'Oh I was only 24hours from Tulsa...'
Actually, it's more like 5 hours, but what the heck! We are in Herber Springs, Arkansas, on the Red River, where the largest brown trout in the history of the world was caught (over 40 lbs) - supposedly.
Graceland was everything that we hoped. We loved it. You've seen the pictures so I won't bore you with it but I have two observations to share. It is very small, amazingly modest really. My kitchen is bigger than The Kings. It's hard to imagine all the cooking that went on there. The other thing is that much was made of how fat he became. Actually, when you see the costumes from his Las Vegas shows, he wasn't that huge at all. Just a little thicker than in his youth - aren't we all?
We then went to the National Civil Rights Museum. It's housed in the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was shot in 1968. It is an excellent place, very well laid out and extremely informative. Highly recommended. I always find it fascinating to see somewhere that is so familiar from tv footage in context. The motel is just over from the railroad station in, what was, a very run down area, now 'improving'. We once spent nearly five hours in a train at Memphis station- it was supposed to be 40 minutes- thank you Amtrak! If we had known it was to be so long we could so easily have hopped off to visit this place. Across the street there is a lady called Jacqueline Smith who has been protesting outside the museum for an astonishing 24years. She was a long term resident of the motel when she was turfed out to allow the museum to be created. She is a one woman protest at what she sees as discrimination against the poor, something that Dr King was vehemently opposed to. She was lovely to talk to but we felt that her objective was a little off kilter. She lives off donations and told us that British people are always very kind to her. Good to know.
We then had lunch in the nearby Arcade diner; serving Memphis since 1909. It was a regular haunt of Elvis and we sat in his favourite booth! We eschewed the fried peanut butter and banana sandwich though as dying at 42 did not seem like too much of a recommendation. We then took a a circular trolley ride on a lovely old tram before heading outta town.
We crossed the Mississippi; halfway over the bridge we were welcomed to Arkansas. It is interesting that on the Tennessee side there is big city Memphis and on the other bank rural Arkansas. We passed through a flat farming area mainly growing rice. The eastern part of the state grows almost 50% of the US's crop. We reflected at how different it seemed to the rural are we passed through in Tennessee before reaching Memphis. There, the farming was all small fields, sparsely populated with more churches than houses. Also, almost every house had a large green sign saying 'Jesus' in their front yard. They must be standard issue from Home Depot. In Arkansas there are far fewer churches but the houses are, like their neighbour, often small and in poor condition. Everyone is so friendly here though. We stopped in Bald Knob (yes,really) and bought a giant cantaloupe and some peaches from a roadside stall before coming here. We have left the flatlands behind and it is hilly, wooded and very pretty.
We are staying on a brand new KOA that is next to an older campground where many people stay for long periods for the fishing. We are the only campers on the KOA site! The folks on the other site though are all curious about our rig and have come over to see us and to chat. One lovely couple even brought us some home grown tomatoes and peppers. They all get around in golf buggies. It was a bit like the Italian passagietta but without the exercise.
So, a day of many different elements, all fascinating in their own way. We haven't decided where we will end up tomorrow but we will be going through Tulsa!
Graceland was everything that we hoped. We loved it. You've seen the pictures so I won't bore you with it but I have two observations to share. It is very small, amazingly modest really. My kitchen is bigger than The Kings. It's hard to imagine all the cooking that went on there. The other thing is that much was made of how fat he became. Actually, when you see the costumes from his Las Vegas shows, he wasn't that huge at all. Just a little thicker than in his youth - aren't we all?
We then went to the National Civil Rights Museum. It's housed in the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was shot in 1968. It is an excellent place, very well laid out and extremely informative. Highly recommended. I always find it fascinating to see somewhere that is so familiar from tv footage in context. The motel is just over from the railroad station in, what was, a very run down area, now 'improving'. We once spent nearly five hours in a train at Memphis station- it was supposed to be 40 minutes- thank you Amtrak! If we had known it was to be so long we could so easily have hopped off to visit this place. Across the street there is a lady called Jacqueline Smith who has been protesting outside the museum for an astonishing 24years. She was a long term resident of the motel when she was turfed out to allow the museum to be created. She is a one woman protest at what she sees as discrimination against the poor, something that Dr King was vehemently opposed to. She was lovely to talk to but we felt that her objective was a little off kilter. She lives off donations and told us that British people are always very kind to her. Good to know.
We then had lunch in the nearby Arcade diner; serving Memphis since 1909. It was a regular haunt of Elvis and we sat in his favourite booth! We eschewed the fried peanut butter and banana sandwich though as dying at 42 did not seem like too much of a recommendation. We then took a a circular trolley ride on a lovely old tram before heading outta town.
We crossed the Mississippi; halfway over the bridge we were welcomed to Arkansas. It is interesting that on the Tennessee side there is big city Memphis and on the other bank rural Arkansas. We passed through a flat farming area mainly growing rice. The eastern part of the state grows almost 50% of the US's crop. We reflected at how different it seemed to the rural are we passed through in Tennessee before reaching Memphis. There, the farming was all small fields, sparsely populated with more churches than houses. Also, almost every house had a large green sign saying 'Jesus' in their front yard. They must be standard issue from Home Depot. In Arkansas there are far fewer churches but the houses are, like their neighbour, often small and in poor condition. Everyone is so friendly here though. We stopped in Bald Knob (yes,really) and bought a giant cantaloupe and some peaches from a roadside stall before coming here. We have left the flatlands behind and it is hilly, wooded and very pretty.
We are staying on a brand new KOA that is next to an older campground where many people stay for long periods for the fishing. We are the only campers on the KOA site! The folks on the other site though are all curious about our rig and have come over to see us and to chat. One lovely couple even brought us some home grown tomatoes and peppers. They all get around in golf buggies. It was a bit like the Italian passagietta but without the exercise.
So, a day of many different elements, all fascinating in their own way. We haven't decided where we will end up tomorrow but we will be going through Tulsa!
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