Shelby County

Woke up at 8.30am feeling special. We couldn’t face breakfast, let alone be bothered getting out of bed for it.

For the next 2 hours, I tried to recollect the events of the previous fantastic day & put them into some semblance of order in my blog. We checked out of the hotel at 10.59am.

About 15 minutes later we pulled into the car park of Graceland, Memphis & outrageously we had to pay $10 for the privilege!

We walked to the Ticket Office & purchased our tickets for the Graceland & Elvis’ Aircraft Tours at $46 + tax each. We allocated the 12.30pm Graceland Tour, which gave us an hour to kill. We were starving having not eaten for about 20 hours, so we headed to Gladys’ Diner. Jackie had a hotdog & I had Gladys’ World Famous Grilled Peanut Butter & Banana Sandwich (Grilled with Bacon Grease)! The perfect hangover cure, but probably best to avoid sitting on any toilets in & around Graceland.

After, we went to the Exhibition Hall where there were 3 separate random exhibitions. The 1st was an excellent exhibition relating to Muhammad Ali, which had decent exhibits, posters & video footage. The 2nd exhibition related to techniques used by National Geographic to photograph wildlife, but seemed more suited for children. The last exhibition related to a Century of American Motorcycles & was just a room of 30 odd old or unusual motorcycles. If nothing else it passed away an hour.

At 12.30pm, we were ushered into a theatre to watch a short video about Elvis’ career & Graceland. We then boarded a bus & were allocated headphones & an interactive tablet. The bus took us across Elvis Presley Boulevard to the front of the Graceland Mansion. We were admitted access in groups of about 20 & our interactive tablets guided us through from room to room. At first it was a bit chaotic, with 20 people all jockeying for position, but after a short while we had thinned out into an orderly procession.

We started with the ‘blingy’ living room, then Elvis’ paternal grandmother, Minnie Mae’s bedroom. (She lived at Graceland & sadly outlived her son, Vernon & grandson, Elvis). Next was the dining room, where Lisa Marie allegedly still eats when she visits, followed by the kitchen. We then went downstairs to the yellow & black tv room, followed by the games room decked out in a busy patterned cloth.

Back upstairs we saw the famous Jungle Room, covered in thick green carpet, where Elvis actually recorded the LP ‘Way Down in the Jungle Room’. We then headed out to the rear garden & to his car port & office. There were horses in the grounds, Elvis was a keen rider. We then headed into a gallery which had artefacts & information relating to his family & Graceland.

Next were exhibits highlighting some of Elvis’ more eccentric tastes & it identified Elvis 🕺 as being keen on law & order & is quoted as saying that if he wasn’t a singer, he would have liked to have been a Police Officer. He was a regular visitor to the Memphis Police & Shelby County Sheriff’s Departments. I’m not sure how this works, but Elvis held the rank of Captain with the Memphis Police Department & Denver Police Force!

We went to his Racquetball Court & Games Room, complete with the piano that Elvis played on in that room shortly before his death on Tuesday 16th August 1977. He was due to fly out of Memphis later that day to begin another tour.

The Graceland Mansion tour then took us to the Meditation Garden with it’s fountain, statues & the graves of Elvis Aaron Presley, his parents, Vernon & Gladys & his grandmother, Minnie Mae. There is also a cenotaph for Elvis’ still-born twin, Jesse Garon Presley, who remains buried in an unmarked grave in Tupelo, Mississippi.

This leg of the tour ended by passing his swimming pool & getting the bus back to the Graceland complex where we then visited Elvis’ Planes. Elvis had owned several planes & two were at Graceland, a 1958 Corvair 880, named Lisa Marie & a Lockheed Jet Star, named Hound Dog II, which was primarily used by his manager, Colonel Tom Parker. We were able to go in both aircraft which I’m sure were considered hi-tech in their day.

Graceland, particularly the Mansion, had more to see than I had expected. It was a very enjoyable visit & well organised considering the crowds.

With Graceland now complete we headed a couple of miles down the road to the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in Memphis, where the Rev. Al Green is the founder & still the pastor. If only it had been Sunday!

After a few photos, we headed east on Interstate 40 to Brownsville arriving just over an hour later. The main purpose to stop was behind McDonald’s & was the Tina Turner Museum, which is housed in her old school, that had been moved from Nutbush. It contained mainly costumes from her shows, some framed discs & the actual tables & chairs.

Next to it was the Home of Legendary Blues Pioneer Sleepy John Estes, which was pretty much just a run-down shed with a bed, funnily enough.

In the visitors centre, there were a couple of other tiny one roomed Museums & we were asked to sign the Visitors Register. It was all free so we left a small donation.

Next we drove into Brownsville town centre & located Billy Tripps MindField which is described as a dismantled, tangled, beautiful metal mess. It is the creation & life’s work of Brownsville resident & artist, Billy Tripp. It was all a bit strange.

We had planned to stay the night in Brownsville, but Jackie wasn’t getting a good feeling about the town, so we moved on. First we drove north about 10 miles to the rural unincorporated community of Nutbush, which by it’s very description doesn’t have ‘City Limits’. We found a Nutbush sign & Jackie insisted on doing a little routine, which I videoed.

It was a bit hazardous, but we got it in the can, but only after a tatty old pick-up pulled up & the young couple asked if we were ok. They loved our accent & were amazed that English people were in their little rural unincorporated community. Just before driving off, the lad said, “Before you leave, you should look at the duck pond, it’s real preddy”.

Jackie was now fearful we were going to get shot, so we wrapped it up quickly & drove to the next town along Interstate 40, Jackson. It was now 7.00pm, so we quickly decided on the Belmont Inn & booked it on Booking.com. We then located a busy Asia Garden Chinese restaurant & ordered just two dishes. When it arrived the portions were enormous, but they got Jackie’s wrong, giving her chicken instead of beef. She sent it back & we started on my honey chicken. We were both pretty full before we finished mine & only then did Jackie’s new dinner arrive. We picked at it, but it wasn’t the best meal we have had. More quantity over quality.

Song of the Day - That’s All Right by Elvis Presley

Bonus Songs of the Day :-

Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley
Trouble by Elvis Presley
Always on my Mind by Elvis Presley
Way Down by Elvis Presley
Are You Lonesome Tonight? by Elvis Presley
In The Ghetto by Elvis Presley
Suspicious Minds by Elvis Presley
Let’s Stay Together by Al Green
Nutbush City Limits by Ike & Tina Turner
Graceland by Paul Simon.Read more