Craig's blog

Today’s entry is written by Jessie.  J

This morning we had eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast and then we drove to Memphis (listening to Paul Simon’s Graceland on the way).  First we went to the Rock and Soul Museum where we picked up a pamphlet, but decided to go have lunch instead of visiting.  We went to Silky O’Sullivan’s Irish Pub for lunch where most of had salads, many with smoked meats on top.  Jessie decided she was not in the mood for a salad and had a classic hamburger called Silky’s Burger. 

Then we walked to the Civil Rights Museum in the scorching hot sun. At the museum they had the hotel and balcony where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. You could stand at the exact spot where Dr. King was, and you could look into the room he had stayed in.  Across the way, they had a museum (the National Civil Rights Museum) where they had studies, timelines, and artifacts of the investigation on MLK’s assassination. One of the most interesting parts of the museum to me was the place where they described the investigation including other suspects and clues that helped them find who shot Dr. King. I also enjoyed the view where you could see where James Earl Ray (MLK’s killer) had stood to fire the shot that cost Martin Luther King Jr. his life.

After touring Tennessee, we moved on and drove about 15 miles over a bridge to enter Arkansas. According to Katie’s rulebook, to officially cross this state off our list, we had to stop and get ice cream. We stopped at a gas station and while daddy filled up the motorhome, all the girls went into the gas station store. There was a mini Baskin Robbins in the gas station so we each got some ice cream and hit the road again.

Next we went on to visit the home of Elvis Presley, Graceland. We took a shuttle about half a mile up to the house. From there it was a self-guided tour with an audio tour you could listen to. The rooms in the house were very nice from what we saw. We got to see the living room, the kitchen, Elvis’s parent’s room, the dining room, the basement, and the billiard room. During the tour Katie said, “This house was pretty normal until we got to the Jungle Room.” The Jungle Room was decorated with a green fuzzy carpet on the floor and ceiling, carved wood furniture, and a handpicked out waterfall. Because of the good acoustics, this room later served as a recording studio.  All that was just the first floor. Elvis always considered the second floor his private area so after he died they kept that space closed off. Those rooms were just in the house. Elvis also had a garden, trophy room, smokehouse, and a beautiful backyard.  The house had a big fence that held a couple of horses that I saw as we were leaving.  The house was really amazing and very nicely decorated. Outside at Elvis’s meditation garden, there were five gravestones that were covered in flowers and angel statues for Elvis Presley and his family. That was the last stop on the tour of Graceland.

After that we drove another 90 miles to a nice RV park called Frog Hollow.  We had baked chicken, colorful potatoes, and green beans for dinner. Then we settled in the motorhome to read and relax.