A Day of Travels

Mississippi and Tennessee
March 17, 2010

I wanted to title this post as "A Typical Day of Duane's Travels." But nowadays there really isn't a typical day for me, and that's the thrill of traveling without an agenda. Today was a day that did have many of the elements I go through as I travel across the country, and I wanted to share a full day of travels with you.

My day started in Columbus, Mississippi, a town at the junction of highways where I ended up when it got dark and I got tired the evening before. I only had one goal at the beginning of the day: to find Elvis Presley at the start and the end of his life. At 7:00 a.m. I headed north and in an hour I was in Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis. I was early though and thought I would notch another national park site on my travel resume. The Tupelo National Battlefield is a small remnant of the battlefield of 1864. It encompasses only one acre and resembles a neighborhood park more than a national park. The only facilities are a couple of historic monuments typically seen in Civil War battlefields and two informational boards explaining the battle. It is definitely on the bottom of the list of national park sites to visit.

The House Where Elvis was Born

It was then off to the birthplace of Elvis Presley. The house where he was born and spent the first few years of his life is still there, and it has been restored and furnished to the time when he was born in 1935. My guide for the $4.00 tour of the house was a second- (or is it a third-) cousin of Elvis Presley (they both had the same great-grandfather). The house is small, only 450 square feet with two 15'x15' rooms. After a quick look at the gift shop, it was time to take some photographs. A wife was taking a picture of her husband on the porch of the house, and as I have been doing to meet people, I offered to take a picture of both of them on the porch. They offered to take my picture on the porch which was warmly received since I don't have many pictures of me on this trip.

I was soon back on the highways to get to Memphis and Graceland. By my eye the most straight-forward way to get to Graceland was to avoid the interstate freeways and stay on the local highways. This is an inquisitive way to learn more about an area, and I saw the typical suburbs in that part of Mississippi next to Memphis. The Graceland Mansion is located in south Memphis, and I was dismayed by what I saw in south Memphis (and later in other parts of Memphis). I did not see any reinvestment or future ... it seemed the city and its residents were just trying to hold on to what they had.

Graceland

Graceland Mansion is definitely a tourist spot as they get over 600,000 visitors a year at $30.00 a pop (I got a 10% discount for being a card-carrying AAA member). They have a large parking lot and a visitor complex across from Graceland, and you must take a bus across the street into Graceland. You take an audio tour of the lower floor of the mansion and the accessory buildings on the grounds. Like any popular tour in a small area, you are herded like cows from one spot to another ... definitely not something for claustrophobics. Although the outside looks pretty normal, some of the rooms are a time-capsule of the early 1970's especially the kitchen. But Elvis also did some crazy things to the place including the Jungle Room, a shooting range in the old smokehouse, and a racquetball court building. Elvis is buried on the grounds in the Mediation Garden along with his father, mother, and grandmother. After some reflective time in the Mediation Garden, I was whisked by the bus from Graceland back across the street to the visitor complex.

There was one more Elvis site I wanted to visit, and that was Sun Studio where he recorded is first song. Off to downtown Memphis, I did not take the Sun Studio tour, but just looked around the building and peeked inside. With my goal of the day completed, what was next? Just a mile or so away was the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed in 1968. The motel has been incorporated into the National Civil Rights Museum, and I debated on whether to visit the museum. I was dissuaded by the $13.00 admission price and my queasiness of trampling though the motel room where Jesse Jackson and others were when he was shot and the room where the assassin fired his fatal shot. Plus I am planning on visiting the sites of civil right struggles later in my trip.

The Lorraine Motel

There was still daylight left so what was next? I had not yet done any hiking for the day, and I was feeling sluggish. I pointed my truck northwards aiming for Fort Pillow State Historic Park around 30 miles away. But I saw an interesting red square on my road map which was on the way:  it was the Alex Haley House Museum. I took a slight detour to Henning, Tennessee to visit the house where Alex Haley spent several years of his childhood. The house was his grandparents, and the porch is where he heard the many stories of his ancestors which he ripened into the novel Roots. The house has been restored and there is a museum in the backyard, but that will have to wait until another day. I was running out of daylight and needed to hike. Fort Pillow is near the Mississippi River, but where there is no bridge or ferry. It is out-of-the-way and at the end of a long road. I did get to pass the West Tennessee State Penitentiary with the usual warnings to not pick up hitchhikers, lookout for inmates working on the side of the road, and that I could be stopped and searched without the customary due process.

Restored Breastworks and Fortifications at the 1864 Battle Site

Fort Pillow was the site of a small Civil War battle in 1864, but it is known for the controversy of the massacre of African-American soldiers after their surrender. The reconstructed fort is around a mile or so from the parking lot, and I was able to get in a two-and-a-half mile hike over undulating terrain. It had been several days since I had a good hike, and it felt good to do something the opposite of sitting in a truck. I had some great views of the Mississippi River including a spot where the river has moved. The fort in 1864 overlooked the Mississippi River, but the river like it has done many a time shifted and was not around a mile away from the fort. The water below the fort has been cut-off from the Mississippi River and is now a freestanding body of water called Yankee Bar Lake.

With the sun starting to set, I hightailed it back to the main highway. Here I had a decision to make. Since I did not know where I was going or what I wanted to do the next day, I had a choice to go north or south. If I go north, I could see the Kentucky Bend and Crowley Ridge, two geographical oddities which (since I am a geographer and have been described by some as odd :) I've wanted to visit for some time. If I go south, I would stay closer to my path to reach Florida and could travel along the Mississippi Blues Trail. Because north was going away from my destination, north would be colder and south would be warmer, and I would not mind visiting the casinos in Tunica, I decided to head south. Before I got back on the highway, I got on my iPhone, and in a couple of minutes, I reserved an inexpensive hotel in Tunica.

I only had two nutrition bars and a couple of Diet Mountain Dews for the day, and I was hungry. I usually try to find a local restaurant which seems to be popular (that is, many cars parked in front), but I did not have time to do that. So my next option is a franchise restaurant, but to experience something new, I pick a franchise that we don't have in California. Tonight's choice: Backyard Burger. To my surprise, it was a good burger for a franchise, and actually did taste liked it was cooked on a barbeque. With a full tummy, I was on the road for another hour-and-a-half and reached Tunica, Mississippi around 9 p.m. Not a bad 14-hour day.

Day's Tally

Miles Traveled: 370
Admission Costs: $31
Gas Costs: $62
Lodging Costs: $61