Kase had said that Toyota is the only company he would be willing to leave his current company for (Gore). He told me on multiple occasions that he had his "dream job." He worked closely with one of his best friends, Ben McCabe (technically his boss). They vibe really well together, always having the same goals in mind, questioning and challenging each other while having similar thinking, and along with that a great friendship and values based around Christianity. At work, Kase had freedom to "define his own commitments." He worked for a great company that really valued people and put people before the business. But Kase also has a passion for lean manufacturing, where Toyota is known is the "King of manufacturing." He knew he could learn a lot from Toyota if he were to ever be employed there. He would just like to get in the doors and see if it really is all that it's made out to be, and see what he could pick up from it. He told me he wishes he could just be an intern for life, and just test out different companies for a few months to see what it was all about and learn what he could learn. Sorry baby...this is real life now :) He would like to do his own thing one day, and if he ever wanted to be a lean consultant, Toyota would definitely potentially be one of the best backgrounds to have. Kase also has an adventure side that I LOVE, and he wants to go see and experience different things in the world.
All this being said, Kase responded to Toyota letting them know he was interested, did a phone interview, and was flown out to Mississippi for a personal interview. Not sure why Kase did this, but when they emailed him of the locations in the US where there were positions opened, he said the only one he was interested in was Mississippi. I think they took that and ran with it (apparently no one requests Mississippi....). Anyway, I told Kase that if there was a possibility we might move to Mississippi, I wasn't doing it unless I had actually been there and experienced it. So, we booked me a flight to go with him. We did our research before hand of places we wanted to see and things we wanted to do. Kase called the Bishop in the ward there and got his advice on a few things, along with a number of a family I might be able to stay with (I was staying one more night than he was). We called up Elder and Sister Specht (Dave's parents) and let them know we were coming. He was excited, to say the least. I was also excited to go. I had never been to the heart of the South before!
Tupelo is known for being the birthplace of Elvis Presley, so of course we had to go see it. He was born and raised in this house. So small and humbling. There is a museum and other cool stuff we checked out too - they've made a Memorial type thing out of it.
A little gem we found while exploring. Kase decided he was over our adventures when he realized that chiggers are in the South and he might be getting some as we were walking in the tall grass, haha. He's never had one before. How is that even possible?
The ULTIMATE experience we had to have was some BBQ! We heard that Bishop's was a really good place, so we went there. It delivered. Although it was a little too much meat for me, but Kase thought he had "died and gone to heaven." Sampler platter..mmmm! Including fried green tomatoes, fried okra, gater taters, and oh so much more.
We went to a High School football game up in Memphis, TN (only an hour and a halfish away). This stadium was awesome. It was a white private school (I think it had some type of religious affiliation) with some token black recruits vs. a mostly black school. Kase did his research and found this game where both teams were ranked high and playing each other. It really was a good game. The black team pulled ahead at the end and won after being behind the whole game. Kase, again, thought he had died and gone to heaven.
Band is HUGE here. I thought it was only for the nerds? My cousin from Mississippi was saying that instead of people asking what position your kid plays on the football team, they ask what instrument your kids plays. There are big time competitions, scholarships, and all of the above. Crazy!
I LOVE real corn dogs :)
Kase couldn't get over this guy that looked like a "Harold Abell." He's not used to all the Preps in the South :)
We stayed the night at Memphis Inn. It was the most ghetto, scary-looking place I've ever stayed, and all due to me being so cheap. A lot of motels were full, but there was a decent hotel down the street that was open and was only like $13 more, but my Dad in me kicked in and I went the cheap route. We were fine obviously and I wasn't really scared or anything, but I guess I learned that $13 is worth your safety :) This place had bars all over every window, clearly run down, ghetto/blinged out cars going up and down the parking lot very slowly, BRIGHT lights - I mean you could've worn sunglasses in that parking lot and still been able to see at 11pm at night. Completely normal experiences for me growing up that I would've never thought twice about and it still didn't bother me much, but Kase is helping me be more cautious I guess. It's now one of our many jokes. Just one of those things we can look back on and laugh at. Yeah...good choice....good choice.
We decided to go to the Memphis temple (Tupelo's temple as well). It reminded us of the temple in the Tri-Cities and Monterrey - seems like the church built quite a few like these 3 all around the same time.
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At a cute little hometown restaurant in Arkansas, we got to try MMM MM CATFISH! I was surprised at how much I liked it! Then again, it's fried...so it tastes like a chicken strip but a tiny bit different. I was also reminded of how much I don't like hush puppies.
Kase wanted to drive through Arkansas and the Delta (his favorite part...just a bunch of cotton fields and soy beans), so we got to get a picture by this gem
AAND the highlight - going to the Texas vs. Ole Miss game!! When I found out Texas was playing at Ole Miss while we were there, it was done. Game over. We were going. And the flag that guy is waving is HUGE. I loved it. We were late and missed the tailgating which I guess is an experience in and of itself, but the game was awesome. Texas won, of course!
Although you can't tell, he was excited to be there :)
Kase left the next day (Sunday) and I stayed and left Monday. I stayed with the Thorderson families here in Tupelo (during the day with one and then at night with another). It was so nice to get to talk to people and feel like I connected with them - they were very nice. They are not from the Deep South, went to BYU, yadda yadda so I felt like I could relate to them a little more. It was so nice. What a fun trip! Oh, little did I know then....
