Yes, we did it. We went to Graceland.
For those of you who have lived on a desert island for ever, this is where Elvis Presley lived, and died.
After a leisurely grocery shop around a near deserted Wal Mart (we found some great
$5.00 bargain movies) we were off.
The day started with Captain Skeptical going on about the crass greed of EPE ( Elvis Presley Enterprises) with their multi million dollar merchandizing of a dead man, and The Captain’s cynicism was compounded by such things as Elvis Monopoly, Elvis blend coffee, and Elvis Reese’s Peanut Butter candies. All the things for sale in the eight or nine gift shops seemed to be made in China.
We did the tour of Graceland, his mansion, which, as to be expected, has been preserved as it was at the time of his death, August 1977. Actually, the house was quite interesting, not as gaudy as we thought it was going to be.
The downstairs collection of his gold records was incredible as well as the hundreds of costumes he used for his live performances.
There was constant mention of his charity work, and one part of a wall is decorated with 40 checks, all for $1000.00, made out to 40 different charities. The interesting thing is they were all dated November 8th, 1962. Quite a sum of money 45 years ago. Of course, the cynic in the group (me) asked if that was all he ever gave away.
Apparently, he gave away millions.
The tour finished, and we agreed it was very enlightening.
After a look at the gravesite, we were bussed back across Elvis Presley Blvd, to the “merchandizing” part.
We went into the automobile collection, which has some very expensive collectors items, such as a Dino Ferrari, a couple of Stutz’s, and his pink Cadillac.
The exit was through a gift shop.
There were two airplanes, named for Lisa Marie Presley and Priscilla Presley, which we looked at, quaint in their early seventies décor and phones, and the exit from them was ……………..through a gift shop.
While in the gift shops, I remarked on the total lack of Elvis music for sale, something I found quite ironic, as his career started with music.
Oh was I mistaken!!
They have a gift shop solely for his music and movies, so over the top it even had a live DJ sitting in a proper “studio”, outside, playing non stop Elvis all day.
I asked one of the workers if they had any Led Zepplin, or Beatles, and her look could have killed me!!
I asked another worker how long it took before they got completely fed up with non stop Elvis music, and the good reply was they tune it out!!
Despite my lack of Elvis appreciation, I have never been a fan, we had a good time and I would recommend the experience to others.
We left, and it had started raining, so we could not wait to get out of Memphis, at least the area we were in.
We hit the Interstate again, with all the trucks and headed east towards Nashville, where we will be hammered with another one of my “Music Least Likely To Buy” types, Country.
But, all is not bad news.
Marlipops, doing her world famous navigational chores, said “turn off at the next exit”, which was ½ mile ahead.
So, we turned left, headed north towards Kentucky, and are now encamped at Whispering Pines RV park. It has only 22 sites, and we are currently the only occupants. We are in The Land Between Lakes, on the Tennessee / Kentucky border. More on this area tomorrow.
We found an interesting beer variety pack today, by Flying Dog Brewery of Denver, Colorado.
The first I sank was Old Scratch Amber Lager, very good, and the second was Road Dog Scottish Porter, and the label goes on to say “Good People Drink Good Beer. No Sh*t”
This was also an excellent little ale as well.
Wildlife watch today zippo.
