Taking Care of Business

So we can't decide whether we are in Tennessee or Mississippi at the moment, hopping between the states on a daily basis.

With the van being called Elvis (due to the number plate) Graceland was an obligatory stop and didn't disappoint. We didn't know much about it and we're expecting some grandiose mansion dripping in luxury but it was a pretty normal, albeit a decent size and pretty decked out, home. He wasnt a huge party animal and the first thing he did was move his parents in. Some of the rooms were pretty cool, like the jungle room and the pool room, and given us some ideas next time we own a house (green shag-pile floor & matching ceiling - classy)! Little beknown to us, TCB (Taking Care of Business) was his catchphrase.

We needed to get me some more of that southern fried chicken and found a fantastic place called Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken joint. It was so good we ate there both days & they showed the footy so at least one good thing came out of the Slovakia match!

After watching the Peabody duck parade - fun but pure touristy nonsense, everyday the Peabody hotel Duckmaster leads 5 ducks to & from the hotel lobby fountain, we wandered around town. Beale St was a cool place - much like Nashville with live music but a lot more down and dirty. We decided to try boondocking, which is basically parking up in a car park for the night, and there is a massive Pro Bass camping store right downtown that permits it. We had a really fun night on the town, culminating in an amazing Blues show where different musicians signed up and rocked the joint as if they had been playing together for years. Boondocking was absolutely fine, although the hangover wasnt so much fun when it's 30C+ when u wake up at 8am. In fact I don't think we've had a day not in the mid 30s (~90s F) for a couple of weeks now.

Our last stop in Memphis was the National Civil Rights Museum based around the motel where Martin Luther King was shot. It's an incredible museum starting out with the African slaves coming over and how they've had to fight for every single right they have today. Even though the 13th, 14th & 15th ammendments supposedly freed all slaves and made all men equal the federal government never really forced the application through and in the deep South they easily found loopholes & created 'Jim Crow' laws keeping African Americans as second class citizens with inferior education, unable to vote & daily humiliation eg having to give up their bus seats (in fact the whole row) to white people. The bravery of the individuals who did the sit-ins at all white establishments and more so those who took part in the Freedom Rides, who allowed the world to see what was really happening and force through change was unimaginable. The stories of the young girls and boys who went to previously all white schools with military escorts was just gut wrenching, even though they didn't all realise the significance of what was going on at the time they had to deal with the full vitriol of racism.Read more