Preparing to head South Again

We are days away from heading south to Florida and Alabama for the next few months. There is still some work to be done inside the RV and we need to fill up the propane tank. Then it will be time to load in the clothes, food, and misc items before heading out. Gus gets nervous when we start doing that, worried we will leave him behind, but there's no chance of that! He is a very good traveler. 

Day 47 - On to Visit Family

 We are on our way to Murfreesboro,  TN to visit Jerry & Heidi for a few days before going home.  This is the end of our sightseeing adventure. By the time we get home we will have traveled over 5800 miles in the RV, with a change in elevation of over 8000 ft, from a low of about 100 ft above sea level to over 9500 ft above sea level.  This does not include the miles driven in the Jeep to tour around.  Along the way we have seen some things for the first time, other things for the 2nd or even 3rd time. Those traveling with us were experiencing everything for the first time. We found that not everyone had the same interests and that made the trip challenging. While we love to learn about the history of places we are visiting and therefore like to stop at Visitor centers to learn more about the area and its people, others do not care about that. We enjoy being the "tourist" sometimes, walking thru small tourist towns and eating a meal at a "tourist" restaurant, while others don't care for that.  We learned that when traveling with someone with different interests it is OK to go our separate ways some of the time. Then each can enjoy what they want to enjoy at any given location.  Jim and I have done our last trip for someone else. We are glad to share what we have done and seen, but everyone needs to do their own planning to truly enjoy and appreciate the experience.  

We will spend some time with Jerry & Heidi, then head home to hug our son. daughter-in-law and grandsons. It will be nice to be home for a while. 

For any who are traveling, stay safe, and we'll be back RVing in January.

Day 46 - More Memphis

 Paul & Mary left early this morning headed back to Richmond. Heard not a peep as they left sometime before 7 am.  

Jim and I are enjoying a leisurely morning with intermittent showers. Gus and I have snuck in 2 walks between showers, watching the barges move up and down the river. 

The following pictures are from Mud Island Park. It is a scale model of the Mississippi River and all the rivers that help create this river. The water was not flowing like it usually is, but you can see more of the detail in the river now. They are working on the pipes that feed the water flow.

The park also displays guitars artistically painted to represent Memphis music, and there are great views of the river and the city.

Day 45 - On to Memphis

 We are staying at Tom Sawyer RV Park in West Memphis, ARKANSAS.  From there it is about 25 minutes to the Graceland Complex, just across the Mississippi River. We have tour tickets this afternoon. This is our final day with Paul & Mary. They leave us in the morning to hightail it home before a meeting on Tuesday. Jim and I will stay here an extra day and then visit Jerry & Heidi for a few days before heading home ourselves.

This afternoon we headed over to Graceland and the Museum. We invited Mary & Paul to join us but they chose to go on their own. When we got to the museum they told us to take the Graceland House tour even though our tickets were for 3:45 pm, so we did that. The tour was about 1 hour long, using headphones and an iPad loaned to us. It was somewhat self-paced as we followed the designated path through the house and surrounding grounds. Below are pictures I took as we toured the estate.

From the mansion we went back across the street to the museums, where we saw Elvis' planes, cars, award winning records, outfits worn to perform in, and many other items that tell the story of Elvis. 

Afterward we had dinner at Marlowe's Ribs & Restaurant, a place featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Jim and I shared a rack of ribs that were "fall off the bone" delicious!

We capped off the evening watching Columbo on TV.