Memphis was HOT!!!!! But it was a good trip to see Ryan and tour the FedEx facility.
Friday - we left KK at 7 AM, stopped for a Starbucks fix in Bloomington and on our way. 463 miles and while the first 2 hours were cloudy, the sun came out and the heat came on! Stopped in Portageville, MO for lunch at Katie's Diner - there were lots of fish specials - our waitress said "every Friday we have "Fish Friday - we are a Catholic town and fish is very popular"! Catfish, fries, cole slaw, ham 'n bean soup and hush puppies - a LOT of food! A big portion of the trip after lunch was 102 on the car thermometer.
Kept on heading south (I-55 all the way) and arrived at our hotel around 1:30. Checked in with Ryan who was taking a jet to New Iberia, Louisiana for a paint job. And it was the "Ryan jet"! Some of the planes are personalized with a name that goes into a lottery system. Ryan flew back with a newly painted "Joseph".
Ryan ready to take off for New Iberia, LA in the "Ryan" jet
Our hotel was on Beale Street, the heart of Memphis for music, restaurants, bars, etc. Mark and I went to our hotel rooftop for drinks - very nice but waaaay too hot to sit outside. Nice area inside, too, with refreshing AC.
We walked and he drove to SOB (South of Beale). So good to see him and we enjoyed our dinners with Michael our server. Made plans for tomorrow's "Family Day" and tour. He brought us back to the hotel - still in the 90's.
Ryan, Mom and Dad at SOB
Saturday - Mark, the dear, went downstairs to the lobby to get me a latte. We checked out of the hotel and drove to Ryan's. He lives about 13 miles from the airport and drove us in Ruby. These 2 four-hour tours were 9-1 and 1-5 and held one day each year. What they didn't tell us is that you could come any time in that 4-hours and stay for as little or long as you want. It was beastly and most of the activity was either in the huge hangar (big fans) or outside. Ryan knew we would want to see the planes he flies (757 and 767) and Philip will be flying the 757. So we were able to walk around the huge area where the 5 jets were parked and avoided the long lines (lots of children there and of course, they wanted to go on all the planes) 😃
There really wasn't much else to do (lots of kiddie activities, music, food, etc.) but kinda disappointed we didn't get to see the HUB where the packages are sorted and loaded into the metal containers and then put in back of plane. But since there are no packages on the weekend and they are building 2 new HUBS, the construction sites would've not been feasible to accommodate that many people. They were expecting 10,000 (that would be the families and employees who volunteered). They did have lots of bottles of water. Mark had been on a plane 8 years ago when Ryan had orientation but this was new for me to see how the metal bins are automated and put on conveyors (rollers) to fit in plane. Amazing.
Driving around Memphis took us past the huge St. Jude children's Hospital complex - they are doing a massive addition! Mark and I were there a few years ago but it is sooo HUGE with several cranes and equipment
FedEx has 530,000 employees world wide and 35,000 in Memphis. There are over 5,000 pilots. The huge grounds are something to see. Since we were finished early and well before 1:00, we left and Ryan took us to his house - bye bye for a few weeks till we're at Lake James and then we were on our way - temp, still 102.
I'm in the left seat (Captain Ryan) of the 757
Mark in the right seat (First Officer Philip - when finished with training)
Inside the jet and where the metal bins with all the packages are
One of the bins and some packages (usually full)
We shared the driving coming and going - stopped in Marion, Arkansas for iced coffees at Tark's. Later in Benton, MO for supper.
Ryan left around 4:30 yesterday for a flight to Seattle - unusual as they do not usually fly on the weekend? He had no idea what the cargo was. Coming soon, FedEx will be flying a panda from China to Atlanta!!!
We were happy to be home around 6 last night.
Happy 28th Anniversary to Michael and Brooke
Sunday - dreary day with rain off and on We picked Anne up (she and Liam had been to the cemetery this morning) - today is 7 years since Patrick passed away. Liam then went back to Iowa City. We'll see him in 2 weeks.
We were off to Champaign and picked Connor up at the Newman Center after 9:00 Mass. Sunday mornings are VERY popular for folks going to breakfast and the place we had wanted to eat - Maple and Yolk (Anne did call-ahead seating) said there were 89 parties ahead of us! We ended up going to the Apple Dumplin' on the outskirts of Urbana. Home cookin' and their specialty is Apple Dumplings - we had wanted to take some home but they had already sold out and the new batch would not be ready for a while. This was sign above kitchen...
# of apple dumplins' sold since 1985
Pat, Mark, Connor, Anne
Our breakfasts were very good - everything made from scratch. We took Connor back to the house he shares with 4 other guys and back to Bloomington. Dropped Anne off and we came onto KK.
Had some rain off and on but heaviest was around 5.
New states are California, Colorado and Kansas.
So happy for Connor as he received a Co-op offer to work for Toyota next semester in Princeton, Indiana. Very exciting and great experience - his major is Industrial Engineering.
Luke and Maeve in the flowers
Spectacular sunset over the mountains in Banner Elk
Tonight we had 9 on family zoom...missing Janet and Marilyn. The usual chatter and laughs! We gals are looking forward to Sisters' Weekend coming the 25-27th at Doris's Wisconsin lake home,Enjoy your week!
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