http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from North America , United States , Tennessee , Memphis en-us Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:22:18 BST Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:22:18 BST Suggested Listening for this Entry To get a real feel for today's Beale St. you'll need to go hear a rather pedestrian blues RB bar band somewhere. The band may have a good singer or a couple of decent musicians but nothing about the band will overly impress you because you can only hear so many covers of Mustang Sally and Pride and Joy. With that said I'll suggest you harken back to http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-332956.html Suggested Listening for this Entry Bear Cat by Rufus Thomas Three O'Clock Blues by B.B. King and How Many More Years Howlin' Wolf Boogie by Howlin' Wolf Suggested Food and Drink for this Entry No food. Just a smooth drink of Courvoisier.Although Beale Street was created in 1841 it's influence on the American music scene began in 1905 when musician W.C. Handy moved to Beale St. fro http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-332955.html Suggested Listening for this Entry Mystery Train by Little Junior's Blue Flames aka Junior Parker Get Rhythm by Johnny Cash Haunted House by Gene Simmons no not Kiss' Gene Simmons Respect by Otis Redding and Love and Happiness by Al Green.Suggested Food and Drink for this Entry Find a real old school diner. Order a cheeseburger fries and a large coke. If you're feeling fies http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-332953.html Suggested Listening for this Entry Rollin' Into Memphis by Dash Rip Rock Memphis in the Meantime by John Hiatt Sure Smells Like BBQ by Big Joe and the Dynaflows and Smokie Part 2 by the Bill Black Combo. Suggested Food and Drink For this Entry Slow smoked pork ribs and a few ice cold longneck beers.Seeing there is no entry about the great time I had kicking it with Lil' Ed and Blues I http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-332950.html The Mississippi Delta was shiningLike a National guitarI am following the riverDown the highwayThrough the cradle of the civil warI'm going to GracelandGracelandIn Memphis TennesseeI'm going to GracelandAxel was sent to Memphis Tennessee to assist with a lateral promotions board for two weeks. In the middle Laurie flew in on her way back from Maryland to check out Graceland and enjoy a few s http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-329888.html Day 84 SaturdayAside from the fact that I have long wanted to visit New Orleans for it's own sake as a unique and fascinating city I was really imressed to to see various aspects of the Mississippi River. The location New Orleans is interesting...between the final curves of the river and the amazing Lake Pontchartrain...so extensive and with such amazing long bridges across. These are things http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-325756.html The home of rock 'n' roll and more importantly the birthplace of blues. To sum up Memphis in one word i think we'd go for great We planned to stop here mainly because it broke up our trip from chicago to new orleans but it turned out to be in my view at least the best stop in the US so far. The place we stayed was a slightly decrepit motel that was in the middle of being renovated but it http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-307880.html After a difficult evening and not much sleep we took to the road a bit later than usual in search of breakfast. Fortunately we found a diner en route with coffee which lightened the mood a bit. This was to be another long day of driving because our goal was to reach the campgrounds by midafternoon. We pulled in about 530 or so local time we forgot that Tennessee covers 2 time zones and http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-303002.html Knoxville to Memphis and everyone is getting used to traveling. Rowan sleeps with her head on the cooler Biscuit likes to be the copilot and often seems to think Mark can't drive without his head over Mark's shoulder surveying the road. Piper has been watching movies and reading when we haven't been annoying her with Look Piper Cows As we were driving down Hwy 40 West we see a pi http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-299649.html Heather SaysReally really wish we had more time hereThis town has such an awesome vibe... we start with early dinner on Beale Street the hottest street in town at one of the many Blues Bars followed by a ride in a horse pulled carriage to take in the scenery and nightlife.Brendan SaysHeather skipped the fact that this dinner was our first real fried dinner.... bust was awesome check out th http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-299120.html I hope that there are people out there still keeping track of us Yesterday we had a full day in Memphis. There were so many different things to do that we had to make some tough choices. We visited the Stax Museum first which is a music museum about soul music. Chris is by far the most educated of us all when it comes to music so he chose this particular one to visit. It was really a neat museum http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-298943.html After a brief stop at what was advertised as one of Arkansas most excellent flea markets in Little Rock it was OK we drove on...When we noticed that the road up to Chicago was going to take us right to Memphis we couldn't resist stopping at Graceland to do the real tour. A few years ago we drove through Memphis and arrived too late for the actual tours and we just took some photos at the famous http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-297182.html Michael and I made it to Memphis on July 3 2008. We spent that night at the Heartbreak Hotel and returned to Nashville the evening of July 4. The Hotel is next to Graceland. Being a TripleA member got me a discount. We toured the mansion. It was my first time in Graceland since Karen and I were there nearly 26 years ago. I thought it was good for Michael since he was born and grew up in Tennesse http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-296252.html Memphis and Graceland http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-294228.html HowdyRight guys we've travelled through Mississippi Tennesse and we're staying in Arkansas. All by our new hire car and guided by our sat nav called Jackie. We went to Graceland today which far exceeded my expectations.We also went to Sun Studios which was so atmospheric. Really great to learn about the history of the records and how people like Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash made it big. Driv http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-293371.html Memphis27th May The now so very familiar Greyhound service took us West along the Music Highway to Memphis home of the blues and birth place of Rock 'n' Roll. While in Memphis we were staying in an odd Hostel called Pilgrim House. It was nice and cheap but every day each 'guest' had to do a chore. On the way back from grocery shopping we got chatting to a guy called George who bought us a be http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-286751.html Trip Drive from Nashville TN to Congress AZParticipants Nikki Nancy Ryann and KyleBookontape The Subtle Knife by Philip PullmanSurprise surprise We actually headed out ON TIME Well okay... we were 4 minutes behind schedule. The little Chevy Malibu was loaded down and the weather reports were not promising. A slow moving pressure front combining with warm moist air from the Gulf http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-281054.html De store vidders landTuren har bestemt taget en ny vending siden vi sidst bloggede...Temperaturen er steget betydeligt og tidszonen er skiftet turene er blevet lngere menneskene sdere og vores tempo og oplevelseskadence er for nedadgende og det var jo et eller andet sted meningen med det hele. Ungerne gr i skole nsten hver dag og lrer dels om USA dels i de medbragte matematik og danskbg http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-278143.html Hi everyone firstly let me just say thanks to all of you that has emailed me so far. It's been a bit hectic and sorry I haven't yet managed to reply I will do so once I get settled on the organised part of my trip.On the second leg of my bus journey to Memphis I encountered Michael Crawford a 52 year old guy from Ohio. He was quite funny and managed to keep me awake chatting from 11pm to 1am http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-275643.html So who bet on the Cherokee being down Who came up with the idea anywaysDoes superstition mean anythingSo the Bendix starter assembly is snapped. Valerie the mechanic and an IA at the airport lent us her tools. Bill Hughes and Dan headed to a warehouse south of Memphis in the loaner car to pick another one up. 7 hours down 17 to go. The bill's going to Joe Stubbelfield. http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-273214.html Flight planning at 645 AM local.Arrived at M04 by 910 AM local.Flight plan filed at 930 AM local.Dick and Ruth taxied out first.Bob and the 9BA Crew had the engine started secondMaybe hussling can get 9BA in close thirdWell no one's going anywhere.Bill Hughes walked over.Starter's gone.Bob signaled to cut the engine off.Donna thought she had screwed something up royally.Fumbled her way thr http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-273163.html 'Twas an hour before the scheduled C2C kick off when all through the Airpark all the C2C crew was scurrying about looking for Bob's office keys. The CFC credit card was in the office.Finally when Bob found the keys in one of his numerous bags and had the card in hand Dick and Ruth took off in the Cardinal at 1038 with Dan Geoff and Bill Hughes behind them in the Cherokee. Bob and the 9BA Cr http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-272986.html An actual real day off an everything. One where I could go out and not make phone calls We slept in which was pretty much amazing. All the kids plus the other flew to Florida at like 3. Rachel Beth Garry Bev and Florence are still here with me. The joke all day has been that Garry had 5 dates for Valentinersquos Day WootWe went into Memphis and dropped off Rachel Beth and Florence http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-246403.html The journey South from St Louis gave plenty of indications that I was heading down into the Bible belt roadside billboards with Bible quotations people wearing non ironic Jesus related t shirts and fields of gravestones symbolising the number of babies 'murdered' through abortions in the state of Tennessee on a daily basis. All of which freaked me out a bit I have to say.When I arrived in Memphi http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-234197.html Karen and I went to Memphis November 12 13 1982. The Elvis legend is the one thing which had assumed a new dimension since I was there in June 1977. Little did I know then that he had only two more months to live. Graceland is open to tourists now and for 5 bucks apiece we were escorted through several rooms. Karen liked the gold piano. We saw the TV room with the 3 sets one for each channe http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-233107.html After leaving the Grand Canyon Jason and I had a lovely days rest with Rio in Albuquerque. You can't go wrong with home cooked Mexican food and movie nights. We visited Santa Fe during the day and I fell in love with several pairs of handmade cowboy boots in a shop called Back at the Ranch check out the gorgeous kicks at www.backattheranch.com. I want a pair so bad They are all hand made an http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-229686.html This onersquos for Anne who likes to have a daily updateYesterday I asked for my first doggy bag ldquohow commonrdquo I hear you all cry but the fruit platter I ordered for breakfast wasnrsquot so much 5 a day but more like 15 a day and enough to feed a small family. However itrsquos now sitting on the desk and Irsquom sure will become a very tasty fruit punch before I get to eat i http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-227842.html Yes you guessed it today we headed off to Americarsquos biggest tourist attraction Graceland. We both thought it would be a lot tackier to be honest I guess wersquoll leave the real glitz for Las Vegas.The actual house is a lot smaller than you would imagine but he did add a lot of outbuildings to the back and it was the largest house in Memphis when he bought it. The dcor remains the same http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-227678.html Arrived in Memphis after a 2 hour drive through Tennessee from Nashville weatherlsquos turned a bit colder now so once again the sandals have been relegated to the suitcase and the Uggs have been dusted off. After decamping our suitcases at 3.00 we decided to go for our usual new town preamble aiming for Beale Street the centre of downtown with its live music bars and soul cuisine galore in o http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-227418.html