2015 Trip – Memphis, TN to Little Rock, AR

Fri. 6/19… (Memphis, MS) Today was scheduled for the Graceland Mansion Tour.  We ate in and just walked across the parking lot to the ticket pavilion. We decided to take the Platinum Tour ($36.45 ea w/senior+AAA discounts) and waited for our tour hr/no to pop up.  It was about an hour wait till we boarded the bus for the ride across the street to the mansion.  They give you Ipads w/headsets and John Stamos does the audio. We took pictures in front and then went through the various downstairs rooms (no one is allowed upstairs since the mansion opened).  Everything in the house is period correct of the day Elvis died. The tour then takes you outside to the offices, the grounds, the carport, and then back into the racquetball room.  In this room they now have records, outfits and awards.  You end the tour in the meditation garden where Elvis is buried. The Platinum pkg. included the car museum, sincerely Elvis museum, the airplanes and the archives. So we boarded the shuttle and were taken to an archives bldg on the rear of the property where everything in the collection is catalogued and filed away. You see a video of his concerts and then board the bus to return to the visitor’s center.  We went to the auto museum and decided we needed to eat so we returned to the campground.  We would go back after dinner.  We left and went down the road to Marlowe’s, another bbq joint.  It was very good.  While close, we went to Walmart and then headed home.  Turns out we were too late as they close everything at 5:00pm.  We will try to go tomorrow before we head out to Little Rock.   

 

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 Sat. 6/20…  (Little Rock, AR) We got up kind of early and got most of the coach ready as we were headed out this morning.  But we wanted to go back to finish the tour of Graceland.  We still wanted to see the airplanes and the Sincerely Elvis Museum.  We timed it so we were there a little before they opened at 9:00am.  Turns out they didn’t send anyone to the planes until almost 9:30.  So we waited a half hour to take the ten minute tour of both the Lisa Marie and Hound Dog II.  The Convair 880 was old when Elvis purchased it from the Tucson boneyard but he put bucks into refurbishing it and used it up until his death.  They told us that it was fueled and ready to go to his next concert the day Elvis died. That done, we headed over to Sincerely Elvis. This was a small but interesting exhibit of things Elvis wore and accumulated plus photos taken with those items by various photographers. As I said it was interesting to see the items in photos and then see them right there.

 

Once we had done those two things we were officially ‘Elvis’ed out’ and ready to leave Memphis.  Our trip today was 140 miles to Little Rock AFB (actually in Jacksonville AR). Lydia and I took a few pictures on the way.

They don’t take reservations so we were a little leery about getting in.  Rick checked the day before and they said there were spaces but they fill quickly.  We did the ‘wife swap’ again so we could get on the base but we were told they needed 100% id check and any visitor needed to register at the visitor’s center.  No problem except where to park two 40’ rigs in their parking lot.  We maneuvered in and found spots and they were very nice and we got in with no problems (after they made traffic wait so we could enter the gate!).  They are still on high alert as it was only 5 days ago that a wacko nutjob who must have gone off his meds went berserk and tried to crash the gates with his vehicle.  The guards opened fire and stopped him before he could get in (he died later from his wounds). The base went into lockdown for several hours so needless to say they were a little on edge and packing full automatic rifles. Once we got in we found our way to the campground and luckily there were four spaces open and there were only two that we could have fit in so we were happy.  Later, Janie fixed a casserole (potato, hamburger, veggie recipe Lydia has made before) and it was yummy!  We hung around outside for a while and gave the dogs a chance to play a bit in the grass.before we headed in for the night. But before we went in  I took a picture of a vw towing a trailer.  Something you don't see everyday!   

 

Sun. 6/21… (Little Rock, AR)  Happy Father’s Day! We found out the Clinton Presidential Library was open on Sundays (website says 12:00 noon) so we decided to sleep in, go out to breakfast, then work our way there for the tour.  Breakfast was at the local Waffle House (still very good!) and then we went into downtown area to locate the library.  Found it no problem but we still had some time to kill so we drove around the area.  Rick was born here but the family moved when he was very young so he doesn’t remember too much.  We thought he had family to visit but we learned he had no plans to do any of that while here.  Tomorrow or the next day we will go looking for his grandfather’s burial site (in a confederate cemetery) if he can piece things together enough to help us locate it. We’ll see.  We got back to the library only to learn that they don’t open until 1:00pm!  We needed to find a restroom so we set out and finally settled on the Marriott Hotel down by the recently renovated riverfront street adjacent to the Arkansas River. That done we finally got back to the library and finally got in.  Since it was a Sunday, plus it was Father’s Day, plus they have a new temporary ‘Living Dinosaurs’ exhibition in the same building, it was kind of crowded.  But not so bad we didn’t go in.  The Clinton Presidential Library (admission for seniors was $5.ea) is very interesting.  It’s not the biggest or best we have seen but I ranked it up with those I liked. Love him or hate him, President Clinton can take credit for many positive things that happened during his two terms in office.  But he will always be remembered for a couple of rough times that he dealt with (Lewinsky scandal plus income earned while in office).  I especially made a point of taking pictures of his desk in the Oval Office replica.  Nope, didn’t see anything unusual!!!  We did like the fact that everything on the two floors is well laid out and you could take your time and see as much or as little as you wanted.  Afterward we walked through the dinosaur exhibit.  They have large (probably half scale) dinosaurs that are animated.  Lydia especially liked teasing the t-rex to bite her. 

 

After that, we left and drove back to the base to walk the dogs and rest a bit before going back out to dinner.  We decided on Chuey’s for Mexican food.  We had noticed when driving by that the parking lot was always full so we gave it a try.  I think it was the best Mexican food we have had on this trip! Very good!  On the way home we stopped at Sam’s Club so Janie could get some things and then went to Lowe’s for a water filter for their refrigerator before heading home for the night.         

 

Mon. 6/22… (Little Rock, AR)  Happy Anniversary to us! 47 years! We didn’t have any plans today as this was Rick’s time for family. He had found a confederate cemetery in Pine Bluff and wanted to check it out.  He was looking for his grandfather’s gravesite.  He had been here with his aunt several years ago but couldn’t remember where it was.  He also found an interesting train museum in Pine Bluff but before we left he went off to the base pharmacy to try to get a prescription filled. That in work, off we went.  We drove the 30 some miles to Pine Bluff and found the address. The museum was really cool.  It was actually a manufacturing facility that built trains as early as the late 1800’s. They had examples of all of the types of equipment used in the day and they were all open to go into!  We met the docent who (besides being a redneck bigot) was very interesting and knowledgeable and took me behind the scenes to show me how they moved all of the equipment around in the plant.  The tour was free with a donation which we gladly made.  After that we drove to the cemetery just outside of town. Turned out it was not the one.  Since it was getting past 2:00pm we decided to try to find a place for linner.  We searched the gps but found when we got to a place it would be closed or shut down.  So we headed back to Little Rock and went to Red Lobster and had a great meal.  After coming back and resting a bit we went to Walmart and picked up a few things then sat out a bit before coming in to watch TV.