4/24/14 Home for the Summer!

(Damascus, VA)

We only had a 175 mile trek today and we got on the road about nine.  It wasn’t exactly a pleasant drive for Bob.  We went through two watersheds and the roads were up and down and they twisted this way and that.  Add in a considerable amount of 18 wheelers all hell-bent on making good time and it was kind of nerve wracking for him.  I just read my book and stayed quiet.

We made one last stop before we made the last leg of our journey.  We wanted to ask the locals about the best way to go in. Directions in hand we proceeded.

Oh My.  What a drive this was.  We are going to be up in the mountains and this happens to be the highest elevation in Virginia.  We went through a little town called Damascus and then started up the mountain.

It was a twisty, winding, two lane road with a stream on our side of the road and trees and solid rock on the side of the lane coming down off the mountain.  There were some mighty tight turns.  There were curves where you couldn’t see what was coming the other way.  Sometimes cars and trucks whose drivers know these roads were coming down the other way and to us first timers it seemed like they were driving like bats outta hell.

There were sections where it seems we were driving straight up and all I could think of was everything in the 5th wheel shifting.  I can tell you we were thankful for The Beast.

After a trip that seemed to take forever and that surely took years off our lives, we finally arrived at Beartree Campground.

We stopped at the gate and met some of our co-camp hosts.  We were greeted warmly.

We were led to our loop by a fellow camp host.  This place is huge!  We met our next door neighbors on the way and when they walked away they said, “Good luck parking that thing!”  Didn’t exactly leave us with a warm and fuzzy feeling. When we got to our site we understood what they meant.

The first thing you have to understand is the loop is going uphill and it’s a one lane road with gullies on either side.  Every RV’er who just read that shivered.  Go ahead, admit it.



Bob got the truck into position to back it in and I just held my breath.   There was no wiggle room here to work with.  Did he get it in on the first try?  No, but he did on the second.  It didn’t go in with just one back up there was some pulling forward and backing up again to get our home perfectly lined up with the deck already in place.



Shortly after we got in Butch & Cathy, our next door neighbors came over for a short visit.  They knew we had a lot to do to get set up so they didn’t stay long.

So here we are.  On top of a mountain, with NO CELL SERVICE, NO INTERNET! and we haven’t had  time to set up the Directv so for now, NO TV.  We knew there would be no cell service unless we went into Damascus but there is a phone here we can use that has free long distance.  TV?  Our neighbors have Directv so we know we can get a connection there.  That will have to wait until tomorrow.

We got a lot done today but we’re not completely set up yet.


We were brought a golf cart for our use this summer.


Dinner was more or less find what you can.  Bob had grilled sandwiches and I had Cap’n Crunch cereal.

We settled in to watch some movies and around 8 o’clock the park manager, Edie, dropped in to welcome us.  She’s just as nice as I thought she would be from the few phones calls we’ve had and the private messages we’ve typed back and forth on Facebook.

If our first impressions hold true this is going to be  a great summer.

We don’t start workamping until next Tuesday so we have four days to finish getting set up, thoroughly cleaning the house inside and out, getting a feel for the lay of the land and seeing Bob’s sister Cathy.  She is, after all, the reason we are here.

There is an WIFI at the gate house/office, so we can go there and get online.  I’ll be working in the office four or five days a week so I’ll type my blog posts in Live Writer and then upload them from there.  When I work I can satisfy my Candy Crush addiction.  In fact, we’ve already decided that we’re going to look into getting a booster antenna so that maybe we can have Internet from our site.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

4/23/14 The Color of Spring

(On the Road to Dickson, TN)

We were on the road by 8:30 this morning.  We doing an unusual 280 miles today.  This is our last day on the road, tomorrow we arrive at our destination.

As we were traveling the highway I took notice of the colors.  One always thinks of the fall season as far as colors are concerned.  I don’t think I ever paid attention, I mean really paid attention until today.

New leaves are out along this roadway.  Light greens, medium greens, dark greens, yellowish greens, silvery greens, white, pink, red, purple and lavender.  Every mile brought more colors.

 

Color abounds wouldn’t you agree?

We finally pulled into a campground and Bob and I both said, “We’ve been here before.”  It had to be years ago, before we went full timing.  We couldn’t recall the trip but we both knew we had been here before. 

I went into the office to register and I couldn’t find anyone.  I saw a registration form on the counter so I filled it out and then called out….Hellooooo, anybody here?  Nothing.  Several times.   I went out and went next door where I saw two ladies sitting on a deck.  They instructed me to use the bell on the counter.  Bell?  I didn’t see a bell.  I went back in and on the little counter off to the side I found the bell.  I rang it once and within a nano-second this young fellow comes out of a back room. I asked him if he heard me calling out hello and he ignored me.  I asked again and he still ignored me.  He finally looked at me and said, I heard the bell.  I didn’t like him from the gitgo.  You know, sometimes you just have a gut feeling for someone.  He never spoke to me again until he said, “Cash, $15.87.”  I’m not normally a violent person but I wanted to reach over that counter and grab this jerk by the throat.  So campers, the place was called Bean Pot Campground in Dickson, TN.  Fair warning, the guys a jerk.

4/22/2014 No Matter How Hard We Tried

(Memphis, TN)

We had such plans today.  We were going to go downtown and see all the sights. Beale Street, the Duck Walk, take in a music studio tour, go out to lunch, maybe even stay long enough for dinner and take in a show.  Oh what plans we had.

I called a tour company yesterday and found all the details on a three hour tour that would give us a good look at Memphis.  The tour started at 2:30 in the afternoon.  I called the bus company first thing this morning to find out what bus we needed to take to get downtown.  Turns out where we needed to go to pick up the tour would entail two buses and a trolley.  OK, we’ll leave in plenty of time to do that.  I then called the tour company to make our reservations for the afternoon tour bus.  Uh-uh.  They weren’t running that particular tour today.  They were yesterday when I talked with them, but between then and now their plans changed.  We’ll go to plan B as there was another tour we were interested in but it was our second choice.  A close second to be sure but second all the same.  Yes, that tour was on and started in forty minutes.  There was no way we could do what we had to do and get downtown in forty minutes.  Ok, so tour company tours are out. 

On to Plan C.  We’ll get a trolley pass and show ourselves around.  We needed cash for the bus so I had to hit an ATM machine.  Oh. Em. Gee.  Four dollar and seventy five cent fee for using the ATM machine.  Does anyone else find that fee just utterly ridiculous?  I understand a fee but I think that one is highway robbery.

So we head to the bus stop and we don’t have wait but for ten minutes.  We get on and Bob hands the bus driver a $20 bill.  That is after all what the ATM dispensed.  Mr. Bus Driver says we have to have correct change.  Bus drivers don’t carry change???  OK, there’s a store two doors down, we’ll get change and wait for the next bus.  While we’re waiting Bob says, “You know, taking two buses and a trolley to get to Beale street in a town we know nothing about may not exactly be a good idea for us.”  I agreed.

On to Plan D.  We decided that we would get two hop on – hop off bus passes for a bus that runs a dedicated loop from attraction to attraction and you can get on and get off as you please.  No narration like we would have had on the tour. 

We headed to the Graceland plaza to get the tickets.  Just as we got close we noticed the sign that the bus leaves on the hour.  Nine minutes.  We had nine minutes to get to the ticket window, hope there wasn’t a line, give our request for two tickets, pay for them and get to the bus stop.  Not gonna happen.  There is just too much to do in nine minutes.

So.  We took this as an omen.  We were not meant to go downtown.  Now you are probably asking why we just didn’t’ drive The Beast downtown.  The answer is twofold.  One, finding parking for The Beast is difficult at best.  We didn’t know what we were going to find as far as parking lots were concerned.  Secondly, plain and simple we just didn’t feel it was a good idea to leave our truck and the thousands of dollars worth of tools and equipment in it on a street or in a parking lot unattended.  Memphis is not a crime free area by any means.

So home we went.  A couple of hours later Bob suggested we go get fuel so that we wouldn’t have to do it while hooked to the 5th wheel.  So off we went.  While we were out I suggested that we take a ride and at least drive down Beale Street so we could at least say we saw it.  Again, off we went.

I don’t know how we did it.  We were going along fine and the next thing you know we’re back in Arkansas!   We don’t have a clue how we did that.

We went through some pretty unsavory looking neighborhoods.  We saw a total of two streets in the city that we would even consider living on.  Beautiful homes, nice looking manicured lawns, all surrounded by no other way to describe it other than a slum area.

Memphis’ street walkers are out in the daytime!  Oh how they dress!  Actually, now that I think about it there wasn’t a whole lot of “dress” involved here.  I was so taken aback at what I was seeing walking down the street in broad daylight that I didn’t even have presence of mind to lift the camera off my lap and snap a few.  Just as well, I may be have been seen doing that and I could have ended up being shot at!  Yeah, we were in that kind of neighborhood.  Bob got us out of there as quickly as he could.

I was so glad when we got back into the RV park.  Taking the tours probably would have been fine but exploring this city on your own could be risky.  Not a place we were comfortable in.

You can have Memphis, I’ll take Nashville any day.

4/21/14 The Rest of Our Day

(Memphis, TN)

After seeing everything there possibly was to see in Graceland, reading everything there was to read, watching every film there was to watch and hearing You Ain’t Nothing but a Hound dog a bazillion times, it was time to take our leave.

We walked back to our campground which is situated right behind the Heartbreak Hotel.

We knew when we got here that we were on

but now we took notice of the other street names.

We decided to go to the restaurant recommended by the staff at the campground office.  This restaurant was featured on the food network. They gave us a menu to Marlowe’s and if we took it with us we would get 10% off our bill.  AND they would come pick us up in a pink limo and deliver us back when we were done.  We made the call.

While we were waiting Bob took these pictures of all the bugs we killed on the way here.


A good time to catch up with mom on the phone while waiting for the limo.


The limo arrives.


It was a short run down Elvis Presley Blvd and we arrived at Marlowe’s.


We were the third table to be filled when we arrived.  Granted we were there about 5:30.

The menu was extensive and it was hard to make a decision as to what to have.  Bob finally made up his mind to have catfish, button mushrooms in a burgundy sauce and fried okra.  After coming back three times to get our order I still hadn’t made up my mind.  There were just too many things to choose from.  BBQ Ribs, BBQ chicken, there was even BBQ spaghetti!  That last entrée did not appeal at all.  So when our waiter arrived one again we placed our order.   Bob got what he wanted and I ordered……go ahead, take a guess.  yep, out of frustration I ordered a hamburger!  Bob raved about his dinner.  Mine was ok.  I’ve had better and I’ve had worse.

Arriving back home we agreed it was a fun day and we were both glad that we got to tour Graceland.

4/21/14 Graceland - Miscellaneous

(Memphis, TN)

Elvis Presley records selling from 89 cents for 45’s all the way to $3.98 for his latest album.

Everywhere in the area was gift shops. You could buy anything and everything Elvis!  These are items from days gone by.

Today, you can buy Elvis luggage.

Want popcorn that comes in a container shaped like a guitar with a picture of Elvis in a Hawaiian shirt with a yellow lei?  Hey, you can get it here!

You can even buy replica’s of his jumpsuits.  But then again, at these prices maybe they ARE his.  This blue number goes for $2025.00!

The red one….


Will anyone ever be able to fill these?


Elvis movies. Personally, I’m not a fan of his movies.  In fact, neither was he.  He wanted to play some serious parts and do some serious acting  but the powers to be were hell-bent on light comedy musicals.  I guess if you were a teenager when he made his movies and swooned at every lip curl then these movies were the ticket for you.  I guess I was just too young to appreciate them.

In 1968 Elvis made a TV special and it was watched by 1.4 million people around the world.  More people watched this than the moon walk in 1966.


SiriusXM offers Elvis Radio and it is broadcast live from Graceland.


Everywhere we go Bob gets one of those flattened pennies.  He has quite the collection now.

 

So there it is, Graceland.

WE CAME….

WE SAW…..

WE EXPERIENCED…..

 

4/21/14 Graceland - The Cars

Next stop on our tour was the ……


Elvis bought this for Priscilla one Christmas.  In white of course.  At the time of writing this I cannot for the life of me remember what kind of car this is.  Anybody???


Another white one, this time it’s a Rolls Royce.


Elvis also loved his motorcycles.  This is not the best picture I’ve ever taken.


If I remember correctly he bought this one for his mother.  It has been fully restored.




I didn’t get pictures of everything but there was also an array of golf carts, dune buggies and snow mobiles fitted to ride on grass since Memphis is not the snow capital of the world.

Elvis also liked to ride around on the grounds of Graceland on a John Deere tractor.  In the late 90’s the tractor was retired after 50 years of use and replaced with the latest model.  A group from the local college took on the task of restoring the first one back to its original condition.  It looked like it came off the showroom floor.  I couldn’t get a picture of it because two men were standing right in front of it reminiscing about their old tractors and just weren’t moving on.  So I did.
 
There was a little theater area  set up where we could watch a short film on Elvis and his driving in the movies he made.

4/21/14 Graceland - The Clothes

(Memphis, TN)

Jumpsuits.  Its what he wore.

 

 

 

 

The Tiger Suit,,such detail.

I guess I never took notice of how much white he wore.

 

 

All of these jumpsuits were definitely from the slim Elvis days. 

 

There were more but how many jumpsuits can you take pictures of?  I was surprised I took this many.
 
Elvis did serve in the Army.   If you remember he met Priscilla when he was stationed in Germany.

Priscilla’s wedding dress.

 

I can’t think of anyone else that could pull off a brown paisley tuxedo to get married in.  Only Elvis.

There you have it.  The king’s clothes.