Beale Street, BBQ & ghosts

This is the campground laundry room....do you think the Mississippi River floods here? We thought this baby tugboat & barge was cute.

In the evening we did a one mile walking ghost tour in Memphis. Judy enjoyed the one in Nashville last year but this one wasn't as good. It was a very pleaseant evening and even I enjoyed the casual walk through downtown. You are right, we didn't see any ghosts. We did see the trolly cars and went for a ride.

We went to a well known BBQ joint, Interstate BBQ, in Memphis for dinner. Judy, the BBQ nut, said it was very good, better that the place on the FL/AL line. It was good and we both agree when passing through Memphis in the future we'll stop at Tom Sawyers CG & Interstate BBQ. After dinner we went to Beale Street, the home of blues & rock & roll so it says. We parked out butts in a nice little outdoor bar and listened to the music on Beale Street. On Wednesday evenings it's bike night and there were LOTS of 'em as you can see.

Congradulations to Ron & Lois, they sent me an email with Elvis' middle name!!

Graceland

This is sunrise over Memphis and the Mississippi River. We left one bedroom shade up so we could see the sun come up this morning, it was painful but I managed. The second picture is at sundown. The largest barge we saw today was 35 barges going upriver, the tugboat was really working hard against the strong current. I have trouble envisioning Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn playing on this river.

We drove over to Graceland today to see Graceland. We enjoy Elvis but not to the tune of $60 plus. We could see over the wall and took a couple pictures. It was a busy place and lots of people were spending the $$$ to go in, I didn't sense any economic problems with the US economy here. If the King would have gotten up to greet us I'd have popped the $60 and gone in to see him. Did you know Elvis had a twin brother? He died at birth. What was Elvis' middle name? I know, do you?

Good news.....we gassed the ants this afternoon and I think we have won the war.

Poor Judy still & movin' north

Sunday we decided to stay in Meridian due to some stormy weather. We went on another BBQ search, zero for three. Seems no BBQ restaurants are open on Sundays in Meridian. We settled for Quisnos sub. Poor poor Judy, no BBQ.

We also discovered that we must be parked on the ant capitol of Mississippi. We have never seen so may ants, they are climbing all over the RV, inside & out.

Monday we packed up and were on the road at 8:45 for Memphis. Oh joy of joys....we stopped for lunch and Judy had BBQ!! Finally, she's a happy camper now. We pulled into Tom Sawyers RV Park at 2:45 and have a nice site 75 feet off the Mississippi. We sat outside and watched the barges and can watch them out the back & side windows as the struggle upstream and fly by going downstream.

OK, the first picture you ask about....what does it take to make Judy happy (besides BBQ)? How about a FREE laundry facility with brand new machines!!

Poor poor Judy

Judy spotted a TV commercial and checked out the Ham Jam in Philadelphia, MS this weekend. She is really into BBQ so we had to go to there today. She was drooling all 35 miles there. When we parked and walked several blocks to the downtown event she was slobbering all over anxious for that wonderful BBQ sandwich. This is a juried BBQ cooking event so the BBQ had to be good. Well, first we walk down all the tents with BBQ cooking and judges judging. She was smelling it and wanted it. We then checked out all the crafts and stuff then we headed to the food block. Guess what....lots of standard fair food but NO BBQ!!!! Judy was NOT a happy camper. We walked back to the truck to leave and she wanted a chili dog as we passed Sonic so I felt it was the least I could do. To make things short she ate two bites, hated it and walked away. Poor poor Judy.

Meridian, Mississippi

We had fun today, almost forgot how enjoyable it is exploring new places. It's amazing what's out there in the USA. The first picture is of the old silent movie organ in the 1928 Hamas Shrine Temple Theater. We received a personal tour of the old theater. The wall full of pictures of famous performers was amazing. The third picture is of the Highland Park Dentzel Carousel. It was made in 1895 in Philadelphia for the 1904 St Louis Exposition Exposition. In 1909 it was purchased by the city of Meridian and placed in Highland park. The second picture is the Jimmie Rodgers Museum, he's the father of country music and was known as the "singing brakeman" because he worked for the railroad. The last picture is of a Confederate burial mound containing the remains of 30 to 40 soldiers and sailors. One Confederate sailor was Lt C. W. Read, the John Paul Jones of the Confederate navy. The fourth picture is of the graves of the King & Queen of Gypsies of America. There are coins, beads, Mardis Gras stings of beads, beer bottles with candles in them, a CD and more. The Queen, Kelly Mitchell, died in 1915 when she was pregnant with her 15th child. She was moved to Meridian, MS because it was the nearest city with enough ice to preserve her 6 weeks until 20,000 gypsies arrived for the funeral! The graves are covered with 3 or 4 feet of concrete to stop grave robbers. When the King, Emil, died in 1942 his ceremony was much smaller due to WWII. Rose Hill Cemetery is now a main burial place in the southeast for gypsies. Perhaps full time RVers should be burried here too? This is fun!

Lake Okatibbee, Mississipi

YEAH!!! We remembered how to make the wheels under our home go round & round after 5 months. We had an easy but hilly 200 mile day to a remote CG outside Meridian, MS on Lake Okatibbee. I almost forgot how different and wonderful the RV lifestyle is. We left a 250+ site RV park full of families and kids on bikes with well manicured sites in a location with lots or resturants and shopping 4 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. We are now in a remote state CG with no neighbors, no kids, no grass, & no sat TV. We are still in our home with all our stuff but a new surrounding. This is a pretty location 10 miles from Meridian. It also has something Gulf Shores didn't have, bugs & poison ivy. We'll stay here 3 nights and enjoy the remote peace & quiet. Internet access is so so and I'll add some pictures when it's working faster than it is now. I'm kinda surprised we have internet access at all.

Bye bye Gulf Shores!! Will the wheels go round & round?

We are ready to hit the road!! After returning from Michigan Sunday we relaxingly washed the truck & fifth wheel, had the truck serviced, aired the tires, packed stuff up for travel, cleaned and lubed things and did some travel planning. I think we are ready to bug out tomorrow morning.

THANKS Kristi & Randy for hosting us last week. We enjoyed you and especially Devyn. Saturdays meal was great, be sure to tell & thank your aunts too. Yesterday we went to see Jody in Mobile, have dinner and say good bye until November. Maybe August?? We are really looking forward to starting our summer adventure tomorrow & heading to Mississippi. We've been here since mid November....5 months!! It was good to make trips to Florida and Michigan but we are ready to start moving again.