Deep South Road Trip

Taking Care of Business at Graceland, home of the King

He actually left it on August 16th 1977 but fortunately his legacy lives on, as does his Memphis home, Graceland, which is where we have been visiting today.

I’m not a massive Elvis fan, well, not compared with most Elvis Presley fans out there, but i do enjoy his music and respect what he achieved and how he shaped modern music, so it was a tick on the bucket list today as we finally got to visit Graceland. This was originally booked for the 21st June 2020, My son, Oscars 18th Birthday. He was looking forward to it but we thought about you whilst walking around … remember, studying is important 😀

We had the 9:15am tour booked so we walked down Elvis Presley Boulevard for a few minutes and soon find ourselves out the gates to Graceland. From there its a cross across the road to the Disneylandesque entrance where after a brief 5 minute film we hopped onto a tour bus which drove us back across the road, up the drive and dropped us at Elvis’ front door.

I’m not going to go into loads of details about Graceland, theres plenty of information online if you want the history etc. I’ll let the pictures do the talking. The one thing i will say though is …
1 – It’s nowhere near as big as i expected
2 – It was last decorated in the mid 70s … and it shows
3 – Elvis must have been best mates with Laurence Llewellyn Bowen 😀

Downstairs at Graceland

The hall, front room, the err, lounge, the kitchen and the billiard room

The TV Room

This was a sight to behold. Yellow and mirror tiled ceiling and a completely mirrored stairway down to it – drugs must have been involved lol

The Outhouses, Garden, Racquetball court and some of Elvis’s belongings

The Memorial Garden

At the back of the pool is the memorial garden where Elvis is buried alongside his parents and a memorial to his still born twin brother. The most recent grave here is that of Lisa Marie.

The Elvis Museum

After we had finished at Graceland it was back into a tour bus and over to the exhibition centre to see the museums of his clothes (wow), his cars ( double wow) and the story of his life.

Elvis Autos

A wardrobe fit for the King

Elvis Air

To be the King of Rock n Roll i suppose you must have a couple of planes

So, that sums up, in pictures anyway, our trip to Graceland, Home of the king.
Overall i was a little disappointed in a not disappointed kind of way. I was expecting to be spiritually moved by the visit and i wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, i loved every moment of it and seeing how such an icon lived was fantastic. Maybe if i was an Elvis super fan i’d of been bawling my eyes out but with the house being small ( certainly in relation to what you would expect) and a little cramped when it’s full of Elvis loving tourists it all felt a little rushed.

Would i go again? Hell yeah!!
Would i advise others to visit ? You can’t go to Memphis and miss such a legendary place even if you aren’t the worlds biggest fan.

I’m glad we went though. Ill do another blog for the afternoon which was spent travelling between Memphis and Clarksdale, Mississippi.

I’ve been Walking in Memphis

Yes, I know. The cheesiest of titles for todays blog but it HAD to be done 😀
We are now on our last day in Memphis before moving on down south along the Delta Blues Highway to Clarksdale. Last night was spent on the outskirts of the city at the Guesthouse at Graceland in readiness for this mornings trip to the Kings House but the previous couple of nights have been spent a few blocks away from Beale street taking in the sights and sounds of the Memphis blues scene.

First stop of the days walking tour was for breakfast in Memphis’s oldest diner, Arcade Restaurant. The pancakes, bacon and syrup were good and we sat a booth away from the Elvis’s favourite seat when he used to visit. Due to the restaurants original 50’s style it’s been used as a filming location for several films including, Walk the Line, Great Balls of Fire, The Firm and loads of others i’ve never heard of.
After a hearty breakfast it was only a few blocks up to The Lorraine Motel, an iconic location for all the wrong reasons. It was here that on the 4th April 1968 Dr Martin Luther King was assassinated.

I’m not going to pretend it touched me in some spiritual kind of way, It didn’t. In truth, I’m from little England and though i’ve learned a lot over the last few days about the segregation in the Deep South i’ll never know how that felt ( or feels). I can however understand what an important location The Lorraine Motel is and how important the Civil Rights Movement was back then and i’m glad we stopped by to check it out.
Anyway, after that we wandered back through Downtown Memphis up to Beale Street and visited the Rock n Soul museum.

The Rock n Soul museum, and later the Memphis Hall of Fame had some great exhibits. The former told the story of the Memphis music scene from the cotton fields right through to explosion of Stax in the 1970’s whilst the latter was exhibits of some of the greatest musicians to come from the area from Elvis Presley through to Issac Hayes. Both were worth a visit though the Rock n Soul museum was a lot more informative on the history of the music and the self guided tour with headphones was very good.

After we had finished at the museums we headed to the Peabody Hotel to see the “Duck March”. It was, errr, very American shall we say 😀 I’m not going to go into detail on some Ducks walking from a hotel lobby fountain to an elevator here so you can read more if you visit the Peabody Hotel website . After the Ducks we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the evening. Back on Beale street we headed to Silky o Irish pub or whatever it was called for food, beer and live music.

The following morning ( May 14th i think – I’m losing track) we had to check out of the Holiday Inn so we headed out of town to get breakfast at the nearest Ihop. You know you are in America when you are eating sickly sweet pancakes with whipped cream for breakfast!

From there we wandered off to find Lauderdale Courts which was where Elvis Presley lived with his parents when they first moved to Memphis. It’s now a trendy gated community so was not easy to find and get to but after several loops of the block we eventually found 185 Winchester at Lauderdale courts which housed apartment 328 where he lived.

Next on the list was the Bass Pro Pyramid. This is essentially an out door pursuits shop housed in a huge pyramid and filled with boats, Guns, Fish, Crossbows, clothes and stuffed wild animals. Yep, it was as odd as it sounds. You could buy anything here (as long as it aided you to kill a wild animal) and the place housed enough firepower to take down a small country – a day shopping here and i reckon you could probably overthrow Wales for example. It was “interesting” and scary and lets just say there were a lot of mullets on show 😀

We didn’t do a great deal for the rest of the day. We drove up to the Guesthouse at Graceland (nice but a little underwhelming) took in a few neighbourhoods and shops along the way and spent the late afternoon and evening drinking beer and eating burgers, grilled cheeses and Peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches served by a little old lady who i’m sure was in the Golden Girls 😀

Nashville to Memphis

Yesterday was spent travelling the 200 miles between Nashville and Memphis. The Day started with rain and that continued for most of the journey making for some interesting driving. The journey was mostly two lane freeways but it was a relatively picturesque one once we had left the city.

First stop of the day was Jackson to visit Rusty’s TV and Movie car museum. It was a random placed we had found on the internet and looked like a worthwhile stop. As we opened the door we were welcomed by, errr, how do i put this delicately? well what can only be described by a Brit as a mullet wearing Hillbilly. He said something to us but his Southern drawl was so thick I couldn’t tell you what it was. He was actually very nice and i think he was probably the Rusty that owned the place. he was very enthusiastic about the museum and proceeded to tell us the story of the cars and which ones were genuine movie cars and which were replicas ( not that we understood a great deal, he could have been speaking a foreign language). Think Cletus from The Simpsons and you get the idea, Anyway, enough of Rusty. The actual museum was a great halfway stop and worth 45 minutes of our time and $10 each to get in.

After leaving Jackson it was a further hour on the freeway into Memphis and somewhere i’d been looking forward to visiting since we first started to plan this trip over three years ago

Sun Studio

Opened in 1950 by Sam Phillips, Sun Studio would come to be known as the birthplace of Rock n Roll. The first Rock n Roll single ever, Rocket 88 by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (featuring a young Ike Turner on piano) was recorded here and the list of legends that have recorded in this hallowed building is just to long to list but stretch from The Howlin Wolf, BB King and the Prisonairres through to U2.

In 1953 an 18 year old Elvis Presley walked into Sun Studio to record “My Happiness” for his mother. When Sam Phillips first opened the studio he made a pledge to record anybody and anything so the young Elvis walked in off the street with $3 and cut his first record. Sam phillips wasn’t in that day so the recording was sorted by his secretary, Marian Keisker who had the foresight to take two pressings of the record thinking “this boy has something” and play one to Sam when he returned. Needless to say Sam Phillips was not impressed and it took another couple of self funded recordings by Elvis before Phillips heard him singing an old blues song and the penny dropped.
So , anyway, a visit to Sun Studio has always been high up on my bucket list and it didn’t disappoint. The 45 minute tour was very good. Lots of history on the place and stories about the people who had recorded there culminating in standing in the same studio that the likes of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and so many others had recorded. There was an aura about the place, truly magical and yep, it may only be an X on the floor but thats where Elvis stood to record … and i’ve stood there … just to be in the same room where the Million Dollar Quartet recorded was mind blowing for a music fan.

The Hotel we are staying at in Memphis, The holiday inn ( nowt fancy here) was a 5 minute drive down the road from Sun Studio so we soon found ourselves unloading the suitcases and checking in. The Hotel is perfectly placed but that’s about all it’s got going for it. Pretty generic Holiday inn, once inside, other than the picture of a guitar on the wall you could be anywhere in the world. We headed out to get some food and take in all that the famous Beale Street, home of the Blues, had to offer. A pleasant evening was had supping a few beers and watching live music in one of the bars and then it was back to the hotel to get some rest as we have a full day ahead of us visiting the many museums and attraction in Memphis.

Exploring Nashville by car and the Grand Ole Opry

We woke up to rain and grey skies so today was about travelling around Nashville in the car and keeping dry. It was still around 25 degrees mind you so much better than a grey rainy day back home.

After another lovely breakfast at the Germantown Inn our first stop was to find a Walmarts so we could fill the car up with goodies for the road trip that lay ahead. It was pure coincidence that across the road was a guitar centre 😀

After those brief visits it was back on the freeway to find the Grand Old Opry. Now this is apparently THE home of Country & Western music and everybody recommends a visit. To be honest, i found it a little underwhelming and as with most things like this in America, a little bit Disneyfied. By which i mean, it was within a huge shopping and IMAX complex and I just didn’t get the WOW factor as we approached. It was like a glorified Nottingham Royal Concert centre lol. Would probably be different if you were a big Country music fan but it down nowt for us.

We took a few pictures, visited the shop ( far too many people in cowboy boots) and then moved on and randomly found a fantastic little museum and shop …. Cooters.
Now, if you know about those “good old boys”, you would know that Cooter was the Mechanic in Hazzard County that fixed up Bo and Lukes General Lee and this was a museum dedicated to The Dukes Of Hazzard. It was a walk through my youth and brought back loads of memories. I still love watching The Duke boys take on Boss Hog when i find a random episode on TV.


We then got back in the car and headed off to find my own personal Mecca …. Gruhn’s Guitars, Now this place did get my jaw dropping. Wall to Wall vintage guitars and a fantastic southern welcome.

Obviously, none of the fine guitars for sale would have fitted in my luggage so i left with a Mug and a sticker and a glum face lol. The rest of the day has been spent navigating the neighbourhoods of Nashville, finding random sneaker stores in back street malls, eating fantastic home made muffins and then parking the car back up and chilling with a few beers and nice evening meal out at a Taco place where i had an Avacado and Jalapeño Margarita, which was, errr, different.

Breakfast is almost finished now so it’s time to load up the car and head on to Memphis … slightly excited 😀

Nashville, Tennessee, Y’all

It would appear that you have to punctuate most sentences in Nashville with, “Y’all” to achieve the Southern welcome Tennessee is famous for.
“Where you from y’all”
“have a nice day y’all”
“do you want a bag with that y’all”
Which is all very nice, but a bit like the Californian “Have a nice day” it gets a little grating at the hundredth time of hearing lol. Having said that, the Southern Welcome is in abundance where ever you go in Nashville and yesterday we went everywhere our knackered legs would take us. I think we finished the day on 10 miles walked and over 20k steps .. not bad for us 😀

We started the day with a lovely breakfast at the Hotel of fresh quiche, croissants and probably a donut or two to many and the sun was already starting to shine. We headed out with a rough guide of what we wanted to do and first on the list was Antique Archeology, the Nashville shop of Mike & Frank, The American Pickers. It didn’t look to far on the map but was a bit of a trek across freeways, through factory districts and, well, getting completely lost. We eventually found it at the old Marathon Motor Works factory ( which was an impressive site in itself). The shop was a mixture of the junk you would expect if you have seen the TV show and modern tourist tat which we obviously purchased in abundance. Despite being the wrong side of 50 i still get excited about buying a sticker 😀

After a brief visit we decided to head back and find Broadway and the heart of the Nashville Country scene, The Rymans Auditorium. Yet more walking as the sun got hotter was hard going but a couple of drinks stops along the way and seeing the mixture of architecture with the modern sky scrapers intermingled with old buildings and historic State building such as the Capital building kept us going until we eventually reached the famed Broadway.

So then, Broadway, hmmmmm. It’s pretty much Honky Tonk bar after Honky Tonk bar intermingled with the odd tat shop and a few places where you can buy your cowboy hats and boots (y’alll). Imagine Skegness when the yearly line dancing troupe head into town and you wont be far wrong lol. Music poured from the bars onto the streets giving it quite a nice buzz. After walking up and down we headed in for a cocktail and some live country & western in Nudies (I was disappointed, there were no Nudies on show 🙁 ) and then, feeling slightly refreshed we visited the Johnny Cash museum.

The Museum was a nice little bit of respite from the sun and featured loads of artefacts from his home and details about his life. Not sure it was worth the $50 it cost us to get in but I’m glad we did it and despite not being a huge fan i appreciated the artefacts on show and reading his life story etc. Highlight was probably as you leave theres the “Throne” that he sat on for the Hurt video with the video playing in the background. To take a nine inch nails song and make it his own, his epitaph really, was an amazing thing to do and it’s one of those songs that can’t fail to move you.

It was then off to find a place i had on my “must do” list … The Gibson Garage. This is the ultimate Gibson vintage guitar shop, probably in the world and boy it didn’t disappoint. I could have spent thousands had i a more understanding wife 😀 As it was, i left with another sticker for my collection and had to leave the 68 Gold Top and 59 Les Paul standard behind ( i was about $600k to short as well lol)
From there we decided we would take a slow walk back to the hotel via more State Buildings, parks and a farmers market.

Back at the hotel we tucked into the snacks that were out before going out for dinner at German Town Cafe which was just down the road from the hotel. We had a lovely meal with Fried Green Tomatoes, Pasta, Burgers and Key Lime pie to finish. The area is a little reminiscent of the East Village in New York, cool architecture, Trendy places to eat etc. It’s so called due to the area being inhabited by wealthy German Immigrants in the early 19th century and they appear to have brought their Breweries with them to as theres a whole host of locally brewed beers you can sample in the area. The Honky Tonk Cherry Sour beer was most nice!

Anyway, that’s it for today. So ill blog again tomorrow

Music City Here we come

Well that was a rather long day and as always i find myself wide awake at 6am in the morning on our first day in the States.

9am UK time, yesterday, and we Barbara picked us up in the rather lovely BMW 7 series and it was another fantastic chauffeur driven journey down to Heathrow airport courtesy of A52 Executive Cars, the best chauffeur and airport transfer service in Derby (come on, i’ve got to get the occasional plug in for my own company lol). The journey went smoothly enough and soon we found our selves checking in at Terminal 5.

The Journey through the airport went very smoothly i’m glad to say and we soon found ourselves checking into the Aspire lounge. This is a mistake we won’t make again! If you are ever looking for a lounge at T5 then avoid this one – it was awful. Choice of food was limited to soup or a very dire buffet, only one coffee machine working, loos were a 5 minute walk away and the place was packed. Ok, it was only £40 each but i’d have much rather spent that in one of the airport restaurants. Ah well, you live and learn.

The plane took off on time and the flight was extremely good, plenty of space in premium economy ( or whatever BA call it these days) and nice and smooth with only one bit of mildly scary turbulence 😀 All in all, nothing really to report about it. We landed 15 minutes early, got off the plane speedily and found ourselves pretty much at the front of the immigration queue in Nashville airport. Obviously it was US Immigration so it still took bloody ages to get through but our luggage was waiting for us and soon we were off to pick up our hire car for the next three weeks.

So then, the hire car …. When we first booked the flights and car prices for car rental were through the roof so we ended up booking the cheapest available which happened to be a Kia Soul. I hadn’t researched it and the shape of the Soul made me think it was a small SUV type thing. Fortunately we decided to visit Kia in Derby a few weeks back and check one out … goddam awful car !!! We hurried back form the showroom and immediately phoned up BA to try and get the car changed lol. Long story short, BA changed us to a mid size SUV ( a Chevrolet traverse or similar) and because the price of car hire had come down we got £400 refunded for a bigger car … RESULT!!

So then, back to Nashville. We got told at the Avis desk we had been allocated a Dodge Durango, cool i thought, we have had on in the eStates before and it’s a big old thing with loads of room and perfect for a USA Road trip. On turning up to the Dodge parked in the rental garage we actually found we had been given a Dodge Durango R/T Hemi 😮 It’s a 5.7 litre V8 American beast – needless to say i’m rather excited about driving around the Deep South in this beast 😀

The Drive from Nashville to our first hotel, The German Town Inn was only 9 miles and went smoothly enough. We managed to avoid an argument ( YOU ARE DRIVING TO CLOSE etc etc) and we were soon unloading the car and getting settled in.

The Hotel is lovely and the concierge had soon sorted us out with a couple of beers and we were chilling in the Tennessee evening sun relaxing at long last.
From pick up in Derby to arriving at the hotel was around 16 hours so not too bad but I was ready for a cold one.

Anyway, thats the travel day sorted and it’s now 6:30am so i better go and wake Deb up, have some breakfast and head out to explore Nashville.

See you for the next one hopefully