2015 Trip – Tupelo, MS to Memphis, TN

Tues. 6/16… (Tupelo, MS) This morning the plan was to cruise around in the late morning and work our way to Johnnie’s Drive In in downtown Tupelo.  This was an Elvis hangout and he had his own booth.  We stopped at Sam’s again so Lydia could buy some shorts she had seen yesterday.  That done, we headed to Heirlooms Forever which is a sewing/quilt shop.  Lydia never met a quilt shop she didn’t like!  Needless to say we now have a project quilt for the motorhome ready to start when she returns home! We made it to Johnnie’s and didn’t see ‘the booth’ but we enjoyed the lunch anyway.  We both tried the pulled pork bbq plate and found it very good.  We did manage to bring some home for a leftover dinner.  On our return we noticed the fire hydrant was running again so we took Bailey down for some more water play time. After the big lunch we decided to fix blt sandwiches for linner. I did some work and some cleaning around the rig and then we settled in for the evening.  We heard from Rick and Janie that they were done with their alignment and the ride was like glass now.  They will leave tomorrow and join up with us in Memphis.  

 

Wed. 6/17…  (Memphis, TN) We left camp around 9:30 this morning.  We had 109  miles to drive with a fuel stop (Flying J in Olive Branch, MS) so we got into camp around noon.  We are now at Memphis Graceland RV Park, in Memphis, TN.  This park is literally right across the street from Graceland (behind their visitor center and their Heartbreak Hotel) and we chose it because we liked it when we were here in 2012. We didn’t tour the mansion before because we had seen it in 1990 but we will go again with R&J. Speaking of them, we spoke with them early this morning.  They were preparing to leave but got called in to one of the bays.  Mr. Tiffin wanted to look at another item before sending them on their way.  They said he actually met with them and was very nice.  We had met him at an RV show in Pomona a few years ago and he is indeed a southern gentleman.  After getting cleared they headed out and drove the 180 miles and got into camp at 4:30.  Lydia and I had stopped at the store and picked up some stuff.  We decided to fix dinner since they had such a busy day.  After the Chinese chicken salad and baked potato and éclairs for dessert we planned our next two days. We took a city tour last time we were here and enjoyed that so we have already called Memphis Best Tours and booked seats for the 9:30am tour tomorrow. They will be at the campground at 9:00am to pick us up. Of course we plan to tour Graceland but we also want to walk around Beale St. and go to the newly renovated Memphis Pyramid which is now a huge Bass Pro Shop.  I got a call this evening from Sandy Lake RV Park in Carrolton, TX telling me they have to cancel our reservations there (6/28-7/1) due to damage from the rains.  So I started looking for an alternative and found one.  We are booked again but now are south of the Dallas/Ft Worth area instead of north.  Oh yeah, my new Garmin RV760 GPS was delivered! I have it set up and on the charger getting it ready for when we leave here.

 

Thurs. 6/18… (Memphis, TN) Our driver showed up on time and took us to the tour base in downtown Memphis. Last time we were here was in 2012 and our tour guide was a black southern gentleman named Boyce. We were hoping he was still around and he is but today is his day off. 

 

 

So Willie was our guide for the day.  We saw Sun Studios where Elvis and many others (Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis to name a few) recorded their famous hits. 

 

 

We then went to Memphis’ St Jude Hospital.  This is a children’s hospital that was started by Danny Thomas who believed that no child should live with a catastrophic illness without help.  It is provided, free of charge, through generous donations to St Jude’s.  Danny and his wife are buried in an area dedicated to their careers and in their memory.  It was closed for a special event but we did get to go into the hospital and very briefly get to say hi to some of the kids.  Willie told us they only have 63 beds, including trauma rooms.  Most of the activity is from residents at Target House, Ronald McDonald House, and Tri Delta, who get transported from these temporary homes to the hospital each day for treatment.

 

 

We next went to The Peabody to witness the march of the ducks.  They have been doing this since 1935 when a manager of the hotel and a friend returned from a hunting trip and after several Jack Daniels, put live ducks in the hotel lobby fountain. The apologized but the guests said it was a cute idea and wanted them to stay. In 1940 a former circus animal trainer offered to train the ducks to march from the rooftop pens into the elevator and down to the fountain.  That tradition happens each day and at 5:00pm is reversed when they head back up to rest. What a life.  We also learned that duck is never allowed to be on the menu at the hotel restaurant!  We also learned that the ducks are changed out every 3-6 months although we are not sure where they go.  Maybe Peking……. J

     

 

Afterward we drove past the Pyramid, now a Bass Pro Shop (more on that later)

 

 

 

and then we drove down Main Street and saw the entrance that James Earl Ray used to enter an adjacent building and set up his rifle to shoot and kill Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4^th, 1968 at the Lorraine Hotel (room 306) across the street.  King was killed from a single shot from Ray. The hotel and surrounding area is now part of the Civil Rights Museum which has constantly been protested by a single woman, Jackie Smith, who stands outside the property 12-14 hours each day and has been doing that, rain, snow, heat, etc. for over 27 years! She had resided in the Lorraine and thought that the hotel should be set up for housing for the homeless.

     

 

Our tour continued to Beale Street, where we were dropped off for 45 minutes for lunch.  We chose The Rum Boogie Café where we had visited back in 2012 and liked.  We enjoyed pulled pork sandwiches and fried pickles. Very good. Our tour ended with a drive by of the Graceland Mansion.  They dropped off a few folks on our tour who purchased a combo package.  We chose not to do that since it is right by our campground. Willie dropped off the tour guests and we were the first as we were close by.  After walking the dogs and resting for a few hours, we drove back to downtown and went to the Bass Pro Shops.  Wow!  We had seen the original huge flagship store in Springfield MO but in this case Johnnie Morris went wild!  This pyramid is 32 stories tall and is larger than 6 football fields.  They even have a hotel in the building! It is impressive although each of the areas is kind of chopped up by the aquarium/mini lake that runs through most of the first floor.  They have an elevator that (for $10.) takes you up to the observation tower at the pyramid point.  You can go outside and walk on a plexiglass platform that makes you feel like you are walking on air.  We didn’t do it although the lines were relatively short.

 

 

 

Afterward we drove to Beale St. and parked in a structure ($5.) and walked up and down the street.  There were blues bands and solo artists playing in various areas. I bought Rick and I a Big Ass Beer ($8) which you are allowed to carry with you on the closed street. 

   We also went into Jerry Lee Lewis's Café and Honky Tonk and saw one of his motorcycles and also his car.

 

         

 

 

After that, we decided we were hungry so Janie and Lydia navigated us to Corky’s BBQ for dinner.  We had enjoyed this place before and we were not disappointed!  Probably right up there as the best to date. 

 

 

Since we had another beer Janie and Lydia again took over getting us back home.  We did have a little hiccup as they plugged in Elvis Park in Tupelo instead of Elvis Presley Blvd. in Memphis!  Luckily we caught it and only drove a few miles out of our way before making it home and turning in for the night.        

 

        

2015 Trip – Decatur AL, to Tupelo, MS

Thurs. 6/11… (Decatur, AL)  Our Tiffin tour was at 9:30 and Janie said to be there early so we left at 7:30 and drove the 70 miles to Red Bay, AL.  We made breakfast to go so we could get going. The address she gave us was incorrect so we drove around a bit before looking it up on the web.  But we did make it on time and it was definitely worth it.  We have been to several RV manufacturers and taken tours but only Marathon Coaches up in Oregon had one better than this.  After a short video you are given a headset and a receiver so you can hear the tour guides. They walk you through every part of the factory.  They do have items made offsite and the paint booths are also in another location but everything is close by.  We saw Allegro Open Roads, Phaetons, Allegro Buses, Allegro Breezes, and Allegro REDs in various stages of assembly. No Zephyrs (their highline model) were on the line.  They said they made the last one for 2015 and are ramping up for a new improved model design they won’t start until next year.  At the end they ask you to turn in your headsets and invite you to stay in the factory and walk around and go in any coach in any state of assembly. Very interesting.

 

Afterward, we met up with Rick and Janie who had to hang around to hear from service. They told us that addressing their complaint about the coach’s ride would take some time, as much as a few weeks.  So they opted to have ‘quick service’ done and have some of their minor issues addressed/fixed. We needed to get back for Bailey so we took off, stopped at Jack’s for fast food and drove back home.  They were coming to our park for a visit/dinner but got a call from service so they hung around again.  We got back, rested a bit, and then went out to Camino Real for Mexican food.  Not spicy but very good.  We went home (through a major downpour!) and watched TV a bit before giving Bailey a good long walk before going to bed. We leave tomorrow for Tupelo, MS.  

 

Fri. 6/12… (Tupelo, MS) Our plan was to leave about 10:00am as we only had a drive of about 120 miles this morning.  So I got up and took Bailey out for her morning walk before showering and getting the coach ready to leave.  I met up with a lady from New Mexico who asked me if I’d seen a black lab running loose.  It wasn’t hers but she was concerned.  I borrowed a leash from her and actually found and got the dog.  No license but he did have a tag from an old defunct car dealership with a name. We checked around the campground and learned that it belonged to a fellow from a long row of townhouses just up the road. The dog must have been out for some time because he was hungry!  First I fed him a bowl then my neighbor did then she gave me a bag to give him.  Of course he ate that in no time.  By this time Lydia was out of the shower so she watched him while I showered.  Later the neighbor found a local vet that knew the dog and said we could bring him to her which we did.  We felt good because he would be taken care of until they could get the owner to come get him. It was our good deed of the day!  I forgot to take pictures but I did ask the vet to take one but it was while he was in the kennel…

 

While we were at the vet’s office I got an email from a vendor that I had placed an online order from for a Garmin RV gps.  We wanted it delivered to the Memphis campground for next week but they “won’t deliver to a campground” – go figure! Anyway a call to a supervisor resulted in the email – saying fill out the form and they would go ahead with the order.  I was able to forward it to the vet’s email and she printed the document that I signed and then she went ahead and faxed it for me!  That’s called pay it forward!  I’m still waiting for the confirmation that the item was shipped but at least we did all we can do.   

Once we got back to camp we buttoned things up and still got on the road by 10:00am.  The drive today was all county roads, both in Alabama and into Mississippi.  We are now at The Campground at Barnes Crossing in Tupelo MS. We planned to be here for five days (Fri-Tue.) which allows us to wait for Rick and Janie to get work done on their coach and then join us here. If we could cut it short in Tupelo and extend in Memphis we would do that. So we paid for three days (Fri-Sun) but heard later from Janie that they need Monday for an alignment and Tuesday for the rest of the work. But at least they are getting to the major ride issue and hope that what they did will fix it.  So the plan now is we will leave here on Monday and spend the extra two days in Memphis (more to do there than here) and they will join us on Wed.  After getting settled in and walking Bailey, we headed off to Taco Bell for a quick lunch then went over to Best Buy.  I had asked Lydia what she wanted for her birthday and she wanted a docking station for our Sirius satellite radio so we could use it in the rig and also out by our spa at home.  I had gone to a Best Buy before her birthday but they said it’s only an online item now.  So I ordered it to be picked up at the Tupelo store and she was surprised when I turned around and had it in my hands!  Points for me!  Later we went and each got haircuts and then returned to relax and watch TV.     

 

Sat. 6/13… (Tupelo, MS) This morning we had nothing planned.  I had called our next campground in Memphis to see if we could come in two days early but they are full (this park in RIGHT across the street from Graceland).  So we will go ahead with our original plan to stay here until Wed. Rick and Janie said they wanted to come over and visit since nothing happens at the Tiffin service bays on the weekends.  They called to let us know they would be at our campground (about a 45 mile drive from Red Bay) about 10:30.  So we decided to go to the Waffle House just down the street for breakfast.  We found we still had time to drive into downtown Tupelo to look around.  We also drove a bit more to cruise by Elvis Presley’s birthplace.  We had seen it when we were last in this area but will come back with Rick & Janie.  We also stopped at Kroger’s market for some items for dinner which Lydia will be making tonight.  Rick and Janie made it when they said they would and caught us right in the middle of bathing Bailey.  She smelled like lake water so we said it was about time to take care of that.  Afterward, we hung around for a few hours and then set off to Elvis’s house.  As I said we were here before (in 1990) and they have changed things up a whole lot.  Back then all you saw was the house.  Now they have a museum, a car similar to the one used when they left Tupelo and moved to Memphis, a little walking path in a park like setting, complete with the first church the Presleys attended which was moved and restored and also an outhouse you first think was used in the day. You can imagine what everyone thought when they first see it on the property.  “Is that THE place Elvis used to take a s@#t?” The lyrics to Burning Love came to mind –‘I’m just a hunk a hunk a burnin love’.  Ok, enough of that….  We watched a movie about his early days and then walked around the house and then visited the requisite souvenir shop and that was about it. 

We stopped for ice cream to tide us over before the chicken teriyaki and rice dinner that Lydia had going in the crockpot.  Boy was it yummy.  After dinner we rested a bit then the skies got really dark so R&J decided that they better get going.  The afternoon thunderstorms are common here and don’t usually last long but when they let go it comes down hard!  They made it home ok and we cleaned up a bit then settled in for the night.       

 

Sun. 6/14… (Tupelo, MS) No plans today except to re-fax the paperwork for the gps.  Since I didn’t hear back from them on Friday I decided to call. Seems they missed or couldn’t read one of the sheets.  So I went to Staples and took care of that.  I still hope to see it shipped tomorrow so I can receive it Wed. or Thurs. We did some laundry, both in the rig and in the campground and then Lydia fixed ham which we just made into sandwiches which was simple and fast. We each watched some of our taped programs and got caught up a bit.  Altogether a relaxing and lazy day.

 

Mon. 6/15… (Tupelo, MS)  Another lazy day. We slept in and had breakfast and then decided to go to the Tupelo Automobile Museum.  It is advertised as the largest collection east of the Mississippi and we knew it was a short drive from our campground. Before leaving we stopped off at the campground office and paid for Monday and Tues and then set off. We arrived at the museum just after they opened so we found we were the only ones there. We paid the $9.00 ea senior/AAA rate and walked the place. They were right – there are a lot of cars – 150 is what they advertise! But the place wasn’t the biggest I have seen.  The cars are parked in chronological order from 1904 to 2014 (they have a ’14 Toyota Corolla which is made at the Blue Springs, MS, assembly plant not far from here). We saw the car Richard Petty drove to his 200th win and also saw a Lincoln that Elvis has purchased. I found no clear cut favorites but did see a few I would like to take home.

We drove back through town and made plans to come back up to Sam’s Club later in the day and get something to fix for dinner. We walked Bailey again and this time the city had come to open the fire hydrant to either run it or water the local field just in front of our campground. Either way Bailey found it and had a ball running through it and getting soaked. 

We rinsed off all of the dirt on her and then walked slowly back to the rig and stopped and talked with a couple and by the time we made it home she was almost dry! We rested a bit and then decided to go to the show since we had not been yet on this trip and it was a lazy day.  We saw Jurassic World.  It was ok but I thought just another special effects movie with not much of a plot.  Hey, the dinosaurs get loose again, imagine that! Afterward we came home to let Bailey out for a while then headed over to Sam’s.  We didn’t buy stuff for dinner so we settled on going to Five Guys on the way home. I did get an email that my gps was shipped today and tracking told me it should be delivered Wednesday which is the day we get in to Memphis.  Yaay!   We settled in and watched some TV.