10/18/22:

On this day we continue our trek South from St. Louis along the Great Mississippi River Trail to the Border of Tennessee and Arkansas. Although we have been through many parts of the Volunteer State, Memphis has alluded us on the very Western Border for years. We know they are known for their BBQ, Blues Music, Civil Rights, Elvis,  and FedEX though it just hasn’t worked in our plans until now.

We had booked a campground in West Memphis which is actually in Arkansas, not Tennessee. Tom Sawyer’s RV Park is located  on the Mississippi almost directly across from downtown Memphis.

Adding another State…

Our view from the campsite…

10/19/22:

Ou plan for our first day in Memphis was a visit to the “National Civil Rights Museum” and then a stop at “Sun Records” where it all started with the King;  Elvis….

The National Civi Rights Museum is a very powerful experience that should be visited by all Americans. The African American people have experienced some the greatest atrocities of a culture in all of history. Their history of being plucked from their worlds, treated like a commodity, shipped to the Americas, and enslaved for generations under some of the harshest conditions imaginable in humanity is a difficult truth to comprehend. The museum is exceptionally well conceived and well done! The location of the museum also encompasses the famous “Lorraine Motel”, which was where revolutionary Preacher/Activist Martin Luther King was tragically assassinated. The images from that fateful day are embedded in so many people’s memories and when you go through the museum, and actually walk through his hotel room and that famous balcony, it is a chilling experience from this difficult moment in time.

The National Civil Rights Museum…

The Lorraine Motel…

The balcony…

With the morning spent at the National Civil Rights Museum we had planned on doing a tour in the afternoon at Sun Records. Sun Records is where it all started for the King of Rock & Roll, “Elvis” and many others including Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis…

The building isn’t large but the music history is amazing. The actual tour isn’t expensive and the staging area for rounds of tourists waiting to begin their respective tour allows ample time to peruse the eclectic mosaic of important moments and artifacts of music history…

Sun Studios…

Wow…

The” Mic” shot were Music’s Royalty sang…

Yes we were there…

With our tourist tasks completed for the day next up was a scheduled meet-up with some friends “The Bruce’s” who live in Memphis. Actually Katie is the daughter of some of our good friends from Clinton, CT. Having literally known her since she was a toddler we have spent many social events with her parents, The Elliot’s, for years. Katie’s dad, Doug and I coached our sons together in soccer years ago and spent many days, nights, and weekends watching our kids play from the sidelines. Their son worked for me for many years while in high school and college and then when Katie reached high school she did the same. Katie had re-located from CT several years ago for work and then graduate school in Memphis, met her future husband, got married during Covid, and then recently had a baby boy. Being in the area it was great to see them at their new home and meet “Sam” while catching up over some dinner.

Visiting the Bruce’s in Memphis…

10/20/22:

Our last day in Memphis had us taking a tour of STAX Record studios and then venturing down to Beale Street for some entertainment & BBQ.  We may be some of the only people that ever stopped in Memphis and didn’t do Elvis’s “Graceland” Tour. We did check ticket costs and decided it wasn’t a must for us. Sun Records was enough.

Stax Records is synonymous with Southern soul music. Originally known as Satellite, the Memphis company was founded in 1957 by Jim Stewart and co-owned with his sister, Estelle Axton, and took its new name in 1961 from the first two letters of their last names. Among the many artists who had hits on Stax and its Volt subsidiary, during the Sixties, were Rufus and Carla Thomas, Booker T. & the MGs (an interracial instrumental quartet that also served as the company’s rhythm section and house band), Sam and Dave, Johnnie Taylor, Albert King, and Otis Redding. Stax placed more than 167 hit songs in the Top 100 on the pop charts, and an incredible 243 hits in the Top 100 R&B charts.

STAX Records…

STAX Records…

With the STAX Records museum tour completed we headed to famous “Beale Street” next…

Beale Street…

Downtown Memphis…

We had a terrific time enjoying our evening on “Beale Street”!  One of the clubs we went to had a local singer who crushed the classic “Walking in Memphis” tune. The song was written and originally recorded by American singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, for whom it remains his signature song. It received a Song of the Year nomination at the 34th Grammy Awards in 1992.

Click this link to see a video of our night on Beale Street :    IMG 6442

Cheers to Memphis & Beale Street…

10/21/22:

We departed Memphis and headed for our next stop, Little Rock, Arkansas. We had scored a last minute cancellation at Maumelle Park just outside of Little Rock. Arriving at the campsite we were blown away by our location. Right on the river with a spectacular view. The few days we were there several other campers, while walking by, stopped to write down the campsite #.  I’m sure their hopes were to  be able to reserve our site in the future. We were fortunate to get it …

Our Campsite at Maumelle…

Perfect!

10/22/22:

Today we plan on meeting our friends from Ontario, Gordon & Debbie,  at their campsite in downtown Little Rock and together visiting the Bill Clinton Presidential Museum & Library. We snowbird with Gordon & Debbie at Desert Shadows RV Resort and have become good friends. We really haven’t ever caravanned with anyone in the past so this was a test for both couples to travel together for a few weeks as we head West across the country for the Coachella Valley. We turned out to have a terrific time traveling together. This being Day 1 of this adventure, we were in Little Rock with a visit to the Clinton Museum/Library.

A super day with our friends…

10/23/22:

We depart Little Rock and start our caravan into the Ozark’s with our next stop in Branson, Missouri. Having done a music trip back in 2015 covering Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Motown (Detroit), Country Music Hall of Fame (Nashville) and then New Orleans in 2019 we were hoping to round our the music tours with Memphis this year and our next stop Branson.

The campground we had reservations at is Table Rock State Park just outside of Branson. The campground is nice and has a great walking trail along the water for miles…  Both of us couples decide to drive around the area independently and then get dinner together later on.

Table Rock State Park…

Luck would have it when we arrived the camp host had stopped by and told us about his favorite place to go out to eat in the area which is the restaurant at “The College of the Ozarks”. Apparently all students can attend the college and work off their student debt by working at the university. The restaurant workers were some of the hardest working, respectful, and grateful young people we have seen in some time. They were grateful for their opportunity and took tremendous pride in their work and education. Great job Arkansas!!!

The dinner was excellent…

The next night we had all decided to do a show in downtown Branson. Branson, MO is famous for their shows and many of the artists having been playing the same venues for years and have huge followings. We trusted Debbie with her research and she decided we should go the “The Haygood’s” billed as Branson’s most popular show.

The Haygood’s quick facts from their website:

Quick Facts:

• 5 brothers, 1 sister.
• 31 years playing music together in Branson.
• 7,000 concerts for over 6,000,000 people worldwide.
• Longest running, most successful first generation show in the history of Branson, Missouri.
• Set the SOLD OUT record in Branson with 120 SOLD OUT shows last season.

The show was again sold out, extremely entertaining, and we all had a terrific time. A great evening and show we highly recommend.

10/24/22:

Continuing our trip West our next caravan stop was in Oklahoma City, OK.  Having wanted to visit the “Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial” for years our path this year fortuitously had us going right past it. On April 19, 1995, at 9:01 in the morning, our world changed for ever.  People often refer to that moment as, “the last minute of innocence for our nation in regards to domestic terrorism.”

The Oklahoma City National Memorial is a memorial site that honors the 168 victims, survivors, rescuers, and all who were affected by the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995.

The museum is a comprehensive look at the the history surrounding that day and the resulting effects on our country. The “Reflecting Pools” and “Symbolic Chairs” are a place of reflection, mourning, and remembrance. A visit there takes several hours to complete and you leave emotionally exhausted…

The reflecting pool…

The Metaphorical Chairs for those that perished that day…

10/26/22:

The next several days we spent a lot of time behind the wheel DRIVING…

We actually got into a routine of stopping mid-day at a place to park like a Lowe’s and then venturing off in our respective tow cars for a few hours before returning and re-attaching and continuing on. Our stops at night were usually just overnights at Casinos or rest areas.

A few of the stops included:

• Palo Duro Canyon State Park (The largest Canyon outside of Grand Canyon)
• Eclectic Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo, Texas
• Downtown Albuquerque, NM.

Palo Duro Canyon…

Cadillac Ranch…

Downtown Albuquerque, NM…

10/28/22:

We crossed the border into Arizona today and spend several hours driving through and visiting Petrified Forest National Park. This is out first visit here and because the roads are wide we can actually drive through the park with the tow car attached making many scenic stops along the way. The geography is diverse and definitely unique in this park.

Getting that Passport Stamp…

Joanne and Debbie sitting on a Petrified Tree…

Wow!!!

So there you have it. We arrived at DSRV Resort on 10/30/22.  We had driven more that 11,000 miles this year in the RV. Over 7500 in the MINI. We had covered a lot of the US and Canada and visited several places we had never been before . We completed our first Car Rally and we completed our first Caravan. We revisited the Martime Provinces again and added Quebec and the Gaspe Peninsula. What a GREAT travel year and another chapter in this “Revolutionary Journey”… Time to start planning for 2024 but not before updating our map…

Updating our Map…