From New Orleans was the long drive to Tennessee, and to Memphis. We arrived at Elvis Presley boulevard, and camped next to The Heartbreak Hotel. The Boulevard houses graceland, and many souvenir shops dedicated to the legend. We camped the night, and next morning was up early to tour Graceland. It was a musuem of the kings life, some rooms preserved as he had left them, others housing suits and awards from his illustrious career, a must for any music or Elvis fan to see. Then, around the back of the property is the family graves, including where he is buried, [View Full Entry]

---

---

well we have been to nashville and i can safely say that we are no closer to understanding what the hell shawn mullins meant when he sang "it's like nashville with a tan"...no idea what he is talking about.....i can report that its a ripper little town....country music everywhere...we drove all the way from hot springs arkansas, past memphis to nashville...a long way...we have now handed the car back and it was very sad...we travelled just under 1000miles in it and it felt like the 3rd member of the group...and its less smelly than kristian. hot springs was great..its where bill [View Full Entry]

---

---

This trip was spontaneity at its finest. I decided Thursday afternoon to take the train down to Memphis, filled up my iPod Friday morning with every song about Memphis I owned, and was on the Amtrak Friday night headed south. I was ecstatic; not only was Memphis reportably 30 degrees warmer than Champaign (it was unbearable in Illinois), but as luck would have it that weekend was to be the weekend of the annual Beale Street Zydeco Festival. I love Zydeco! It all seemed perfect. I would take the train Friday night, arrive at 6 AM in Memphis, grab breakfast and [View Full Entry]

---

---

There's no place like home for the holidays. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Katherine and I are back in the States in time for the holidays. I was really anxious about flying for so long with a toddler. When we first came to Germany, we had an overnight flight, so Katherine slept part of the way, but coming back to the States our 9-and-a-half-hour flight was during day-time, so I spent a lot of time planning in-flight activities. Here are some tips from me to other globe-trekking mothers of toddlers: 1) Prepare your toddler. Start reading picture books about air travel before you leave. You can even use pictures off the internet to make [View Full Entry]

---

---

Yesterday morning, we drove through the whole of Mississippi on I-55, passing through Jackson and on to Memphis in Tennessee. We ate at Corky's BBQ and then hit the town for some blues/soul music on Beale St. Today, we visted Graceland - a totally worthwhile experience and very well presented even if the decor was a bit 70s! Afterwards, Emma and I went off on our own and took a tour of the Gibson guitar factory - well cool - and I got to play a 6000 dollar axe. After some food at the Hard Rock Cafe we went for a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today was another beautiful day in Memphis. We got up early (5:30am) and had a nice breakfast.....then went to the 9th floor terrace at our hotel to look at the Mississippi River and enjoy the morning. We then drove to see Sun Studios....we didn't go on the tour although wanted to see this building anyway. The parking lot wasn't open yet as it was too early (9:00am). We then drove to the National Civil Rights Museum which is located at what used to be the Loraine Motel. This is the site of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination which took place on [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today was a beautiful day in Memphis.....high 80's with clear, sunny skies. Our plan today was to see Graceland in the morning and then spend the afternoon on Beale Street. With only 1 slight navigational error....we were completely successful. GRACELAND Kim and I enjoyed our visit to Graceland. We arrived early in the morning and we were among the only people in the whole place. We especially liked the house tour because everyone gets their own audio player with a headset so you can control the pace of the tour. You can pretty much wander around the house. We were allowed [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well, Kim and I made it safe and sound to Memphis, TN. We left this morning about 3:45am and arrived in Memphis around 2:00pm. We are pretty exhausted and won't begin any heavy sight seeing until tomorrow. We are planning on seeing Graceland and Beale Street! The drive from Fort Wayne to Memphis is about 600 miles and wasn't too bad. The states we visited today were: 1. Indiana (DOH!) 2. Illinois 3. Missouri 4. Arkansas 5. Tennessee The Illinois state police were out in force today....in a space of about 45 minutes we saw 4 state troopers and they were [View Full Entry]

---

---

We arrived on a 10 and a half hour overnight train (it was very cold!) in Memphis, collected our car, White Dodge Neon. Then we drove 367miles to a little place many of you will know called Lynchburg, this took us 5 and a half hours through hot, slightly lost and very winding lanes. We arrived at a lovely, quaint B&B, see photos. The following day we visited the Jack Daniel's distillery, the drive was worth the lovely smells alone! The tour was reallly interesting, although Guy would have prefered it if we could have done a little sipping, Lynchburg is [View Full Entry]

---

---