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Before arriving in Memphis on May 8, we stopped in St. Louis to visit my cousins, Judy and Andy. I am from St. Louis, and when I left there in 1955, I was more than happy to leave. Now, more than 45 years later, I found St. Louis to be a much more interesting place than I remembered. Like anywhere else, there have been a lot of changes and generally they seem to be for the better.

At Tower Grove Park we had Sunday brunch at the Palm Dining Room, which looked like a very large greenhouse. The buffet table held an extensive array of delectable dishes of meat, fish, and salads We visited Shaw's Gardens, which were a huge step up from the days of my youth when the park consisted of a bunch of trees with their names at the base of the trunks. There were myriads of beautiful flowers in bloom, small lakes, and ethnic gardens like the Japanese Garden, the Chinese Garden.

Enormous goldfish swam under a bridge and for 25 cents you could purchase a small container of food to feed them. Since every child and most adults had to do this, the fish have grown accordingly. There was a growing maze, which we all had to try. Needless to say, we eventually found out way out.  Saturday evening we went to a meeting of the Scott Joplin fan club in "The Pub Above" on Euclid Street. Joplin (1868-1917) was the leading composer of ragtime and gained his greatest fame from "Maple Street Rag," named for a saloon, the Maple Leaf Club, in Sedalia, Missouri. Probably unknown to most people, Joplin wrote 500 pieces of music, including a ballet and two operas. A number of people came up to the piano and played Scott Joplin ragtime tunes. Some were better than others. There were restaurants and bars up and down Euclid, many with outdoor tables. Obviously, this was a St. Louis "destination." We had dinner at one of the restaurants there. We left my cousins a little after 9 AM Sunday and drove to Oxford, Mississippi.

We visited with Ted and Maura, friends from Kurt's undergraduate days at St. Louis University. Ted has been teaching chemistry at "Old Miss" his entire career. Maura had prepared a fine dinner and we were given a quickie tour of Oxford. In the morning Maura took us on a more comprehensive look at Oxford, which is an exceptionally pretty small town, having much more in the way of shopping amenities than does Los Alamos. We first visited William Faulkner's home, but we were not able to go in because they were renovating. We walked all about the grounds. We had a very delicious lunch, catfish Po'Boys and shrimp 'n grits at "The Grocery Company" on the town square.

In the afternoon at one of the university's museums we saw some old scientific equipment. We took pictures of the prism and light apparatus, because our grandson did some light experiments for the science fair. In the evening we watched a video that Ted had taped on William Faulkner, which was particularly good, originally shown on C-Span, that showed the inside of the house in addition to the life of Faulkner, who never wanted to leave Oxford. When writing a screenplay in Hollywood, Faulkner complained he couldn't concentrate at the studio and wanted to work at home. The studio said "Fine." When they called his house in the Beverly Hills area, no one was there; Faulkner had gone home to Oxford, Mississippi to write. Thursday, May 8. We drove from Oxford to Memphis, had lunch at the Crab Cabin not far from the airport, obviously catering to locals, returned the rental car, and took a cab from the airport to the barge, passing the Memphis Bell, which is a World War II airplane. [If these sentences get too long, you can blame it on Faulkner!]

Continue to Part II.

Our Travel Page Index Part I. St. Louis & Oxford Part II. Memphis, the Barge, Jug Band Part III. Vicksburg Part IV. Natchez Part V. Baton Rouge and Onward Part VI. New Orleans