days 3 and 4: oklahoma city to memphis, memphis to lexington

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We're still alive. And finally here in Lexington with an Internet connection!

Total miles traveled: 2,329
Total hours on the road: 35.5

I couldn't blog on the night of the OKC to Memphis leg because Nate and Cami's Internet decided to stop working the day we arrived. So I watched Twilight instead. Was that really Radiohead's "15 Step" that I heard during the end credits? I made it to the end credits? And is Thom Yorke really writing an original song for the sequel? I'm confused.

Memphis was nice. Humid. The ribs at Corky's were excellent—the meat fell right off the bone, the dry rub was really good, and the apple BBQ sauce was amazing. California, you know I love you, but you've got nothing on the South when it comes to BBQ.

And the South's got nothing on California when it comes to Mexican food. We tried a place next to our apartment called Mi Mexico. I get the feeling that the sauces on both our dishes came out of cans. My enchiladas with mole poblano was okay, but the sauce in TJ's camarones a la diabla tasted like sweet and sour sauce with Tabasco mixed in for a little kick.

I'm sure we'll find better, but I almost cried. I think everything just hit me at that moment: the crazy move, the exhausting road trip, the feeling of being in an unfamiliar place in which you're not sure you'll fit, the fact that our new apartment reeks of a smoker who used to live there.

We approached management about the apartment's condition and they're going to use an ozone machine on Monday morning to get rid of the smell. I'm not sure why they didn't think of doing this before we moved in. We're going to have to get a hotel room to stay in on Monday night while the machine does its thing.

We decided to do some work on the apartment ourselves since the housekeeping people won't be available anytime soon and we wanted to do something to improve the cleanliness levels in the meantime. The window blinds were pretty disgusting, so I scrubbed each slat one by one in the bathtub to get rid of the coats of nicotine and cigarette smoke. We've also gotten around to scrubbing the walls and windows in the living room and one of the bedrooms. Annoyance level: high. But once it's clean, the apartment itself will be really nice to live in. Can't wait to hook up that washer and dryer.

I do have some good things to say about Lexington. It's very green, and I can imagine how beautiful it will look in the fall. People so far have been really helpful and friendly to us. We drove through downtown last night to check it out, and it looked lovely. We'll have to go back and explore in the daytime.