Crossing the Mississippi

Originally published on October 5, 2011 on the old blog


Today's memories are brought to you by Adventurous Memories of a Nick, Larry, & Patsy. It was Oct of 1995, my boyfriend (soon to be husband and future father of my boys), his friend Larry and I made a trip to visit one of their friends living in Arkansas, Patsy.  Larry was home (KY) from the Army on leave, and the trip to Arkansas had been planned for a long time before Nick & I ever met. I got to tag along - cause I was the one with the car to drive. And hey, I'd never been out of the state for fun. First I got to meet Larry. We met in Middlesboro at Dunkin Doughnuts over coffee. Nick and Larry caught up on old times and I guess that's when I got my introduction as well. From what I can remember, I was pretty ditsy :-)

Nick told me Larry was always changing his look and declared that he had moved into the "Marlboro Man" phase.  He sported a cowboy hat, boots, and blue jeans. (This must have been a private joke, I thought. But after knowing Larry a bit more, I see what Nick meant by Larry's changing appearances. I like them, they keep life fresh and his wife now seems to love him this way!!)

So, back to the story, as non responsible adults, we had all neglected to check the weather before the trip.  There had been tornado warnings issued for west Tennessee, Arkansas, and other areas that we were oblivious to. On the long drive across Tennessee, we encountered high winds, heavy rains, and a great number of semi trucks driving very slowly. After hours of driving, we finally crossed the Mississippi river.
The bridge was huge, long, and just plain awesome. I asked what body of water we were crossing and Nick replied, "The Mississippi, of course." I was so excited! Larry was asleep in the back seat of my tiny Nissan Pulsar (that roared loudly with the muffler missing).

I'd never seen the Mississippi and just had to say hello to it! I rolled my window down, stuck my head out the window, and yelled as loud as I could, "HELLO MISSISSIPPI!" Rain water poured into the small car, pelting Nick, who was driving, in the face.  He laughed at first because I also drenched Larry sleeping in the back seat. Larry was startled awake by his sudden shower. LOL :-)  Sorry Larry :-)

After that little impulsive incident, my window was rolled up and locked from the drivers side :-(
Several miles later, I said I wanted to drive. Nick took the next exit and before I knew it, I was driving in Arkansas! Whoo Hoo!!  ...then...a state trooper pulled me over. He asked for my paperwork and then asked where I was from. I pointed down the road from whence we came and said, "From back 'air. Have you ever heared of a place called Knoxville? Well, if you go straight through downtown, the continue down Broadway and then Fountain City...". The officer raised his hand to stop my chatter and said, "Okay, where are you going in this tornado?"  At this point the officer thought I was mentally challenged and asked Nick to drive.

We made it to Jonesboro, AR in one piece with a police escort and the town was flooded. The low riding Nissan we were in amazingly plowed through water that came up to the door handle. I remember lifting my feet off the floorboard of the car - as if it would help, LOL!

We made it to Patsy's house safely, but that ride was totally amazing along the way!
Maybe I'll tell you about Beale Street and Graceland in the next edition of Adventurous Memories of a Nick, Larry, & Patsy :-)


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