Pacific To Atlantic - Day 7 - Memphis Blues

Dec 29th 2008, Monday.. late night
RoadTrip Diary - Day 7 - Mississippi River Drive and Memphis Blues

Finally started getting lil bit hangover of the roadtrip.. feeling lil bit tired.. probably because didn't sleep well in a while.. 12 hrs sleep is must :)..

Today was a nice day too.. At last moment, we decided to drive thru Mississippi state.. so plan was to have "breakfast in AK", "lunch in MS" and "Dinner touchdown in TN" :)

Breakfast at waffle house gave a indication that we are closer to african-american population. Considering their accent and overall appearance, we are indeed in southern region. Everybody in that restaurant, staff as well as customers, were african-americans.

Drive within Arkansas good.. Trees across both sides of I-40, but they were lil bit barren and without any leaves..had a red tinge.. in summer they must me green.. For Mississippi en route, we drove thru Helena AK on US-49.. crossed the river to enter MS.. climbed up north on US-61 towards Tunica MS and then towards Memphis to enter Tennessee..

The US-49 drive was awesome.. driving on local roads, other than freeways, indeed gives real feel of the country/state.. really huge farms.. All farming equipments were also active.. I guess because of nearby Mississippi river, fields were lush green..

Helena is really small town.. it has tobacco supermarket :)

Crossed Mississippi river to enter into Mississippi state around 1:30pm.. Because of the river bank, Mississippi US-61 drive felt similar to AK US-49 drive. We drove towards Tunica, a gambling place in Mississippi.. and only bigger town nearby. Its ranked 3rd overall, after vegas and atlantic city... there were large casinos, different than vegas ones.. Hollywood, Casino Resorts, Sam's Town, Isle of Capri casino etc.. , except familiar "Harrahs".. we went to Cassino Resorts.. again lot of black people playing there.. also lot of aged people as compared to vegas.. probably because of senior and low-income crowd, there were lot of slot machines compared to other games.. Also they had posters of slot machine winners and their lower winning amounts.. bizarre..

Lunch buffet at Tunica wasn't that good either..still good enough to satiate the hunger..

Entered Memphis, TN around 4pm.

Went to Graceland to visit Elvis Presley's house and his death place..

Ticket of $28 is bit expensive.. but the place is really well maintained.. Till now, I was bit ignorant abt Elvis. My impression was that he is yet another artist.. so in Graceland, 2hr audio-tour gave quick glimpse of his life and work.. Considering his one billion record sells all over the world, he indeed seemed like a "King"... Everything in his house is well showcased.. from his TV room, Jungle room, rifle range to his Golden records room ..all his real awards to real costumes from his live shows.. his movie performances.. ..to his burial place, with his parents and grandfather.. surprisingly his typical sunglasses weren't around anywhere.. overall it was a great tour.. need to listen to him more...

After Graceland, our ticket also covered, Elvis car museum, Elvis costumes museum, Elvis airplane museum and Elvis as "private" war soldier museum.. It was just too much.. In the end, i was really bored.. means.. whats the point of learning abt how his house is decorated rather than listening to his music.. Elvis wasn't like Gandhi or martin luther king.. he was indeed a rich kid with "rich kid habbits".. Considering his talent, he indeed achieved great things.. but whats the point of watching his cars or dresses...

any way.. After grace land, we went to Beale street near downtown.. A famous place for blues music.. 2 blocks withlot of blues clubs.. U of Memphis vs Kentucky game was going on nearby Fed-Ex Forum stadium.. so heavy crowd.. We spent couple of hours in B B Kings club.. lil bit expensive for dinner..but live-orchestra was good.. ZDA, The Princess of Beale Street, was singing with blues orchestra.. Also..some celebrity "jon stables" (??) showed up.. he was a drummer.. so these local artists stopped and invited him on stage and played couple of songs with him.. "hound dog" by Elvis was a familiar song.. Indeed felt good after some blues music.. The club itself represents BB style music.. It reminded me of live B B King's concert, which Shaan and I had attended last year..


Again lot of African-American crowd on the street... just everywhere..

Reached to Motel6 in AK.. around 10:30pm

Too tired today... eyes are closing while writing this.. brain is just syncing up with hands while eyes are closed.. so indeed not reading what I am typing.. good night :) !!

Today's Drive: 280 miles
States: AK, MS, TN

Total Miles: 2640 miles in seven days
Total States (11) : CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, TX, OK, AK, MS, TN