suggestions of what to see around Memphis. The list grew longer and longer. Al Green's church, fishing for bass, sections of town from all different decades, clubs, and Nick even said that we should go use his cabin and he would COOK! I mean is this place amazing or what?

We stayed with Nick and PJ and the other folks until they closed up and locked the gate, swapping stories about Earl and fishing, and trying to figure out how we could do all the things there are to do in Memphis.

March 96 Trip