Southern by the Grace of God

I woke up on the 29th, It was 9 degrees here in Albany.
I started up my car and Drove over the Berkshire Extension of the New York Thruway (toll $.84),the Mass Pike (toll $.00), and I-91. at 0900 I got to Bradley, and checked in. I used the E-boarding pass, which promoted me to the "Trusted Traveler" status in the eyes of the TSA.
I wandered around for an hour and a half, until n645ae pulled up:

No First class on this bird, Port side is as good as it gets:

I had an 2 layover at o'hare. Strangely, My E-boarding pass would not work here. I had to resort to the old fashioned paper.


Before getting on N820AE, which is an Embraer 140, Inside, it looks about like any other ERJ:

But it only holds 45 passengers, versus 50 for a 145. The reason: American can pay the pilots less money. It's also rumored to be headed to the desert for conversion to coke cans as part of AA'a Bankruptcy.
Soon, we were crossing old man river:

Picked up my Kia soul from Alamo:

Which worked out pretty good, although the Hip-Hop Hamster are probably mad at me for hauling a walker in the back:

and headed off to have supper with Mother:

Coming back, I went to Beale Street, and stopped to say hi to the King:

and a parting shot:

So ended my walking in Memphis:

I really like Marc Cohn's video the best. I realize that it's a oft-coverd song, but his seems to capture my Memphis more the others, with out getting too Elvis-sy.Several good touches- the river boat, Lots of African-Americans(who seem to disappear on the numerous covers), shotgun houses, and the Boy wearing the Cardinals cap.
I dropped the Car back at Alamo, getting lost a couple of time along the way. What do you mean, they tore down the Mall of Memphis? Next thing, they'll bulldoze Stax studios:

Oh wait, they did that. And the Air Force repossessed the Memphis Belle, so all that's Left is this:

From 1-4-2012

and the pedestal where it stood on Central Avenue.
Anyway,Once the shuttle bus driver picked me up , she asked what airline I was flying.
"American." I responded
"American?! She replied "You talk like that, you should be flying Delta, like us. You going to Dallas?"
"New York State. Via Chicago."
This really threw for a loop, almost as bad as some of the folks living at the Parkview. Having tried and failed to convince her that New York State and New York City are two different things, I reverted back to more easy conversation.
And yes, my next trip down there will be on Delta.

A joke.
A Man dies in the Southeast. When he wakes up, He realizes that he is at the local airport, at the Delta gate, Saint Peter is standing behind the counter.
He approaches Saint Peter, who hands him a boarding pass.
"I noticed the arrival time has been delayed." The man says. "Is there anything I did?"
"Nah" Saint Peter answers "The Plane's coming here from Atlanta. There's thunderstorms there today. Delta's Chairman stubbed his toe and said something the Lord didn't like."
A little out of date, now that Delta and Northwest merged and Delta took over the Memphis hub. In case you're wondering Northwest got to Memphis by buying the original Republic, which in turn was a merger of Southern, North Central, and Hughes Airwest. Delta is not named for its logo, but for the Mississippi Delta, as it started out as Huff Daland Crop Dusters of Monore, La.
and, The king runs the Airport, too:

I was composing an e-mail, when I noticed the flight for Dallas was operated by N984TW. Can't get away from TWA.
My Flight to ORD was on N610AE, another ERJ145.
My future hometown (with the Grace of god):

Back at O'hare:

My Flight back to Bradley was not on the ERJ, but on the CRJ-700. Nice riding plane for a regional, despite the odd window arrangement(maybe picks next time).
Got back, and it was still cold. Still, it beats unemployment. That's what I keep telling myself.