Welcome back. This is part 3 of 3.
If you read my article about where you were on the second saddest day in rock & roll history, then you can certainly figure out that our next stop was going to be Memphis.
I’ve been wanting for years to go to Memphis to see Graceland.
Memphis completely surprised me with the number of other points of interest worth experiencing.
We got back into the Airbnb groove again with an ideal location near Beale St.
Beale Street is lined with many a Blues Bar. Great music poured out of nearly every bar.
We had an entire 3 bedroom Airbnb house practically to ourselves in Memphis right across the street from St. Jude’s Hospital for two nights. Great location and accommodations for $62.93 per night. We never met the host, who lived nearby, yet were in frequent communication with her.
What was unique about this place was that she was renting out three bedrooms, two upstairs and one on the main floor. Each had their bathroom. We lucked out and stayed in the bedroom on the main floor.
The Host also set up the refrigerator so that each guest had their shelf. She also provided snacks on the counter (with a jar to pay for the snack that you ate.) In the morning, I was able to make my coffee and wash my dishes. Of the other guests, one never made it due to a canceled flight. The other guests we never saw as they came late and left very early.
Oh sure, we had to stop in Tupelo, Mississippi to see the two-room “shotgun” house where Elvis Presley was born. It was also THE destination to go to check off yet another state that we needed to visit. Tupelo just happened to be on our way to Memphis. Otherwise, there was not much else for us to see there during this trip.
If one is going to Yellowstone National Park, one must see Old Faithful merely because it’s the most famous geyser in the world. Not the best geyser, just the most famous. The same goes for Elvis’ Graceland. If you’re into Rock & Roll and had any exposure or appreciation for Elvis’ contribution to music and movies (ahem), then one certainly must make the pilgrimage to Graceland. Graceland, the house and property were just as expected based on the photos I’ve seen over the years. How the tours are handled is quite the racket, er, I mean, production. One has to board a shuttle bus at the visitors center to make the ride across the street.
Bottom Line #1.
Purchase and reserve your basic house tour tickets online at least one day ahead and pick them up at Will Call. We paid $38.75 for house tour alone which included a few other buildings and of course the Meditation Garden.
If you do not purchase the basic tour ticket online ahead of time, you’ll have to buy packages on-site (house, garage, and jumpsuit/gold record room) which can cost either $64.00 or $101.00.
Bottom Line #2. Visit Graceland with the understanding that it is a Time Capsule that was sealed in 1974, which was the last time any of the rooms were renovated. If you recall, Elvis disappeared on August 16, 1977. It is said that he died in his bathroom at the age of 42. The tour does not cover the second floor, nor the bathroom in which he decided to leave the building.
Anyway, enough about Elvis and his beloved Graceland. Like Old Faithful, you gotta see Graceland just once.
Memphis is also home to Sun Studios. This recording studio is a historic landmark that became the launch pad for Howlin’ Wolf, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, of course, Elvis and so many others. While Cleveland is officially recognized as the birthplace of Rock & Roll, when local DJ, Alan Freed, coined the term Rock & Roll, Sun Studios became the genesis of Rock and Roll with the recorded sound which transcended from the combination of Blues and Hillbilly Rock.
I loved this small studio because of the historical significance of the space, building, and equipment. It was here that Sam Phillips secretly recorded Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash on December 4, 1956. Sam Phillips had the incredible foresight to hit the record button during the 4+ hours that these legends were just messing around in the studio. Sam Phillips told no one about the recording, as three of the singers were under contract with him, while Elvis was under contract with RCA. Sam could not financially handle another lawsuit if RCA discovered he recorded Elvis. The Broadway musical, The Million Dollar Quartet is based on this event.
The tour guide states that the original microphone that the artists used is still in place and provides a nice photo opp.
The studio is active again as U2 recorded a few songs here for their Rattle and Hum album. The drum kit is still in the studio. It is an excellent tour for $14.00 and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in music.
While Memphis is mostly known for Graceland and partly for Sun Studio, it also became one of the final focal points when the civil rights movement came to a head. In 1968, Martin Luther King stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel and took a bullet in the neck from a sniper across the street.
Some of the Lorraine Motel was preserved and became part of the Civil Rights Museum. This is a fantastic museum that covers just about every aspect of the Civil Rights movement. We spent about three hours in the museum and only covered approximately 60% of the exhibits and content. I was a child in the 60’s and grew up in the 70’s and all I have to say is that most of what is contained in this museum was never covered during my education. Either that or I forgot about it or never paid attention to it.
The Civil Rights Museum covers a lot of ground and untold stories that are part of our culture today.
We also had a tour of the Gibson Electric Guitar factory. They produce 60 handmade guitars every day. It was an interesting tour that provided me with an appreciation of the skill and art that goes into making a $3,200 guitar.
The second to the last leg of our southern trip was to Nashville, TN. We decided to tent camp for a couple of nights at a campground outside of Nashville for $16.00 per night.
Nashville is truly a boom town as I counted twelve construction cranes in the downtown area. It’s crowded and congested and parking is quite the task in the Challenger.
The main drag in Nashville is Broadway Street and it truly is one music venue (i.e. one bar after another.) The bands were already playing at 11:00 am. Every bar or Honky Tonk had a band in the front, and all the bars had their front doors or windows open. Music poured onto the street from every venue. To me, the noise level reminded me of Las Vegas. It was constant.
Nashville is only an eight-hour drive from our house. We’ll have to go back and explore it a bit more.
I have to say that there is one oddity in Nashville that I did not expect. There is a full-scale replica of the Greek Parthenon that was originally built for the Tennesse Centennial Exposition in 1897. Inside contains a 42′ statue of Athena decked out in 8 lbs. of gold leaf. It sure is in better shape than the original Parthenon in Greece, and it’s a heck of a lot closer.
Bottom Line #3.
The entire 18-day trip came in near my budgeted cost of just under $200.00 per day. We burned 146 gallons throughout 3,451 miles. Not bad for a muscle car with a Hemi under the hood.
Alrighty then. That’s the end of our ultimate Southeast road trip in the awesome white car. Chicago to Sante Fe along Rt. 66 is in the works.
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