Tom Sawyers RV Park, Memphis, Tennessee
When Joseph came home, they presented to him the gifts they had brought into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground. He asked them how they were, and then he said, “How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?” They replied, “Your servant our father is still alive and well.” And they bowed low to pay him honor. As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?…. God be gracious to you my son.” Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there. After he had washed his face, he came out and, controlling himself, said, “Serve the food.” ~ Genesis 43:26-31 Always one for details, I wondered if Joseph spoke Hebrew or used an interpreter again. I also wondered what the brothers thought when Joseph suddenly left the room. And what about this reunion made Joseph weep. I think Joseph was weeping for several reasons. Remember, when Joseph was sold, Benjamin was likely about ten years old. He’s now in his early thirties. Joseph remembers his brother as a child, and now he’s an adult, so it’s understandable that he’d be emotional. And then there’s the being sold into slavery issue. It seems obvious to me throughout this study that Joseph was aware of his father’s favoritism due to Joseph being the son of Rachel. Benjamin is also the son of Rachel. These are the only two children she had. Joseph may have been so relieved that Benjamin was still with the family (and not sold or killed by his brothers), it caused him to weep. It may have been a combination of both these reasons, and possibly include others as well. Weeping in front of subjects is most definitely not something a man in Joseph’s position would do. Have you ever had occasion to be so overjoyed at seeing someone it caused you to weep? I get teary-eyed every time we go back home.
This is the normal view out the bathroom window I show on our first morning.
But, the look out the windshield is great!
See the barge?
Went to church this morning, only to discover there was no church. They stopped meeting at 8:30, but neglected to put that on their website. So there we were . . . all dress up and no place to go. Other churches didn’t start until 10:30 or 11:00 (this one was 10:45). We went home, changed clothes and visited our home church online.
It was supposed to rain all day, but it didn’t.
We went to a free car show in Memphis because Blaine is contemplating replacing the Jeep. There’s weren’t a ton of cars, but they had the ones he’s been looking at – a new Wrangler, a Jeep Gladiator, and a Ford Bronco.
We were headed for a Park we’d read about that has a to-scale, concrete walk along the Mississippi, when we got waylaid. From the expressway, we saw this gigantic pyramid! Turned out to be a Bass Pro Shop! So we figured out how to get to it so we could check it out.
All I can say is – you may have seen Bass Pro before, you may have seen Cabela’s before, but they don’t hold a candle to this place! It was huge, and lit up, and the entire place was decorated like a Cypress swamp in Louisiana. They had a restaurant and even a lodge. And more stuff for sale than you could shake a stick at.
They even have an elevator to an outdoor overlook of the city (for $8/per person). It’s 321’ tall (32 stories) and the base is the size of five football fields.
The installation of 8,384 stainless steel panels that function as The Pyramid’s “skin” began on Oct. 30, 1990.
The cost: $65.5 million in public funds, and about $4.5 million in private funds.
Guess what? It wasn’t originally a Bass Pro Shop. It started its life as an entertainment venue, hosting music and sports, and things. I wondered why public funds were involved!
The Pyramid opened more or less officially on Nov. 9, 1991, with a concert by mother-and-daughter country artists Naomi and Wynonna Judd.
The Bass Pro Shops hosted its grand opening on April 29, 2015.
After we walked out and closed our gaping mouths, we got back on track and headed to the Mississippi River Walk on Mud Island. It was difficult to get to, and equally as difficult to actually find the entrance of the Park.
That’s the Visitor Center on the right.
The $63 million Mud Island River Park opened in July 4, 1982.
What a fantastic work of art and education! But it’s really run down. The woman at the Visitor Center said that any water we’d find today would just be rain water. “That’s fine” we said.
After we got home, I did a bit of research to see if I could discover what happened.
Seems lack of use led to its demise. There used to be a tram that ran under the bridge (see the pictures), but they closed that in 2018. They also more or less closed the Park then too. Meaning, they stopped filling it with water, and made no more repairs. We saw a few people, but very few when we were there. It’s really too bad. I hope they decide to revive it one day soon.
And then, at some point after we returned home, I sneezed. Now I know you’re wondering what the big deal is. Well, it turned out to be a huge deal! I was standing in the middle of the floor, when it suddenly came upon me and was so hard, it doubled me over at the waist, and a very sharp pain stabbed the right side of my head – like someone stabbed an awl into it. And I can tell you now that the intermittent pain continued for at least three days, and on into more. Not sure how long because I can only predict the future to the extent that I’m behind on the blog. 😊
Let’s just say, every time I move my head too quickly – sneeze, cough, stand up quickly, walk too heavy, etc. – it hurts in the same place. A lot. So weird! I’ll fill in more about it in a few days.
We received more pictures of Matthew today – from Eastertime. He’s lost his dark hair and his mom, Elise, says it actually has some red in it now. Oh, boy! Another Blaine! 😊
