In an effort to balance challenge and athleticism with comfort and rest, we decide on a warm showers stay in Tupelo. The host whom Tom contacts already has a guest staying with him, but he refers us to his friends who sometimes accept his "overflow" guests. Enter Mary Howard and Stephen King. Mary Howard and Stephen live in a big rambling ranch house with their three beautiful and well-behaved pups and more than one cat. Both of us felt immediately at home in their house. They have three grown children and their oldest son is an adventurer named Daniel. Stephen amd both his sons are Eagle Scouts. Like Tom, he continues to be involved in scouting. Stephen is the town veterinarian and Mary Howard was recently ordained an Episcopal deacon. Not long ago, she left a stint as Montessori preschool teacher and is involved in training Christian educators in using a Montessori curriculum for Sunday School. Wow! We definitely connected with these folks.
Mary Howard made a super-delicious pasta and crawfish supper and some killer fudge brownies for dessert. We shared a prayer and a meal and although we come from such distant parts of the country and have different backgrounds, we found our values and interests aligned and I cherish the time we had together. This warm showers stay gave us much more than a chance to do laundy and a safe place to sleep.
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| Stephen, Mary Howard, Rufus, Julia, and Tom |
Rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow and so we book a Airbnb for the next two nights a few miles from the King's house. The Natchez Trace is not the place to be riding in the rain since there are very few opportunities to get under cover. We spend one whole day just reading and knitting and watching NetFlix documentaries. We left our bikes at the King's and it is too lousy outside to even walk to the coffee shop. The following pictures were all taken the next day after the rain stopped and we retrieved our bikes. It was a beautiful blue-sky day to explore downtown Tupelo. We did not go see the Elvis birthplace complex, but we did have fun checking out the town.
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| There are artsy guitars all over town. They double as excellent bike racks. |
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| We park our bikes outside Tupelo Hardware and go for a tasty lunch at K.O.K., Kermit's Outlaw Kitchen. |
http://kermitsoutlawkitchen.com/ uses local ingredients to create farm to table meals. It has limited hours, but if you find it open be sure to eat there. We save room for dessert because another local favorite is Simply Sweet by Margarete. This bakery is not on the main street but it is worth following the bakery smells to find.
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| Lemon pecan bars are one of Margarete's best sellers. The crust is amazing. |
For about 90 years
Tupelo Hardware has sold just about everything.
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| The shelves are laden with everything you could ever need. |
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| The store is famous for selling Elvis's mom her son's first guitar. |
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| This famous son is all over town |
That evening we Uber out of the Airbnb to hear some music and eat some more good southern cooking. Although, honestly, it will be hard to top Mary Howard's made up pasta recipe loaded with crawfish.
The Blue Canoe is actually open on a Monday night, has over 100 beers to choose from, and offers live music. Sold! It does not disappoint although I can't remember the last time I willingly ordered a beef and pork burger covered in lots of bacon. Tom and I share the fried black eyed peas with Old Bay for our appetizer. It is served in a pint mason jar and is could easily become an addiction for me.
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| The Lazy Magnolia draft is top notch. |
In Tupelo, Mississippi it is hard to escape Elvis.
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| He is everywhere. |
Tomorrow, we will head back to the Natchez Trace Parkway and continue traversing Mississippi through the homelands of the Chocktaw and Chickasaw and the even more ancient peoples before them. The forest is so quiet; their presence is easy to feel and their voices to hear.
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