Memphis

Awww do we have to leave New Orleans? At least we’re heading to another musical place – Memphis!

We take the Natchez Trace Parkway (thanks to our advice in Miami) which is a nice drive with lots of greenery and upside down armadillos at the side of the road, poor things.

We stop to rest at Natchez which is a peaceful town on the banks of the Mississippi with pretty buildings and we follow the trail around the town reading about the history of the place. It's a town steeped in the history of blues music with various key historical markers for us to investigate. There's even a church with Tiffany windows but it's closed so we have to just guess which ones they might be. On our way to find some food we are stopped by a local lady who shouts across the street to James “HEY! I LIKE YOUR COOKIE MONSTER SHIRT!!!” we get chatting and when she realises that we’re from England she puts on an English accent and asks us if we like tea and crumpets. She’s very giggly and doesn’t seem to want us to leave. When we finally say goodbye she crosses the road in front of our car and says in her English accent “WHY THANK YOU KIND SIR!” while doing a mini bow, heehee funny lady.

On the banks of the M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

Hehe - James' house!

A very grand synagogue - Natchez was home to a thriving Jewish community. Now they get 4 or 5 attendees on a good day

Historic Glen Auburn Mansion

A terrible event in blues history

We find a friendly Mexican restaurant called Fat Mama’s where we have Nachos and Tamales and a HUGE margarita for Christine, yum yum! James chooses Fat Mama's Gringo Pie...wouldn't you?

Back in the car we drive to Vicksburg and check into the motel ready to drive to Memphis tomorrow.

Arriving in Memphis we are greeted by our lovely host, Patty. Her house is huge and there a couple of other guests staying here as well. It soon becomes clear that Patty is an Elvis fan, especially when we spot the man himself standing in the corner of the living room.  We want to make the most of the rest of the day so we dump our stuff and get the trolley into town. At the Peabody hotel they have a family of ducks who spend their day swimming in the lobby fountain before waddling into the lift to go to their penthouse suite…we’ve got to see it! Unfortunately we’re 10 minutes late, maybe tomorrow duckies.

He Lives!

We walk up and down the famous Beale Street where there are lots of restaurants and bars, all blasting out blues music. We stop for a drink but we don’t stay for long as we have a very American night out planned – a drive in movie! Woohoo!

We buy a takeaway pizza and some other provisions and head to the movies where we pay $7 each for a double feature, Transcendence and Captain America 2. There are only two other cars there so there’s no chance of our view being blocked. We tune the radio in and settle down to watch the films. It’s nice to be able to eat pizza and chat while watching a film. The only problem is that the car keeps powering down and making the radio go off, doh! Time for the interval and Christine is very excited by the confectionery adverts, she’s always wanted to see the performing hotdog (*cough*loser*cough*) By the second film Christine is getting chilly so gets into her sleeping bag. She looks very comfy but obviously too comfy as she falls asleep during Captain America, whoops! Tonight was definitely an all American night. 

Today we planned to go to a ballgame but we’re running a bit late so we decide to tour Memphis instead. We aim for Sun Studio which is famous for starting the careers of Elvis, Johnny Cash and many other brilliant musicians. The tour is only short but we get to see the studio where the magic happens and James gets to breath all over Elvis’ microphone. As you'd expect for an American tour our guide is a bit of a keen bean, trying to get everyone to sing a long and finish her sentences. At least she's excited too.

Original Sun artist guitars (even Johnny Cash down at the end)

...And everyone else starts running

The actual Sun studios is just a small shop next door to the museum with a few neon signs on the windows

We still haven’t seen any live blues so we head towards Beale street again and find a band called Sonny Mack and the Mack II Band. We get a “Beale Big Ass Beer” and sit in the sun to soak up the atmosphere. The band are really good but we get a bit disturbed by the guitarist playing the guitar with his tongue. We know we should probably go to explore Memphis some more but we make friends with some other visitors, including another Brit wo is apparently in town for a secret royal wedding. Obviously a few people think we're in town for that too but we get no last minute invite. A few people get up dancing and we see an old man with a walking frame teeter into the beer garden. Thinking he is heading for the chairs at the front of the stage we’re surprised to see him dump his frame and boogie on down with the rest of the dancers, brilliant! Music really is the best tonic! We decide to join in with the dancing for a bit before saying goodbye to our new friends and going to find some food. Afterwards we watch a brilliant street band, the atmosphere is great. It's game night for the basketball team so the band is the Grizz Line drum band playing to get everyone excited for the game (obviously it didn't work on the team as they lost that game).

Sonny Mack (minus tongue)

Our new friends (and below)

How do you like your steak? Blue of course!

We go back to the house with the intention of changing and going back out but we make the mistake of lying down on the bed and falling asleep, we can’t hack it anymore. It's been a long, hot day but great fun!