On The Road With Roger, Ardelle, April & Pansy: "ALL SHOOK UP"

We had stayed within a stone’s throw of Memphis many times, but for one reason or another, had never gone to see Graceland, so last Friday we decided it was time. We were staying near Tunica, MS, about ½ hour from Graceland. When we arrived, we were somewhat surprised at the line at the ticket counter, considering the time of year, but it was also Spring Break time, so there were more families than there probably would normally be this time of year. After getting our tickets, we were shuttled across the street to tour Graceland mansion. The house itself is not as enormous as many of the mansions and plantation homes we have seen in our travels, but nevertheless, was impressive. It was built in 1939 and was purchased by Elvis in 1957. He was 22 years old at the time. It was initially occupied by Elvis and his parents. The purchase price for the home and 13.8 acres was around $100,000. Probably the most impressive part of the mansion is what Elvis did to it to make it his own. As you can see in the pictures, he did some pretty elaborate decorating. The tour of the mansion included all of the lower floor of the house and the basement. The upstairs was off limits. We were told that was Elvis’ private area and out of respect for him it was kept that way. On the grounds, Elvis added a racket ball building which is now used to display many of his numerous awards, gold/platinum records, etc. The tour ended at the Meditation Garden, an area Elvis added for quiet reflection. In this area are the gravesites of Elvis, his mother and father and his grandmother. The area was adorned by numerous floral arrangements that are constantly brought and/or sent from fans all over the world.

After touring the mansion area, we were shuttled back across the street for the rest of the display. This is the “tourist trap” part, with numerous gift and Elvis memorabilia shops containing rather excessively-priced stuff. There is the auto museum which is very nicely done and displays numerous cars and other motorized toys owned by Elvis. In another area is a display of the various costumes he wore in his concerts. Also on display are his two private aircraft, a Convair 880 named Lisa Marie, after his daughter, and a Jetstar named Hound Dog. If you look on the tail section in the picture, you may be able to make out the letters “TCB” with a lightning bolt. This was Elvis’ logo. The TCB stands for Taking Care of Business.

All in all, it was a worthwhile visit, albeit a little pricey, but nonetheless worth seeing.

We were both to worn out to do much more “touristing”, but we did drive downtown to Bealle Street, the birthplace of the blues, just to say we had been there. On a future visit to the area we will go back and take in some of music-related museums and studios.

On Saturday, we drove back over to Red Bay so we could meet the representative from MCD to get a couple of repairs made to the solar shades we had installed last fall. The service department at Tiffin said they may get us in earlier than expected so we are going to hang out here. It’s not exactly your ideal RV resort, but we have full hookups, the rent’s free and we’re not burning $4.00/gal diesel fuel!