Daisy does Mumphis

Long time locals don't call it "Memphis". They call it "Mumphis". And synonymous with Mumphis is Elvis. Daisy was so excited about "Going to Graceland, Graceland, Graceland" that she finally sported her all-too-cool Elvis shades that she's been packin' for years.

And let me tell you, she ain't nothin' but a hound dog.

Back there is an out-of focus Graceland shot but you get the idea.

Elvis isn't buried here at Elmwood (he's at Graceland) but to us this was much cooler. It's the city's historic cemetery that really tells the story of Memphis before Elvis and the blues and barbecue and Costco. Well, maybe not Costco.

In the 1870s, Memphis suffered an outbreak of yellow fever (spread by mosquitoes). It killed thousands and half the population fled. Many of those who stayed, died. Beneath this marker dubbed "No Man's Land" fifteen hundred of the victims are buried in a common grave.

This is the grave site of an African-American doctor who treated the afflicted and who was killed by the disease.

But much of the cemetery is the final resting place of thousands of Confederate Civil War dead. Beneath this monument are the remains of hundreds of "unknowns"...

If the bodies were returned fairly intact but still unidentified they were buried individually and simply assigned a number. Here lies 401.

Also laid to rest here is the man who helped America make sense of the great conflict in the PBS series "The Civil War": author/historian Shelby Foote.

More of the bury patch.

And if you'd like to reside here for all eternity, they're taking reservations.

Advancing forward about seventy years, you find Beale Street, birthplace of the blues. And since we're not big blues fans and couldn't find a place to park, we shot this on the fly.

But we did slow down long enough to gawk at this accident on the freeway.

Oh, thought we'd slip in another pic of Pete. Because the other night he said something to the effect that he had to go to the office. That sent shivers up and down Paul's spine. The thought of having to go to the office has become anathema to a happily retired man. As for me, I don't know what I am. I just know I'm not a man. I think.

Now, back to what's really important. Memphis has two Costcos. The Lord works in mysterious ways. Our GPS (God-provided steering) took us right there. We can only go about two weeks without a Costco fix.

Bought some vino and in honor of St. Patrick's Day (this day), picked up this God-awful mess. A processed package of what we think is corned beef and cabbage. Pop it in the microwave and eat it as best as you can. Actually, it was damn good.

Hey, who let my granddad in? This is Paul sporting Daisy's cool Elvis shades. In the rig, following the corned beef and cabbage on St. Paddy's Day. Not a hell of a lot going on during nights on the road. This passes for entertainment.

He looks a bit like David Letterman, don't ya think?

And it all takes place, of course, in the all new for 2010 2285 Lance travel trailer with side-slider being towed by the 2004 4.7 liter Toyota Tundra V-8 with crew cab and the matching Vista snug-top shell. A very impressive sight going down the road or at rest on the Mississippi.

We had to get a shot of this. On the fly, of course. The old William Len Hotel in downtown Memphis. Paul said when he was in the Marines stationed at the naval training center in nearby Millington in 1961, he and his friends would stay at the William Len. Rooms were ten bucks a night. And in that room you could pack up to ten Marines and however many women you could rustle up. Get a jug of whisky, some party hats and my-oh-my. Or so Paul says. I think age has altered his perception of the past.

At the time the William Len was just a derelict in a bad part of town. But now it's a respectable Marriott Residence Inn in a revitalized downtown.

You didn't need to know all this, did you?

And just around the corner, the Fed Ex Center, the town's big sports complex. Fed Ex is headquartered in Memphis and has one of the world's largest fleets of aircraft.

Also on the fly next to the Fed Ex Center, a shot of Ooters. If we'd slowed down a bit we might have snapped the full "Hooters" sign but you get the idea.

In all seriousness, about two blocks away, the Lorraine Hotel, which is part of the complex housing the...

...National Civil Rights Museum. Included in this...

...the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Remember where you were when you heard the news?

And not far from the Lorraine, is a boulevard named for this man who is much respected in Memphis because of what he helped establish here:

...the St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

And no tour of Memphis would be complete without some half-assed explanation of this pyramid. You see it as you cross the I-40 bridge into Memphis. Opened as a sports arena in 1991, it has became something of a boondoggle. Now the city may allow it to become a Bass Pro Shop. Locals say if plans go through it would be the world's largest bait shop, complete with a giant carp (or catfish or bass) mounted on top.

Next entry will be posted from where we're writing this today, Tupelo, Mississippi, where you can visit not only Elvis's birthplace, but where he was issued his first library card. We're looking forward to that. As someone once said, "Libraries, in Mississippi?"