Memphis, Tennessee

BBQ, Music and Elvis

After leaving Gulf Shores Alabama, we made our way to Jackson, Mississippi for an overnight stay at the local Wal-Mart (free!). It was a long boring ride, mostly on county roads. Mississippi gets my vote for the worst roads we have encountered since leaving Michigan. (Georgia gets my vote for best roads, if you’re curious) We got an early start out of Jackson which was going to put us in Memphis around 2pm, plenty of time left in the day to play.

We had a one night reservation at ‘Elvis Presley Blvd Rv Park’, mostly because it was a Passport America campground and we were going to stay there for ½ price! That put us walking distance to Graceland. Now, neither of us is much of an Elvis fan, but how could we resist! The tour was pretty interesting. Graceland was smaller then both of us envisioned. One of the most interesting parts of the experience was the people watching! We witnessed one girls hands shaking, nearly frantic, as she entered the house. It was obvious, for some, this was a religious experience. Now, there’s no question Elvis was a great entertainer and had a HUGE influence on music, but we don’t really get the overly fanatic behavior over the King. In the end, we both did enjoy the tour of the house, the museum and Elvis’ airplanes. The pics above are of the infamous Jungle room, the legendary pink Cadillac and one of Elvis’ costumes.

The other 2 things you must do in Memphis, BBQ and music. After setting up the coach and getting Snuggles settled in (she needed a break after 2 long days in her travel box), we headed downtown. First stop, Rendezvous BBQ for ribs, baked beans, Cole slaw and cold beer, delicious! Then we roamed around the Beale street area. We stumbled upon a free outdoor concert, (put on by Southern Comfort) the Neville Brothers were headlining, however, after a long day of driving, we couldn’t last that long. So, we enjoyed 2 different opening acts that were both very good. One had an Island flavor, the other was a rock, jazz fusion. We headed back to coach for a good nights sleep around 9:30 (light weights, I know!!)

Sunday morning, we set out for Hot Springs, Arkansas. After 3 strong days of driving, we’ll spend a few extra days here to rest up, get an oil change in the coach, get laundry done, clean the coach(its amazing how fast small areas get dirty!) and explore the area. We are approaching the 1 month mark of the tour (November 5th). I’ll plan on putting together some stats and thoughts on the trip so far, and get them posted as the date nears.

Rich