Going to Graceland: T.O. Fuller State Park, Memphis, TN 6/16/08

We headed out of Nashville and onto the Natchez Trace Parkway early this morning, around 8ish. If you haven’t checked this little gem out, I encourage you to google it and read about it. It is a remarkable National Parkland that is actually a road that goes for 440 miles from Nashville to Natchez, Mississippi. It follows the original trace or trail that the Buffalo/Indians/Traders used. (Check out the photo – it’s pretty typical of the drive). There are no towns, billboard signs or anything commercial on the parkway. The history and the way it is laid out are really well done. We were on the parkway for 100 or so miles and saw: an Old Tobacco Farm, the original trace (and took a couple mile drive on it), the Gordon Historic House, Merriweather Lewis’ death and burial site, and even checked out some campgrounds. Ned and I had read the book “Sea to Shining Sea” about the Lewis & Clark expedition. It was somewhat bittersweet seeing the site of Lewis’ mysterious death. We made a vow to come back someday and do the entire scenic parkway. (I feel another road trip coming on…) While we drove this stretch of road for several hours we saw maybe a dozen cars and about 10 bicyclists. It was like having a beautiful private road to ourselves. This experience definitely goes to the top 10 list of our trip. At the very southern part of the state we left the trace and cut across Tennessee hugging the Alabama and Mississippi borders. Most of the way was dotted with Barbeque joints, Baptist Churches and small towns. We eventually arrived in Memphis after a very long day in the car. We are staying at T.O. Fuller State Park, which is in Memphis, not too far from Graceland. (It’s surprisingly nice considering that as we approached it we drove by several refineries on the Mississippi River. However, the park is tucked in several hundred acres of lush woods. Go figure). The first thing we did after checking in was to drive by Graceland. It’s in a really tacky area and costs about $64 to tour. We did the obligatory photo shoot from the outside and decided to spend the evening exploring downtown Memphis and of course, tasting the barbeque - after all, Memphis is known as the barbeque capital of the world! We ate at “Interstate Barbeque” and had the best ribs of the trip so far. (This entire city smells like barbeque, as does our campground). We then made a tour of Beale Street, checking out the Blues blaring from every bar and perusing tacky Elvis chatchkas. Ned bought me this amazing tshirt that has a picture of Martin Luther King and Barack Obama on it. It says “The Dream…one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. The 2008 Democratic Presidential Nominee.” How fitting to buy this in Memphis. We can’t decide whether to head for Little Rock, AK first thing tomorrow or head back to downtown Memphis for a tour of the Gibson Guitar Factory and Mud Island. P.S. Big Happy Birthday to Polly!!