I have a Dream

If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.



Martin Luther King, Jr., speech, Detroit, Michigan, June 23, 1963.

If you want to get to know someone, to find common ground with them, get to know their music. Unless you are a total horse's ass of a snob, chances are you'll find something that you both like.  That this would happen in the city where music was bringing Blacks and Whites together better and faster than anything is incomprehensible to me. 
 

Elvis has left the building

The Mississippi Delta was shining
Like a National guitar.
I am following the river
down the highway
through the cradle of the civil war.

I'm going to Graceland
Graceland
in Memphis Tennessee
Poorboys and Pilgrims with families
And we are going to Graceland........
But I've reason to believe
We all will be received
In Graceland.

--Paul Simon  Graceland

Words cannot describe Graceland.  You just have to see it for yourself:

The formal living room.  They don't allow flash photography inside Graceland. After you see this room, you understand why.  There are so many mirrors in it that a flash going off would NEVER quit bouncing from mirror to mirror!

Formal Dining Room:

Kitchen:

Downstairs there was a music room and a pool room:

More Mirrors!!!

Notice how the walls and ceiling blend together along with the furniture...

The famous Jungle Room:

His final resting place:

Conveniently located next to the pool

This is only a small part of what you could see.  There were buildings full of costumes and gold records and movie posters etc.  You still are not allowed upstairs in Graceland and likely will never be allowed to see his bedroom or the bathroom he died in.  It's worth the trip to see if you are in the area.  It's both under and overwhelming at the same time.  Tacky in a way that defies words but completely in line with the times. 

Heartbreak Hotel

Well, since my baby left me,
I found a new place to dwell.
It's down at the end of Lonely Street
At Heartbreak Hotel.

--Elvis Presley Heartbreak Hotel

If you have enough money, you can name the road whatever you want

Technically located on Elvis Presley Blvd

Hotel Lobby

Think it's tacky? Wait till you see the pictures of Graceland!



Desk clerks are all dressed in black per the song






















I stayed at the Heartbreak Hotel for two nights.  As hotels go, it wasn't bad.  If you are going to Graceland, I'd recommend it.  It's right next door and has decent rates.  The only problem I had is that the internet service was SLOW as in almost around 56K speed.  It was the start of 8 days of NO internet access.  If we hadn't got the internet issue fixed at Julieanna's house this morning, I would have been in tears.  I can't deal with no internet access.  I'm not that strong! 

The Crossroads

I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees.
I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees.
Asked the Lord for mercy, "Save me if you please." 
--Eric Clapton Crossroads

A few years ago I read a book (hard to believe huh?) called Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell.  In it, she takes a trip where she visits all the spots surrounding the assassinations of our four American Presidents.  It was a funny and interesting book and I highly recommend it.  She's a great writer.  When I started planning this trip, I found a book called Led Zepplin Crashed Here which detailed out the locations of all sorts of interesting spots regarding musicians.  Since music is a major part of my life I decided I would so something similar to Sarah's vacation only hitting spots around musicians who's music was important to me.  I'm a big blues fan and what better place to be than Mississippi which is the birthplace of the Delta Blues and the resting place of the Grandfather of the blues Robert Johnson.  My first stops on this part of my trip were Moorhead and Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Legend has it that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads in Mississippi in exchange for his musical talent.  There is some disagreement as to which crossroads it was.  One version has it in Moorhead where the Southern Line crosses the Yellow Dog line.



Moorhead, Mississippi: where the Southern Crosses the Dog

The second version is at what is now the intersection of Highway 61 and 49 just outside of Clarksdale, Mississippi. 

Intersection of Highway 61 and 49 in Clarksdale, Mississippi

 I went to both and spent some time sitting there, waiting for the Devil to show up.  You know, just to see what he'd offer me for my soul.  Nothing happened. Well, except at both spots people kept walking up to me and telling me what they'd really like and asking if I could make it happen, was their soul worth it?  I didn't get what was up with that.  Wait a minute.  WAAIIIIITTT! No! They did NOT think that!  No way!  Did they SEE what I was driving?  Does a 1996 Lexus ES300 four door sedan say I have what it takes to make your fantasies come true?  Of course I was in Mississippi and Rucio doesn't have a cracked windshield or dings in the fenders.  Maybe that's considered a step up there.....

On my way to Moorhead and Clarksdale, I stopped in Greenwood where Robert Johnson is buried at Little Zion.  Like everything surrounding Robert's death, there is some doubt that this is his actual burial place.  Could be here at Little Zion or it could be over at Mount Pryor.  However, the back of the headstone has a testimonial by a eye witness that this is the real deal so that's good enough for me! 

I'd like to thank Sheila at the Shell station on Carrolton in Greenwood who not only took the time to write down detailed directions to Little Zion Cemetary but gave me her cell phone number as well so I could call her if I got lost. Way cool. 

Perfect Hell

If you are going through hell, keep going.  --Winston Churchill

You may all go to Hell and I will go to Texas. --Davy Crockett

Dear Davy: There's a difference between the two? --Me

{I started this blog posting on my way from Carlsbad to San Antonio.  Forgot about it until today when I finally have internet access again after over a week without.}

Years ago I bought a computer game called Heaven and Hell.  The object of the game was to create the perfect Heaven and perfect Hell according to what the respective denizens of each preferred.  I never got the hang of Heaven but I had a pretty outstanding Hell going on.  I had created the Perfect Hell for my demons and they were thriving.  (I'm sure there are several of you who are not the least bit surprised that I excelled at this particular part of the game.) I also like to devise Hell for people I know.  That isn't as easy as you think.  What constitutes Heaven or Hell isn't the same for everyone.  You have to really get to know someone to know what would be their Perfect Hell.   I thought I knew Hell until I spent a week driving across the State of Texas this morning.  There is nothing that can prepare you for how incredibly vast and mind numbingly boring the drive through Texas is.  Mile after mile of empty nothingness.  This is the Universal Perfect Hell: driving across the State of Texas.  Forget the amatures at Guantanamo Bay. You wanna know where Bin Laden is?  Put those prisoners in a beater Toyota Celica with no AC, windows stick, there's a spring poking them in the rear end, a backseat driving wife and two fighting kids and a howling, smelly dog in the back seat.  It's 105 degrees outside and they have to drive Highway 10 end to end at 55 mph BEHIND a truck full of chickens.  If by some chance they aren't ready to give up his location at the end of the day, just whisper: "tomorrow, the kids will be puking their guts out, the dog will have gas and your wife will have PMS and you get to do this drive AGAIN."  That'll break 'em.

Can you imagine what this must have been like for the early settlers who had to cross it in covered wagons making an average speed of 10 miles per DAY?  Remember the Alamo?  Here's how the conversations in each camp really went:

Inside Santa Anna's camp:  Okay Amigos, we just marched across that god forsaken DESERT and found the only pretty spot in the entire state.  Look around, isn't this nice? Pretty little mission, nice river, trees.  Only problem is that mission is infested with gringos.  We need to eliminate them all.  If we win, we get to spend tomorrow night drinking beer by that lovely river.  If we lose, we have to march BACK...ACROSS....THAT!  So everyone bring their A game tomorrow otherwise I'm gonna make you walk home!

Inside the Alamo: We have got one heck of a problem here folks.  Santa Anna is camped outside with the entire Mexican Army.  We are outnumbered 40 to 1.  We have two choices: a) we can pack up and leave or b) we can fight to the death.  There's nothing for us back East so if we go with option A, we have to march across....THAT.  Do you know what is west of THAT?  New Mexico and Arizona.  Not an improvement.  Show of hands for option A?  B?  Okay, it's unanimous. We die. 

Yeah, the Alamo wasn't so much about keeping Texas but about not having to be the ones who had to leave the nicest area around.  We say Remember the Alamo.  The Mexicans say Guess who got stuck with Texas!  Maybe if we ask nice they will take it back. 



No, we aren't there yet so quit crying, wipe the snot off your face, put your big girl panties on, get in that car and DRIVE!!

After what seemed like eternity, I did finally reach San Antonio which is a gorgeous city and worth going to.  Of course, I did have to get OUT of Texas still.....

Me with my little brother, his wife and two sons. Notice the identical "we are thrilled to be having our picture taken" smiles!



Back on the road again

Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.  --Jack Kerouac

Left San Antonio early this morning and made the long drive to Canton, Mississippi.  It took me SEVEN hours to get out of the state of Texas! Only took about 2 to cross Louisiana.  No sight seeing today or pictures of any kind.  I crossed the Mississippi River at Vicksburg and had planned to stop at the Vicksburg National Military Park where between May 18 and July 4, 1863, 19,233 men died in a battle that would split the South and give the control of the Mississippi River to the North.  However, when I came to the exit to go out to the Park, I found I couldn't do it.  I have spent a week enjoying the splendor of Mother Nature's best. I couldn't stomach standing on a battlefield where we did our worst. 

I'm spending the night in the Holiday Inn Express in Canton.  I chose it out of all the hotels on this street because it was the only one located next door to a restaurant (The Western Sizzlin) where super sizing it wasn't an option.  I've enjoyed many wonderful meals this trip thanks to the information on http://www.roadfood.com/ (a web site provided to me by my friend Amanda) and have yet to review them for you.  I'll get to them later but tonight I will give you a review of Western Sizzlin:

• I have never in my entire life been afraid of a salad bar. Most salad bars have vegetables namely salad type vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes to name a few along with other tasty toppings like shredded cheese, bacon bits and crutons.  The 'salad' I had consisted of what I believe to have been lettuce, tomato looking things and a white dressing that could have been Ranch or Bleu Cheese or cottage cheese or curdled milk...
• I hope that baked potato was from Iowa or Maine and not Idaho.  If it was from Idaho, I hope they never advertize it as being a Famous Idaho Potato.
• As for the steak or more appropriately 'steak' I wanted to stand up and scream "Ya'all need to go apologize to that cow's MAMA for doin' this horrible thing to her baby!".

Tomorrow I head for Memphis by way of Indianola and Clarksdale.  More pictures and stories tomorrow night. 

And finally a big thank you to my brother Thom and sister in law Laura for letting me stay with them this weekend.  I really enjoyed seeing you again.  I promise it won't be five years before I come back.  To my nephew David: next time, we will get even with that Hermit Crab.  And to Daniel: EGGGSS!!! You need EEEGGSSS to make an omlete!!  Love you both, good night. 

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

That's all the motorcycle is, a system of concepts worked out in steel. ~Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Disclaimer for the Parental Units: Your children are okay.  There were no bumps, bruises, spills, scrapes, blood loss or bone breakage of any kind today.  I will not however make any promises about tomorrow.

 
 
One of the things on my To Do list is to learn to ride a motorcycle.  Today I got to semi cross that one off.  My Favorite Brother took me over to Retama Track Parking Lot School of Motorcycle Riding and taught me to ride his bike.  The bike is a Suzuki M109R with an 1800cc engine weighing 750 pounds.  I'm 5'2" tall and weigh 131 pounds.  The tips of my toes barely touch the ground when I straddle the bike.  When it is off the kickstand, I can barely hold it up and cannot move it.  But ride it I did.  Thom sat on the back and provided the legs necessary to control the bike when I stopped and help keep me from dumping it over on it's side. I managed to shift from first to second and back as well as stop and get going again (the stopping part requiring Thom's help with balancing) and I didn't stall out either.  Thom did not scream or cry the entire time nor did he get off the bike and kiss the ground when I finally stopped the bike and turn it off.  Based on that I would say I was okay at it.  I'm for sure not ready for prime time and that bike is NOT a starter bike.  I think for further practice, something a wee bit smaller would be a good idea.  It was a major confidence booster though to start with something this big and be able to 'drive' it even if it did require training wheels.  And I did LOVE the way it felt to ride. 


Biker chick



Parental Units: Please reread disclaimer from above before you continue reading.

 
When we switched drivers to leave the parking lot, Thom made me hang on tight and he took off across the parking lot at 60 mph.  TOTALLY AWESOME EXPERIENCE!!  Thanks Thom, you were a great teacher.