(Pam) we are now in Tennessee and staying at the Graceland RV Park. The name of our street is Don’t be Cruel Dr. and it intersects with Blue Suede St. The RV park itself is on Elvis Presley Blvd. We got here about 1:00 after a fairly uneventful drive. Steve is starting to get tired of the long days of driving so we just relaxed for a bit once we got here. The temperature was in the low 90s with humidity even higher. OMG, I really don’t think I could live in the south.
We walked over to the Graceland complex after a bit. The RV park is right next-door. Our site is right next to the gate so we were able to walk right through the parking lot. Holy cow was it hot! It was almost like walking underwater. We went into the main visitor center to see if there’s anything we wanted to do. The cheapest tour was over $50 a person, and to tour the house itself was $84! Needs to say, we passed on all of the above. The complex almost looks like a strip mall, except each store is actually a different aspect of Elvis‘s life. There’s a storefront for when he was in the army, there was one about his daughter, Lisa Marie, another about his early life, etc. Across the street was the actual home, Graceland. We decided to just walk over there and figured we could walk around the house and maybe take pictures from the outside. We were stopped at the gate. The guard was very nice, but told us we couldn’t go any further.
So, back to the RV to wait for the pink Cadillac to pick us up for dinner. There is a family owned bbq place about a mile from the rv park and they will send a pink Cadillac to bring you for dinner.., so we did it! It was very fun, and our driver was friendly and shared things about the restaurant and how Elvis used to hang out there. He also saw the license plate I had made for Steve that is on the front of the rv and thought our last name was Coddiwomple! HAHA! He also drove us home and we had been impressed that he remembered where we were staying as well as our site number, and it was then that he was trying to remember our ‘unusual’ name. That was so funny and I think it embarrassed him a little when we sounded confused that Carlson seemed unusual. For those of you who don’t know, coddiwomple means to travel purposefully towards a vague destination.
So, back to that bbq place. We started out with fried green tomatoes and I will continue to eat them with every meal while visiting the south. I love a good red ripe tomato, but those green ones are pretty wonderful, too! I also tried a dish that many restaurants in Memphis serve, and that is bbq spaghetti. It’s still pasta on the bottom, but instead of a tomato sauce and ground beef or sausage, it’s bbq sauce and chopped pork shoulder. It was pretty good…probably not something I’ll feel the need of duplicating at home though. Steve had a half rack of ribs, and we both enjoyed the baked beans.
Maggie is scared again to come out of the rv. The routine seems to be that she doesn’t come out until we are on the road and stop to get gas. Then she seems fine. Once we get to our new spot for the night she typically comes out then, and that is when I walk her. After that she doesn’t want out anymore. Last night Steve had to push while I pulled to get her out. She has only eaten twice since we left on the 3rd. She clearly is not a travel dog. We love her, but she wants to be loved at home I think.
