Tuesday 25 June
Our accommodation last night was in West Memphis, which was actually across the border in Arkansas. So we drove the long distance (well, 20 minutes) back into Tennessee to Elvis Presley’s home. The tour of the Graceland Mansion was actually much more impressive than I expected – we did it because we were in that part of the country, but it was very informative and made us want to buy some Elvis albums!
We followed into the parking lot a car with a number plate that said ‘Elvis’ so were concerned we would be surrounded by extreme fans, but the day was just fine. The tour of the mansion was well organised, walking you through the house from one end to the other, listening to your own audio tour through headphones, and the tour and commentary ended at Elvis’ graveside. I paid $3 extra per ticket (the little kids were free) to upgrade us from the mansion tour to a “Platinum” tour, which included six extra exhibits including Elvis’ car museum and exploration of his private planes.
We considered an early lunch at the Rockabilly cafe but as each meal would have cost at least $10, we skipped that in favour of a $2.99 icecream cone. The kids thought it was great we have had icecream for dinner on this holiday and now lunch…
We then left Memphis and went in search of somewhere to print, scan and email some work documents back to Australia. At a post office I was told they couldn’t do any of that, but the kind lady did photocopy my documents for me anyway. We then had a laugh about our language barrier, as I asked her if I could post them to Australia – she told me you post things up on bulletin boards, you MAIL documents…;) three pages in an envelope and $45 (!!!!!!!!!) later, the docs are on their way home! We then tried a uni and a local library, but nowhere would scan documents for me. The librarian did direct us to an Office Depot where I could get the help I needed. So now as well as missing my wonderful laundry, I also miss my printer, scanner and photocopier at home!
Ross used the time to start the necessary grocery shopping…in Target! It is so weird here, their department type stores are a one-stop shop where you can pick up any and all shopping items. Their Walmarts, Kmart and Targets are a Big W and Woolworths rolled into one store. Which is very convenient for an RV that can’t move easily from one shop to another. The downside is we probably do more impulse buying (like $3.98 T-shirts…).
The detour lost us some travel time, so we then went in search of an RV park. We have been staying mainly in parks branded ‘KOA’, as we find them superior to the competition in terms of service, cleanliness, and facilities. (There is a very broad spectrum of RV parks over here!) However, the state of Mississippi has only one KOA, over the other side of the state. I saw on a billboard a website for all the state-owned and run parks, so we headed for the closest one. The RV parks here are well off the highway, and not all on sealed roads. We found the park in a dodgy area (well, that was our judgement based on the people and homes around it), but missed the actual turnoff. Ross decided then to just keep going! At the next town called Brookhaven, we found a cluster of motels, so I price-shopped around and found one for $46 for the night. So we repeated the process of parking the RV in the car park, and the kids enjoyed sharing a king bed, cable tv and a bath!