Day Fifty-Three: Little Rock - Memphis, TN

Tío woke up bright and early, ready to play, and just in time for us to say goodbye to Mac and Amelia before they left for work. Frieder was still around for the day, and he joined us on a morning stroll to the grocery store, where we picked up all the fixings for a breakfast of champions. We took turns holding Tío while walking, all the while sharing stories of common experiences we had shared on the roadside, from angry hillbillies to unbelievably friendly strangers. Frieder highlighted the similarities and differences he’d noticed between Germany and America, especially stressing the unfamiliar nature of the South and its traditions, and might I note, he explained it all in impeccable English. By the time we had walked to the store and back, we finished an entire tray of cookies (the small ones that look like Oreos, but taste sub-par, sort of like cardboard, but still delicious for whatever reason) and our arms were loaded with pancake mix, syrup, bacon, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, and coffee.

We let ourselves back into Mac and Amelia’s house and took over the kitchen to prepare a breakfast for kings. We ate enough pancakes to feed an army, then watched ESPN with Frieder before packing up the U-Haul for our short drive to Memphis. The U-Haul was due for drop-off by 7 p.m., and although we were way ahead of schedule, we wanted to beat traffic and make it into the city in time to spend the afternoon with my sister. We said a bittersweet goodbye to Frieder, as we had enjoyed his company more than he knew, and made sure to exchange contact information so that we could keep each other posted on our journeys. He nuzzled Tío once more and walked us out to the car, smiling a humble, close-mouthed smile as we pulled out of the driveway and headed on our way.

Getting out of Little Rock was an absolute disaster; apparently we’ve lost all ability to navigate by car, and therefore took a roundabout route through the entire city, weaving and winding through narrow streets in our mammoth truck, the bikes rattling in the back. We made it out alive, however, and from there the drive passed quickly, as we were entertained by Tío’s cuteness and a cooler full of snacks and drinks. We arrived in downtown Memphis around 4:30, the same time as my sister, and parked the U-Haul at the pickup location so that we could put our rigs on her bicycle rack. That was when she saw her new baby, Tío, for the first time—and oooooh, let me tell ya, she fell in love.

She cringed and squirmed in that way that can only be described by seeing a tiny puppy do something so ridiculously cute that it makes you want to wrap it in your arms and squeeze it like a stress ball. Tío sat in her lap as we navigated through Memphis, hoping that Katie would pay more attention to the road than to the fluff ball who was trying to lick the steering wheel. We had booked a room at a La Quinta about 15 miles east of downtown (or so I thought), so we headed through traffic in that direction, and arrived promptly just to come to find that we had showed up at the wrong location—that was my fault… oops. Luckily, the front desk employees took pity on us after we milked our situation a bit, and they switched our reservation location, and minutes later we walked into a cozy carpeted room that unfortunately had a somewhat dingy smell about it (it was a pet room), and we let Tío loose to roam the room and smell every inch of its footage while we relaxed and turned on the TV. Katie laughed at literally every single joke that was cracked on the cheesy sitcoms because she had just returned from South America the day before, and was apparently TV deprived. That girl had the gigs.

Towards the end of the night, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings, since it was one of the last restaurants still open, and we ate on the outdoor patio so that Tío could have free range on the ground, which I’m fairly sure was completely NOT okay, but hey, no one complained. We ordered nachos and wings and margaritas, which tasted like juice, then made a round trip right back to the hotel room, FaceTimed our parents so they could meet the pup, then went straight to bed and passed the torch to Katie to take care of Tío’s intermittent whimpering, which is still ridiculously adorable.