Graceland

February 4 Pat arrives at Graceland

It is an indescribably good feeling to scratch things off one's Bucket list making room for new additions....yesterday in Memphis was a great scratchoff..... .We had a great time yesterday through the sporadic Memphis drizzling rain, spending all day at Graceland, the museums, the venues, the airplanes, the shops, etc...listening to Elvis music everywhere..

I was an Elvis pre teeny bopper rabid fan and recall sitting on the porch with extension cord strung through the door to plug in my 45 RPM record player and listen to Elvis sing Hound dog as loud as that player went.  Never loud enough for us girls, but too loud for Mom who'd shout "turn that noise down, you'll go deaf."   I didn't but she was ahead of her time because we know many young people today who have hearing loss from too loud music.  In one of the exhibit cases of memorabilia yesterday I noticed a plastic type child's wallet, I"d  had one of those, long gone.  But next to it, a gold like charm bracelet with a hound dog and broken heart charms among others, at home I have those two charms on  my old charm bracelet from high school days. I don't know whatever became of the full Elvis bracelet.   

Mary Hudson was our tour guide
at Graceland and knew the
answers to all questions

 We sprung for the VIP tour which escorted us through the front of the line into the mansion which is really a modest house, at 17,000 square feet on 13.8 acres. It does not compare to the Biltmore mansion in  North Carolina but it is impressive as a home.   Elvis bought Graceland in 1957 when he was but 22 for only $102,500 as his home.  He purchased Graceland from the original owners when it was out in the outskirts, in the country.  Today  the area is all very urban, but Graceland is on one side of Elvis Presley Blvd. while the museums, planes, shops, other venues are on the other side. Photos of Christmas time are lovely.  Graceland employs hundreds of people like Mary, here, all of whom have a smile and enjoy working there.  It's a boon for the local economy along with the $$ tourists bring. 

I did not know how philanthropic Elvis was all his life until our tour.  On one wall of exhibits are the  thousands of checks he'd write to any one who needed help from individuals to organizations.   In Lisa's special exhibit at the end which just opened in 2012, she remarks how her dad made money and gave it away as fast as he could.

Just one of these urns would look good back in MN

We did not tour the upstairs of the home which  is closed to the public but saw all the  first and lower floors and the out buildings, including  Elvis' racquetball court and bar and the smoke house he had used as a shooting range.  Today a cousin of Elvis is the primary groundskeeper, a full time job with many staff.   
 I remember when Elvis died and have kicked myself many times for not going to see him perform when we had the opportunity in Tahoe, I always felt there would be another time and it wasn't a priority for me at that time of my life.  There was never another time.    On the tour I was reminded he was only 42, but I recall he surely looked older from his lifestyle and drug abuse.  It was oxymoronical to learn how proud Elvis was when President Nixon awarded him a badge from the newly formed Narcotics Enforcement Agency and enlisted Elvis' help in the agency efforts.  Evidently Elvis was the proud collector of police and firemen badges from all over the country and donated heavily to  their benevolent societies.

Elvis Graceland kitchen

       To me the kitchen to me was very modest surprisingly.  We were told Elvis enjoyed having family and friends around and was quite the host, so I imagined this kitchen would have been bigger, notice the cast iron frying pan on top the stove.  But that was by the standards back then just like the TV room where there were 3 maybe 21" screen TV's mounted across a ledge.  Imagine Elvis would have enjoyed today's big screens.  He'd read that President Johnson watched the news on 3 TV's at once so he began to do the same thing.

Perhaps most fabulous were the multiple exhibits of his costumes and clothing.  Talk about  bling, he was the King and for sure da' man!  Looking at the costumes from his younger days when he was svelte and the massive size of the belt buckles, it's hard to fathom how it could have been at all comfortable. 

Elvis added a swimming pool which is not significantly
larger than the one we had at our home in Fair Oaks, CA
I had always wanted a swimming pool and  got that in our first home in CA 

The airplanes were different than any I have ever flown on and of course all set for entertaining, except for the smaller jet which must have been for short quick business trips.  Somehow I always imagines Elvis having his own rail car or tour rig, but there was nothing like that. The Elvis auto museum was a big fave for Jerry especially the Stutz bearcats, while I still favor the original pink Cadillac, Gladys which Elvis gave to his mother.  Although see here, the Rolls Silver Cloud calls my name out loud!

This white Rolls will do

Jerry between white and black Silver Clouds

Graves of Elvis, his parents.grandmother and twin brother  

Elvis grave

Today still people cpontinue to  leave flowers, and all sorts of
memorabilia at the graves

Market at the Memorial Garden

After many hours of walking and enjoying the full Graceland, we returned to our motor home for a brief respite and then departed for Marlowe's where we enjoyed excellent bar-b-que ribs, I tried the  local Southern Pecan beer, a brown nut ale and some take out banana pudding for me.  We met the original owner, Tony Gugliottti who is from Pittsburgh and when I told him I was born and raised in New Ken, he not only gave me a postcard but a cook book from Marlowe's.  I did not take the camera, but because we enjoyed the meal and the conversations and the (what else) Elvis music, Marlowe's is a place to return to when we are in the Memphis area in the future.   This link will take you to their site where you can read and see all about them...only you will not be able to  taste or smell the food.... http://www.marlowesmemphis.com/  


On Don"t Be Cruel Lane

Arrived Graceland about 6:00PM last night and pulled into our rig spot on Don"t Be Cruel Lane.  Liquid sunshine began last night and is to continue all day, so although we are  walking distance to Graceland from here in the RV park, we'll likely drive the HHR.  We have been blessed with decent weather, while to the northwest snow strikes  Denver and Omaha and southwest to Texas and even Alexandria, LA where we  will eventually be  has deluging flooding rains.  We had only some fog yesterday AM which we drove out of in  less than 15 minutes. 

We ate in last night, getting set up for the next three days and having plenty of food along to avoid having to venture around in the dark, although we spotted a KFC right outside the gate.  The advantage of RV motor home travel is we have all the comforts of home, including a good glass of wine for me and a beer for Jerry at our finger tips. And though  I complain about loading up, I sure appreciate having it all here when we stop.

Many 5th wheels and trailers here too, a phenomena we have seen elsewhere in the country--the industrious young (and not so young) men and  families who are industrious construction workers travel to the work while those who are content to squat and collect never ending  unemployment welfare checks do so. 

I know we are in the south, because yesterday I purchased what I thought was an apple fritter but when I bit into it back in the motor home, it was pink inside, with flecks of cherry.  Certainly a different fritter to me and I wonder if it is to honor Valentines Day, or breast cancer pink? 

We had a good two day drive and except for a loose mudflap on the rig which Jerry fixed yesterday morning in the Wal Mart lot before we departed and the hour wasted at the Alorton,IL Flying J where the diesel pumps were not working, we had a good  drive.  I felt much sympathy for the Flying J attendant, running all about in and out, to the trucks at the diesel pumps and the motor coaches at the RV diesel pumps trying to fix what he could not.  Maybe the diesel pumps were all in cahoots in a protest movement?  Occupier pumps, now there's a thought to boggle the mind.  The attendant told us to go over to the  trucker lanes, so we did but after two more non-working pump nozzles, Jerry decided it was time to go.  We had been fortunate to have diesel in the tank and with another  20.2 gallons purchased before the Occupier pumps took over, we could make it.  An inconvenience for us with a waste of an hour that could have been spent on the highway, but the  big rig truckers were stuck.  And their faces showed their disgust.  Pity the attendants, who scurry beyond their minimum wage pay grade and courteously handle the scowls and worse, yet one example of how unreasonable customers can take their anger out on the person who is trying to help them.  Frustrating, yes, but a reason to be cruel, not.  We continued on to Mathews, MO Flying J and  filled up though we could have made it easily to Memphis.

In two days we've driven  816 miles in 14 hours drive time, 15 1/2 hours total time' purchased 107.9 gallons of diesel for $402 and only $2.85 tolls in a small stretch of highway through IL.  Along the road, I tallied last years journeys from when we purchased this motor home in Tucson and brought it home--in 2011 we logged 9600 miles.   

Photos later today as we enjoy Graceland where we are headed for brunch right now.

On the road tomorrow

Graceland RV

Finally we are heading south....I was not at all that enthused about leaving because it has been an easy nice winter with only occasional white snow dusting and I really have projects up the ying yang to keep myself more than busy... Still Jerry planned on  a trip, recalling that at times I am prone to remind him that I did not sign up to live in winter wonderland and that when we moved here it was our stated intention to head for warmer  climates in winter.  Life being as it has been the last  several years we haven't done the snowbird routine, but this year, Jerry has had  hitch itch--wants to get behind the wheel of the diesel and go  that along with his wanting to alleviate a later taunt by someone like me "You said we'd leave for winter..."  Would I really whine like that?  I admit, guilty as suspected. 

So we are on our way via St Louis area, where maybe we can check in with Earl and Ed, longtime rosarian friends  from CA who now live in Collinsville.  Oh how Earl tormented me when I announced that we were moving to Minnesota when I retired,  I can still hear him, "What!   You will freeze and what about your roses....!"  It was after we moved in 2005 that guess who sold out from San Francisco and headed home to Collinsville, another California deserter heading home....We've been to their place  and I reminded him. "Who said we can't leave CA?"  They have been quite happy back in the Midwest, better life quality and Earl's hometown.  But Earl has been ill, and so we are curious how he's doing.

Then just last night I figured that if we were spending the weekend and through Monday in Memphis, we could just as well park our rig at Graceland!  And well, Elvis!  Now I'm all shook up.....ummm  huhh...hmm..  yeah yea.....Graceland has been on my bucket list so this makes space for another list item....When I discovered the RV park, well what a deal!  "  Located within walking distance of Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home, Memphis-Graceland RV Park & Campground is a haven of relaxation you're not likely to forget anytime soon.   The Memphis-Graceland RV Park & Campground is located on 19 acres just off Elvis Presley Boulevard behind Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel and conveniently located across the street from Elvis Presley's Graceland. "

This looks promising, better than the RV parks last trip to North Carolina.....We have many friends to see and many places of interest....as usual I am never  as ready as I should be....so it will not be a very early AM start tomorrow...there are some things yet to go in the motor home, like my 3 bottles of wine. That is an essential for me.   I ponder after a day of hustling and loading  if I will ever just leave without  taking so much along and preparing.  Throw caution to the winds and shop for what I want...but I am conservative with the $$ and hate to buy what I have at the house and could take along, so I doubt it.  Besides, after all, I am Rose's grand daughter and I remember our train trips from PA to Milwaukie,WI; a basket of food with us.  Shopping is easy, but Jerry likes to hit the road and go....and since I never know for sure what munchies I'll want, I go well prepared.  Just so we don't take all that  food for a ride....loading and unloading it, not a good thing.     The RV travelin" bears,  Blondie, Cinnamon and Louie are ready to go, they have permanent residence in the motor home:

Beignets

 
 
So tomorrow off we go...Louie, the eldest bear was born in Louisiana in 2004, a gift from Mary Ann for my  Birthday.  He's anxious to get  back home for a spell and like me, looking forward to a begniet at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans... It is an original French Market Coffee Stand "World famous for its cafe' au lait, beignets, and the opportunity to people watch."   I am salivating just looking at the photo of a plate of Beignets....
 
I will post as I can during free time, but then again......