Memphis, Tennessee - 2

Tuesday morning we decided to get our showers and head over to Memphis to look around. On the way out of the campground I took the following picture showing how high the water got here at the campground in May 2011 when the Mississippi river flooded this area. All the campground was underwater as you can see in the picture.

 

We decided to start out by going to Sun Record where Elvis first recorded "That's Alright Mama".. After finding a place to park we walked over to see the studio where it all begin. After looking around outside we ventured inside. The bottom of the place is now a bar where they sell souvenirs and other items from several of their famous recording stars. They have a tour, but we didn't take it and as we were getting ready to leave a Big tour bus stopped and started letting people off. We headed for the car and decided to drive over and find a parking place near Beale Street and do some sightseeing around the area. Here's a few pictures of Sun Records.

 

 

When we left Sun Records and headed over to Beale Street we had to stop at a stop light, look what was stopped at the light on the other side.

Got to keep making those deliveries so I can continue to get my pension check!

After driving around we found a park and pay space on the street good for 2 hours. After parking we set off to find a rib place called Rendezvous. One of the entrances in on a back alley between 2nd street and 3rd street.  In a few minutes we had found the alley and walked to Rendezvous to partake of some Memphis style dry ribs cooked over charcoal. When we got in we were told that they don't formally do lunch ( they open at 4:30pm ) but if we just wanted ribs, coleslaw and beans they would serve us. We said okay, that's what we came for and they led us to a table, sure were a lot of people there eating ribs for a place that doesn't open until 4:30pm. In just a few minutes we had a plate of Memphis style dry rub ribs and the fixings to go with them.

 I can honestly say this is not what we had expected.  Ribs seemed on the dry side and meat did not fall off the bones.  The coleslaw was heavy with vinegar some may prefer that but not us. This meal did not live up to our expectations so we continue our search for some fall off the bones Memphis Style Ribs!  (Charlotte)

When we had finished we left and walked over to the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks that swim in the fountain in the hotels lobby. It was around 3pm so they would be there until 5pm when they leave the fountain, march through the lobby on Red Carpet to the elevator and go upstairs to their quarters. Looks just like any other ducks to me, but I'm sure they're different. We stayed at the Hotel for a little while longer just wandering around taking in the sights.

We left the Peabody Hotel and walked a couple blocks to the famous Beale Street. There wasn't much going on around 3pm, but I'm sure its a crazy place to be after dark. The street is blocked off to traffic so everyone walking in the streets and sidewalks while listening to various styles of music being played in establishments along both sides of the street. We walked both sides of the street and went into one store just to browse around. About this time we were getting HOT as the temperature was around 90 degrees and no clouds. We were both getting tired from the heat and walking so we decided to return to the car as the 2 hours parking was just about up.

There was one other thing we decided to do and that was to drive over and see the place where in 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated while staying in Memphis. Not only is this part of the history of Memphis but it's also part of America's history. Here are a few pictures of the Lorraine Motel  where Dr. King was staying when he was killed. The Hotel had been closed and transformed into a Civil Rights Museum.

It was getting late in the day and we hadn't fed Mysti or let her out so we decided to call it a day and head back to the campground. When we got her fed we decided to sit outside and enjoy the breeze for a while. It was time to come inside when the bugs started coming around, so we retreated to the RV where I watched a little TV while Charlotte was on Facebook.

More to follow!

Memphis, Tennessee

I slept in until 7:30am central time ( which is late ). After Charlotte got up and we both had showers we ate a little breakfast. Charlotte took Mysti for her morning walk while I took care of paying a couple bills online. Isn't online banking great!!, I'm able to pay a couple of our bills over 1000 miles from home.

When all the chores were done we decided to head over to Graceland ( Elvis's home ) and walk around the shops across the street. After we got into the car the low tire pressure light and warning came on, you've GOT to be KIDDING!! Well it was the same tire that we had fixed in Crossville. The display showed that the tire only had 6lbs of air in it, told Charlotte I wasn't even sure we could make it to a station to put air in it. I took it slow and we finally got to a station where we could put some air in it. I filled it up to 40lbs more than enough to last until we got some place to get it fixed again. As Charlotte was trying to get an address for a tire shop, a thought came to me. Hey, we have On Star, wonder if they can find us a tire store that repairs flats. I rang them up and explained we needed a Firestone tire store that fixes flats. I told her I wanted Firestone just in case we had to buy a tire they could match it as all 4 tires on the car are Firestone. Well, she said she had found a store about 5 miles away and if I could hang on she would call them and explain the problem to them. She put me on hold and in about 3 minutes she came back on line after talking to them, she confirmed that they sell tires and repair them. We both were amazed and said Thank You as she downloaded the directions to our car. NOW that is what I call CUSTOMER SERVICE !!

WE followed the directions and pulled into the store. I went in and told the service guy we had a tire going down and asked if he could he fix it. At this point the guy looks at me and asked if I had someone to call them from On Star. I told him yep, he said that the person explained to him about the tire, asked if they could fix it and asked if they could expedite the repair so we weren't being held up. Again WOW ! I'll never be without ON Star again, just me, but they came through and sealed the deal in how they handled this situation.

One on their tire guys came out, jacked up the car and took off the tire. He dismounted it so he could look inside and see what the problem was. He came back and showed me the patch the other tire store had put in had came loose and it was leaking air. He smiled and said the patch he was going to put on wouldn't come loose. From the time we limped into the gas station to get air till we got it fixed and were on our way it was a grand whopping 45 minutes!!!!

We arrived at Graceland, walked around the shops and then had lunch at The Chrome Grill one of the restaurants owned by Elvis Presley Enterprises. We shared some cheese nachos with a little pulled BBQ, jalapenos and lettuce, it sure was good. Charlotte did a little shopping for some of her friends that belong to the Renowned Ravishing Ladies of the Elvis Presley Sisterhood ( whew !! ) We didn't go to Elvis's house Graceland because we've been before and decided to wait to do the tour again at a later day.

While walking around the shops we spotted a large collage of Elvis on the outside of a building, turns out it's Fan Mosaic collage made out of small pictures. Last year when Charlotte and the other Renowned Ravishing Ladies came to Memphis for Elvis week they had sent in photos of  themselves to be included. It took a little while, but we found all the RRLs in the picture.

After all this activity we decided to return to the campground. On the way we stopped at McDonald's to eat supper. both to tired to cook. After feeding Mysti, taking her for some exercise, watching a little television we hit the bed.

More to follow !!

Leaving Crossville, Tennessee

We got up early on Sunday morning, got our showers, dressed and started breaking camp. We were leaving Crossville after spending time with our friend Jackie and her husband Jim. As they say all good things must come to an end so we move on to Memphis, Tennessee.

Our drive of about 338 miles was tiring, but uneventful (nice !). We arrived in the afternoon at the park where we be staying.  We're at Tom Sawyer's Mississippi RV Park in West Memphis, Arkansas. This park is located on the other side of the Mississippi river from Memphis. This park is located right beside the river and occasionally it does flood when the river overflows it's banks, the last time being 2011. The major attraction of this park is the traffic on the river, all day and occasionally at night you'll see tub boats pushing barges up or down the river. It's nice to just watch them as they maneuver these barges through the channel.

More to follow!

Crossville, Tennessee - 3

Why oh why had we decided to visit Crossville, Tennessee on our travels you ask. It's not a large town, doesn't have traffic jams, only has 1 mall and of course a Super WalMart. Well, just let me tell you why we put this little town in Tennessee on our radar.

When we lived in Greensboro, NC over 35 years ago we became very, very good friends with a lady and her family. In all the years since that time we were able to keep up with her and even visit. As life goes on somehow we lost touch. In the past few years we've been trying to figure out where she was and if she was still with us. Last year Charlotte was on Facebook and decided to do a search for friends, nothing came up. She was discouraged but continued to try all means except hiring a private eye to find her. One day while on Facebook she decided to do a search and see if she could find any of her children. Yep, success, she found one of her kids on Facebook. She sent them a friend request, after accepting they began to correspond back and forth with each other. During this time we learned that she was alive and well living in Crossville, Tennessee. One of the reason we couldn't find her was that she had gone through a divorce and since remarried. She got her information and decided to send her a friend invitation, no response, so she sent her an e-mail, still no response. A couple of weeks went by and then there was a e-mail from her, SUCCESS!!!.

After e-mailing back and forth we told her we would like to stop by in October 2013 while we were on vacation to see her. She replied that that was okay, just be sure to let her know when so she could arrange some time off. Well, there were changes in our vacation and we never went and all communications seemed to stop. Charlotte remembered that she owned a ladies boutique, so she searched and found it in the Crossville area. We decided that we would make Crossville one of our stops while on our 6 week retirement tour (not vacation, but tour).  You see she was and is a very dear friend!

So we went to her boutique, unannounced, and was it a beautiful reunion!!! She looks the same as we remember except for the red hair!!! Needless to say we were ecstatic to see Jackie O (Owens) again!!! Now Jackie Jensen married to a wonderful man named Jim Jensen.  Her boutique is Jacqueline's Boutique in Crossville and they have been in Crossville over 10 years.

We had a wonderful time visiting with them and getting caught up. We went out to dinner with them twice at the State Park, did I mention that they have a great restaurant at the Park! One night they came by the RV and we sit around talking and another night we visited their home. What a great time we had and to top things off they have a RV and enjoy camping when they can get away from the boutique. In the future we're going to try and get together in the RV's at an location, but nothing right now.

This trip just keeps amazing us!! So far we've connected with a cousin ( Doris and her husband Jim ), found another cousin ( Shirley Smith ) by marriage to one of my uncles and connected with a dear friend ( Jackie and her husband Jim ), not to mention the time spent with our wonderful family catching up. The adventures just keep on happening!!

PS: We need to send out a BIG THANK YOU to Ryan Owens for hooking us up again with his Mom!!

More to follow!

Crossville, Tennessee - 2

While we were driving to Crossville from Pleasant Garden Charlotte went on the Internet to check and see what Crossville had to offer. The most amazing thing was that there was a 100 foot tree house in the area, this we decided was a must see!!. After researching a little more we discovered that it was built by a Minister named Horace Burgess using nothing but scrap material. He named the tree house "The Ministers Tree House". This tree house is approximately 10,000 sq ft and stands a total of 100 feet high. Some of the features are a bell tower, winding stair case, church and numerous other rooms. The reason he built it was that he said he got "inspired by God and it just kept getting bigger and bigger"

We decided that this was a must see item, but the problem is that the State Fire Marshall closed the attraction because they said it was unsafe. To date there hasn't been any kind of accident at the site. Well, we got the address and decided to take a look anyway.

We drove down a small country road and it kept getting smaller and smaller, then it went to dirt. Where were we headed ??? After about 1 mile down this road we came to a little turn around area and at the end was a fence with a locked gate. It said closed by the Fire Marshall, keep out. We got out and walked around, took a couple of pictures. just as we were getting ready to leave I spotted a couple walking down the dirt driveway from the tree house. We waited until they got to the fence and asked them about the tree house. They said that everybody just climbed over the fence and walked down, no body ever does anything about it.

I tried and tried to talk Charlotte out of climbing over that fence, but she won out!! Inside of climbing over the fence we went through it. We walked down the road and when we got there we were just amazed at this structure. We looked around and after about 10 minutes we decided to leave as there was this large dog on a picnic table keeping an eye on us and we didn't want to take any chances. We had got to see the tree house and that was a good thing, amazing structure that this minister built.

As you can see the tree house isn't in the best of shape so we stayed on the ground. Bet it was something when they kept all the trees around it trimmed, but is was still a fun adventure.

More to follow !