Days 3 and 4: July 23-24

My parting words in the last entry may need some explanation. About four years ago I traveled to New Orleans with my friends Rebecca, Phil and Tania. It was pre-hurricane Katrina and we were excited to see Bourbon Street and soak in the fun New Orleans had to offer. Upon leaving our hotel on the day we arrived I looked around, breathed in the heavy air and proclaimed (rather like a cheerleader, I'm afraid) "Yay the South, We love the South!" Insert claps at the first and last word of each phrase and you have the effect. This unbridled enthusiasm took me by surprise and I wondered about what it was that so moved me. The warm, humid air? (I know you New Englanders cringe at the thought) The rich green foliage? I am not sure. Well, this trip has rekindled all of those musings as we swung through Tennessee and Arkansas over the last two days.

It's late again and I don't expect to write as much as I might like about the past two days so here is a whirlwind tour. And, I can't upload pictures yet so check back after tomorrow night and I will try to add them.

Day 3:

We left Knoxville and headed for Nashville, making a brief stop at Target for water and frivolous travel clothes (apparently we have no pact about any other national chains.) We arrived in Nashville a few hours later, where we discovered the main drag and meandered through. A gaudy Elvis statue greeted us as did a giant guitar with a mural of coutry music stars on it. We enjoyed barbeque at Jack's on Main street and discovered that no one in the place lived in Nashville, including two tables of people from California. Go figure.

Down the street, Katharine had the good fortune of wandering in to the Hatch Show Printing Press shop, full of gorgeous letterpress prints from the past 50 years. This place is incredible, people and I highly suggest you look it up.

I decided to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame, which I LOVED. I thoroughly enjoyed discovering more about the roots of country music including the fact that early influences were folk music from the British Isles, gospel, and the music in vaudville and revival shows. Plus I got to see a grogeous blue dress with sequins that Patsy Cline wore and Elvis' shiny gold car with an entire television set in the back seat. However, my personal favorite case in the museum is of two magazines in braille that Ray Charles often brought on the road with him. Two things about this:

1. For those of you who don't know, I am a closeted lover of Readers Digest and receive it every month. I get teased about this from time to time but now feel that since Ray Charles shared my great taste, I am somewhat vindicated.
2. Playboy and braille. Really?

These are the Hatch Show prints in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

On our way out of town I promptly played every song I could find on my ipod that is considered country music, including the theme song of this trip so far: "Jackson" by Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. Katharine and I like to sing it at the top of our lungs.

And we were on to Memphis where we arrived after Katharine spent several minutes trying to understand a GPS device on loan from my Dad and step mom for this trip. At one point when I looked over to see whether Katharine had found the welcome center I noticed that the screen illuminated a map of the entire United States. My exhaustion and exasperation turned to laughter which I did until I cried during which time we got off at an exit marked "downtown" and practically ran into the Welcome center. We may need some more practice with technology before it can actually help us.

That night we walked on Beale street, which reminded me of Bourbon street in New Orleans. The streets are blocked off, people are walking around with giant beers (labeled appropriately, "Big Ass Beer") and live music blares from every other bar. No expense is spared on the neon signs and it retains some charm. I eat my second pulled pork sandwich of the day and, tired, we head back to the hotel.

The hotel is considerably less nice than our previous choices and Katharine and I talked about whether we regretted the decision. After discussing all the places a masked murderer might stuff our bodies we talked about the degree to which our fears could be based on racism sice the clientele was mostly non white. In fact, being out of the north east where I am primarily surrounded by people who are white IS a shift. I may not like to admit it but I am really not pressed to think about race on a daily basis. Food for thought. (And for you parental figures out there, the hotel was FINE, we were completely safe.)

Day 4

We woke up and pondered our choices for the day: Graceland, Civil Rights museum, Little Rock and the 7 hours of driving that must be completed to make it to Oklahoma City where my sister (of the half variety for those of you who are confused) lives. I decided that in good conscience I could not see tacky Elvis memorobilia instead of a Civil Rights museum so off we went. As we pulled into the parking lot we discovered that the musem is set inside the motel at which MLK was assassinated. I was shocked to see in real life the place I had seen on film: Martin Luther King standing on the balcony speaking to friends before the shot was fired. As we approached the museum I got goosebumps and Katharine became teary. It looks exactly the same as the footage on Eyes on the Prize I had watched many times while I prepared a unit on the Civil Rights movement 2 years ago. I was deeply moved just standing there and took several pictures. As I looked over at the entrance, however, a crowd of tourists gathered looking at a sign. To my dismay we discovered that the museum is not open on Tuesdays!! Having become so excited to see and learn more it was a major disappointment. I actually considered staying another day and rearranging the time on the latter end of the trip but Katharine reminded me that we really do have to keep going.

We sped by Graceland, not going in but buying a fantastic candy treat I will share by picture later (oooh the teasers!)

Then it was time for the moment we have all been waiting for, me with unbridled excitement, Katharine with trepidation: Waffle House. We actually drove 15 minutes to Mississippi to go because I had an irrational fear that they would stop appearing so frequently past Tennessee (this was unwarranted we later discovered. There are Waffle Houses in Oklahoma.) Waffle House is a brilliant place. It's cheap, fast, has an unmistakeable syrupy, greasy smell and the waitresses are very likely going to call you one of the following: sweetie, honey or baby. Our waitress used the last of these with abandon. I ordered a waffle, an egg and some grits, trying to cover all of the major food groups. Katharine went out on a limb and ordered the famous hash browns all the way. This means they had everything but the kitchen sink on them: cheese, chili, tomoatoes, meat, onions, jalapeno peppers and maybe more.

From there we sped off to Little Rock, knowing we had spent more time than we should in Memphis in the morning. We were both sad to leave Tennessee. We talked about how we wanted to come back to Memphis on another visit and I began to wonder about taking tours of sights from the civil rights movement. Memphis really had it all though. It had the wild abandon of Beale street, the beautiful streets, many of which looked untouched from the 50's, tacky Graceland, and history enough to spend hours learning about. (And my friend Tania says there are ducks that go up and down an escalator every day in a row. What more could you want?)

Once in Little Rock, I felt the call of the Bill Clinton presidential Library. There was no missing this one since it is a large glass rectangle building suspended in air. I don't get it, honestly. What's the architectural appeal? But I LOVE Bill Clinton so I am willing to overlook this. However, since this is a whirlwind tour of Little Rock I had to be content soaking it all up from the lobby (which I went in and out of four times until the security guards were tired of me.)

We drove out to Central High School next after a pained search for a mailbox to send postcards. I am sorry I have to pause for a rant. There are no more mailboxes on street corners anymore!! Katharine and I have gone through two cities looking for them and have postcards that are so overdue it's ridiculous! I remember hearing about how the Post Service has removed mailboxes since they get less use nowadays. But really, people, we should be able to find one between two major cities!!

I still need to write about Central High School (home of the Little Rock Nine or Five as Katharine insists as though they were the Jacksons) and I need to write about the transition into Oklahoma. But this will all come later, hopefully with pictures.

Here's my follow up to finish day four.

Seeing Central High School, a functioning school, and how it looks exactly the same was also chilling. They have turned a gas station across the street into a tiny museum and I was reminded of the horrifying choices these teenagers and their parents had to make in order to send them to school.

From Little Rock we headed to Guthrie, just north of Oklahoma City where we stayed in a real bed and did some laundry. What a treat. And best of all I got spend some time with my half sister Beverly and her friend. We stayed up too late but it was worth it.

I will leave you with a picture of the sunset in Oklahoma: