September 19, 2025

Oxford, Mississippi

University of Mississippi (aka Old Miss)

Good morning. It is a beautiful day, later it will be hot but right now at 07:00 it is really nice out. There is a Starbucks less than a quarter of a mile down the road from The Holiday Inn Express we are staying at. So, I walk down Heritage Drive to W Jackson Avenue and make a left and head to the Starbucks.

By 07:25 my cappuccino and Bacon and Gruyère Egg Bites have ordered. I didn’t make it a mobile but did an in store order thinking it wouldn’t take long, given this is a University town and the time of the day. Well, I was wrong. It took quite a bit of time to get my order. I received my cappuccino quick enough, but the egg bites seemed to take for ever.

This is a Starbucks “Reserve” location, which is supposed to mean it is extra nice and has premium service. Well, there are maybe ten Starbucks employees running around, and they do look very efficient but very slow. The drive-up window line of cars must be twenty cars long. It took an extra ten or so minutes to get my egg bites.

Afterwards I walked back to the hotel and got Mary up. Got a message from Rochelle that she was on her way from St. Louis, and is expected to arrive by about 11. We are meeting Grace about 13:15 for lunch followed by shopping.

Rochelle got here as expected just a few minutes after 11. We had managed to get her and V their own room. We walked over to Starbucks again to get some coffee and a snack before going to meet Grace. On the way back I stopped at the front desk and inquired about the readiness of Rochelle and V’s room. It was ready!

We moved Rochelle’s things into their room. Then we headed out to see Grace’s dorm room, got to lunch and go shopping. Grace lives in Minor Hall near the center of campus. The room is quite nice. It has a sink, separate room for a bathroom with a shower, and lots of storage. Nothing like the small hovels we lived in and walked down the hall to use the bathroom at. But, this is progress.

After seeing her room, we drove downtown and began the hunt for a parking place. The traffic is really bad, there were no spots in the city parking garage, so I suggested we do to the cigar shop which had dedicated shopping. I can go inside and have a cigar while they shop. On the way there we found an open spot and took it. I went to the cigar shop.

The ladies had lunch and did some shopping. After two cigars I texted them asking them where they were. On my way to meet them I stopped at the car and feed the meter. I met them at one of there shopping points on the main square. They had about twenty bags of things. So, I became the mule and carried their bags, mostly Grace’s bags, while they continued to shop. After a few more stores we stopped at Heartbreak Coffee Roasters and got drinks. Then it was back to the car and back to Old Miss to drop-off Grace at her dorm.

Rochelle, Mary and I went to a Kruger’s Supermarket to get some birthday candles for Harry V’s cake. Tomorrow is Harry V’s 21st Birthday. It should be recognized that Harry V was having a boat load of trouble trying to get to Oxford.

There is no direct plane service from Madison to Oxford. Harry was on American Airlines from Madison to Dallas Fort Worth, and then another American flight to Memphis, where he would get an Uber to Oxford. Well there was a thunderstorm in Dallas which was causing air traffic control issues. Then there was a large system outage in the southwest which shut down all air traffic in the area. American cancelled Harry V’s flights.

However, advanced planning pays off and alternative flights were already researched. He managed to get a United flight to Chicago, then another flight to Memphis. He arrived about forty-five minutes past his previously scheduled time. He was going to be here for his 21st birthday!

In the meantime, we picked up something for dinner at Kroger’s and went back to the hotel. Dinner consisted of the things picked up at Kroger’s. Rochelle decorated their room for Harry V’s birthday, even going to Walmart to pick up ballon’s. Knowing V would be here much before midnight, and that the celebration of his birthday would be midnight, I grabbed a nap.

I woke up about 10. V had landed in Memphis and would be getting into an Uber shortly. The planned rive should take about an hour and a half. Harry V arrived just after it had gone 23:30. We went to their room. He was surprised to see the balloons and Champaign ready to celebrate his birthday. More importantly he was hungry. It had been a long day for him and there aren’t many facilities at the Madison airport, the the layover in Chicago was just a fast change of planes.

Harry V ate some leftover lasagna. He cut his cake just before midnight and we toasted to his 21st birthday, just past midnight. I took off and went to bed.

Buonanotte e ciao,

Enrico e Maria