Memphis/Graceland

Bob and I spent an hour the morning we left Hot Springs getting another new tire put on Harriet. It seems that we are always in need of a tire, but at least Bob discovered an impending problem before it happened. We left town a little late, but we were safe.

As we traveled east, the hills and forests of Arkansas gave way to fields of rice, cotton and sugar cane. It was nice to see some new crops after so many miles of corn and soybeans in the Midwest. Did you know that 48% of the rice grown in the USA is grown here in Arkansas?  I didn’t. They call this area the Mid-South……hmmmmm. Seems like the North-South to me.

We camped at a nice RV park in West Memphis that is right on the Mississippi river. Bob really enjoyed watching the tugs pushing huge loads by at all hours of the day and night. The hum of those big engines is quite soothing. Unfortunately at night some plant that we can’t see must start up, because there has been quite a stench in the evening. It smells like cooking corncobs – yuck.  Both the shipping activity and the aromas reminded Bob a little of Tacoma.

Elvis's Living room

Paul Simon convinced me many years ago that I should go to “Graceland, Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee” – so we went and it was wonderful. They have saved so many of Elvis’s personal things, gold records, clothes, airplanes and household items. The mansion is still just as it was when he died 35 years ago. We also visited his gravesite. Bob and I were reminded that Elvis stopped doing live performances for about nine years while he was staring in movies, but he made his big comeback with a TV Special in 1968 that put him firmly back into the music scene. He had a huge influence on the entire world of music.

Balcony where King was shot

Memphis is the city of museums, but there was only one that we really wanted to visit – The National Civil Rights Museum housed in the Lorraine Hotel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. We spent all afternoon there and it was truly amazing. Our country’s journey to civil rights lasted for hundreds of years, but the events of the 1960s finally brought some results. It’s often easy to look back and think that things happened so quickly, but the struggles of the 50’s and 60’s were a long and arduous series of victories, setbacks and victories. I am always blown away by the history of the 60s and today was no exception.

How do you compare Elvis Presley with Martin Luther King Jr.? They both had a huge influence on America and the world, and they both died way too early in Memphis. It was a day of great history and remembering these men and their struggles and accomplishments.

We finished our day in Memphis with a stroll down Beale Street and had drinks, gumbo, jambalaya and gator chips at a local joint. Fun stop!!