Our 2017 Roadtrip to Tennessee & Saint Louis
We set out to see Elvis Presley's Graceland in Memphis, The Grand Ole Ope in Nashville then head North to see the Dodgers play the Cardinals in St. Louis. Our route would take us east on the I40 through the Great States of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee. But as they say, have few expectations cuz you just never know what the Good Lord has in store for you. And being a couple of lone wolves, you really learn to be your own Best Friend out there on the open road. It truly teach's you to work as a team to get through any situation and I couldn't ask for a better team member than the one I have in my Beautiful Wife Arlene.
Monday May 15, 2017 and we are about to begin our first BIG roadtrip as a retired couple.
On the Road again!
Arrived Kingman,AZ.
Enjoying a Friends beautiful
Home in Kingman, AZ.
Tuesday May 16th, 2017 would find our second day starting out pretty good but things changed as we were about to taste the other side of the RVing lifestyle. On our second day out, coming into Seligman, AZ. our truck goes into limp mode and begins to lose power. Long story short, we make it to Ashfork, AZ. where we get towed, both our truck and 5th wheel to Prescott, AZ. And as luck would have it, on our way down to Prescott, right around Hell's Canyon on the 89 South, suddenly there is a very loud KABOOM!!! And we come to a grinding stop. Our tow truck has experienced a blow out. After changing our shorts, a call was placed for help and about 45 minutes later a service truck pulls up with a new tire. After changing out the bad tire, we are on our way again.
Thanks so much to Everyone who helped us get through a very stressful day. To Ricky of Murphies Towing for all he and his Team did to get us to Prescott in time to get our truck to the Ford Dealer for repair. For talking to Good Sam, for landing our coach at the RV park so we would have a place to stay while our truck was being worked on. WOW, there are no words for what you did for us Ricky except to say THANK YOU!
And to Tony and his Team at Galpin Ford (no relation to Galpin Ford in the San Fernando Valley) in Prescott for the courteous, Professional and Efficient service we received. Tony did exactly as he said he would. He gave us a ride back to the RV Park and ensured us our truck would be repaired and ready for pick-up the next day. Well, Tony was spot on. Our truck was ready at 5:00 the very next evening. Thanks so much to Tony and Everyone at the Prescott Galpin Ford Team for getting us back on the road again! And I might add, we had no further troubles with our truck the entire trip!
Loaded up and ready to head to Prescott
A flat tire on the tow truck on our way to Prescott
Wednesday May 17th, 2017 in Prescott, AZ. to have our truck worked on. Prescott has a very nice wildlife preserve so Arlene and I spent some time here while waiting for our truck to be repaired. We decide it best to cancel our reservations for Graceland RV Park since at this point in time, we weren't sure what was going to happen next with our truck. This turns out to be the best thing since we had little trouble finding a spot at the West Memphis KOA who accommodated us for an entire week!
in Prescot, AZ. Sorry about the wind.
Thursday May 18th, 2017 We are back on the road and heading for Memphis. We entered New Mexico via I-40 two days behind schedule (if we had a schedule to begin with). Our stay that night would be in Milan, NM. at the Bar S RV Park. Park was filled up but they got us in to an overflow site with electric. This was a time when I was glad I decided at the last minute, to fill our water tank to full since there would be times such as this when we wouldn't have shore water. We had our own water and empty tanks so we were good to go for the night. A note of caution, make sure you have your water regulator attached to the faucet end of your water hose. Spoke with several RVer's who found this out the hard way but were good about sharing their experience with us.
We had heard on the weather report the night before that they were expecting snow in Milan, NM. the next morning. Well, as the following photo's show, that's what we got. Here we were, just a couple weeks out from Memorial Day and it snows in Milan, NM.
Friday, Saturday and Sunday May 19th, 20st and 21nd 2017 were spent just getting to Memphis. We traveled through Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas with an overnight stay in Amarillo, TX. and Sallisaw, OK. along the way.
Monday May 22rd, 2017 We Made It!!! We started out exploring the massive Bass Pro Shop in Memphis. Now I'm not a Fishermen or a Hunter but if your ever passing through Memphis, this is a MUST see for sure. It has a Lodge, a bowling alley, a shooting range and for me, the World's largest free standing elevator that goes 30 stories. It's $10.00 a person to ride the elevator to the top but once you there, two observation decks with the absolute best views of the Mississippi River Delta await you along with a nice restaurant should you like to have something to eat while you enjoy the views. Very impressive indeed.
 |
| World's largest free standing elevator which goes up 30 stories |
 |
| Arlene at the Memphis Bass Pro Shop |
 |
| The I40 bridge over the Mississippi River |
We had originally planned on staying at the Tom Sawyer RV Park located just across the river from Memphis. Their website states it being a great location to watch the tug boats go by which was something that very much appealed to me. Their website also stated that the Park was in a flood zone and usually but not always flooded out during the Months of May & June due to the run-off upstream on the Mississippi River and to keep an eye out on the Army Corp of Engineers website for any indication of high flow which would mean closure of Tom Sawyer RV Park until the water receded and things dried out. Well, as luck would have it, the Mississippi River was receiving high flow of over 30 inches which meant Tom Sawyer RV Park had been closed until further notice but that they were hoping to re-open on Monday May 22 2017. Arlene & I decided to drive over to Tom Sawyer RV Park to take a look ourselves to see if the park was opened yet but as the picture below shows, it don't like like anything was going to happen any time soon.
 |
| Entrance to Tom Sawyer RV Park |
Funny story about the I-40 bridge over the Mississippi River. When they went to build this bridge, the States of Tennessee and Arkansas were given equal amounts of money by the Federal Government to build their portions of the bridge with a meet in the middle of the river and a Grand arch as seen in the photo above. But one wonder's, why does the arch only go half way across the bridge? Well, Tennessee spent it's Federally allocated monies doing just that which was building it's portion of the Grand arch. Arkansas, however, had other plans as it spent it's Federal Money on a Horse track instead. So much for the Golden Arches!
 |
| There's our truck! |
 |
| The Giant Fish aquarium at the top |
 |
| Add caption |
 |
| The Grand entrance to the Lodge and Bass Pro Shop We had originally planned on staying at the Tom Sawyer RV Park located just across the river from Memphis. Their website states it being a great location to watch the tug boats go by which was something that very much appealed to me. Their website also stated that the Park was in a flood zone and usually but not always flooded out during the Months of May & June due to the run-off upstream on the Mississippi River and to keep an eye out on the Army Corp of Engineers website for any indication of high flow which would mean closure of Tom Sawyer RV Park until the water receded and things dried out. Well, as luck would have it, the Mississippi River was receiving high flow of over 30 inches which meant Tom Sawyer RV Park had been closed until further notice but that they were hoping to re-open on Monday May 22 2017. Arlene & I decided to drive over to Tom Sawyer RV Park to take a look ourselves to see if the park was opened yet but as the picture below shows, it don't like like anything was going to happen any time soon.
Tuesday May 23rd, 2017
The next day would find us doing what we had originally set out to do in Memphis and that was to visit the Home of Elvis Presley, Graceland! Now when I was growing up, I couldn't stand Elvis but as I've gotten older I really have grown to appreciate the Man and His music. Elvis grow up listening to Gospel Music and would spend his off hours attending the Black churches in Memphis so he could listen to the Choir's.
Across the street from Graceland is a place that just opened this last March of 2017 called The Elvis Experience. If your going to see Graceland, You have GOT to see The Elvis Experience. So many displays that tell of Elvis's early years as well as his career. A MUST see for sure!
|
 |
| At the entrance to the Elvis Experience |
 |
| Arlene at the Graceland Mansion, Home to Elvis Presley! |
 |
| The KING!! |
 |
| The Front Living Room as it looked around 1958 |
 |
| The Kitchen where Elvis's Mom did most of the cooking |
 |
| The ceiling in the billiards room took 10 seamstress 10 days to complete |
 |
| The backyard of Graceland |
 |
| The halls of time, as far as Elvis is concerned |
 |
| When I was the Elevator Mechanic at LAPD's Parker Center for the City of Los Angeles, there was a picture there of Elvis receiving these badges from Chief Ed Davis |
 |
| Where Elvis played Racket Ball |
 |
| The resting place of the King of Rock & Roll, Elvis Presley |
 |
| Arlene inside Elvis's Airplane |
 |
| A day well spent. Thank You Elvis for an AWESOME Adventure |
 |
| For dinner, we went to Rendezvous BBQ in Downtown Memphis |
 |
| Baby Backs, Chicken, BBQ Beans and coleslaw made with a mustard sauce |
 |
| This is definitely a do over again! |
Wednesday May 24th, 2017 had us going to a place for lunch we'ed heard a lot about. It was called GUS'S Fried Chicken. Being my Mom was from Oklahoma, She would make fried green tomatoes when I was growing up. I had heard Gus's made some of the best fried green tomatoes around so we had to try them and we were not disappointed at all because they were delicious! Gus's fried chicken was pretty darn good as well but I wasn't expecting the spiciness of the batter. The BBQ beans were delicious as well as the coleslaw.
Thursday May 25th, 2017 we had plans to walk along the Mississippi River and maybe catch a paddle boat ride on the river. As it turned out, we got our ride on a paddle boat and our tour guide on the boat was amazing! He knew a lot about the history of Memphis and the Mississippi which made it so much fun. Lot's of stories about this river, it's People and the wildlife that live on and along the Mississippi. I've always wanted to see the Mississippi River and now I can cross this one off my Bucket List. But don't worry Old Man River, we'll be back for sure!
Afterwords, we went to a place for lunch called Central BBQ in Downtown Memphis. Now there is so much BBQ in Memphis, one could actually OD on BBQ but again, I had heard Central BBQ was the place to go for BBQ so we had to try it! We ordered a Tri-Tip salad with mac & cheese and BBQ beans which were deliciously good. The tri-tip was melt in your mouth good and they put a lot of greens and veggies in the salad and the BBQ beans had a rich, smokey flavor to them. Delicious!
Then it was back to Beale Street for some great music and a shake at A Schwab's. A Schwab has been around since about 1890 and they make some of the BEST milk shakes and they do it the old fashioned way with real ice cream! If your ever there, be sure to order the Banana and Peanut Butter shake. It is sooooo good and it was Elvis's favorite!
No comments:
Post a Comment