We seem to be on all interstate now. About 4 hours drive time (maybe 6 hours with our breaks). After a few days here my brother Rick and his wife Jill will be splitting off and heading north while Bill & Debbie and us go west. It has been such a joy to be able to camp with my brother. He and Jill are such cool people – I really miss them – it has been great to spend this time with them.
We went into Memphis – saw Graceland (or at least the parking lot where we turned around). Then headed over to the National Civil Rights Museum. The Lorraine Hotel is where Martin Luther King was assassinated. They have converted the part of hotel into a museum. Growing up in Torrance I was never really exposed to the civil rights struggle. I certainly remember hearing about the protests, but in my immature brain it didn’t really hit home. Seeing the actual footage and hearing the stories was sobering. Like so much of our history, we should never forget.
Marsha has very vivid memories of this period in our history. She was actually living in Tennessee when Martin Luther King was assassinated. As a young girl she was very affected by the photos from the South depicting the brutality set upon African Americans at that time.
Jill had been here once before and had heard of the Pig on Beale – some good Memphis BBQ, so of course we had to try it. Remind me not to wear a good shirt when eating BBQ. Delicious but messy. BBQ sauce washes out, right?
There was a local place near our campground that Marsha and I fell in love with – The Shelby Forest General Store. This was an old building (from the 1800’s) that was a local general store, bait shop, and restaurant. The owners were absolutely fantastic – proud Americans, salt of the earth, friendly, and full of history. We ended up going back every day just to talk with them. We had to leave before the Friday night steak BBQ with banjo picking. Bummer!
This campground was also great, but not right on the water (Mississippi river was an 8 mike drive (probably 1 mile as the crow flies). Still very hot and humid. Since it was the last day together on this trip we decided to have an evening fire. The next day we were itching like crazy!! We had bites, even through our clothes. Chiggers???
Yet again time flew by and we are off again on the next leg of our adventure – still heading west. Need to be in Albuquerque for the Balloon festival. We parted ways from Rick and Jill, but I have been planting seeds in their heads about joining us in January 2020 in Quartzite.
