Vacation, Continued...

So the first night in Memphis we camped at the Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park. The park was right on the Mississippi and reminded me a lot of my summer camp (except nobody was trying to make me accept Jesus Christ into my heart). We picked out our camp spot before we went to dinner and in the 30 minutes we took to set up, the dogs managed to get covered in burrs. When we camp back from dinner it was about nine and we were greeted by the deafening sound of the cicadas. It was louder than the fireworks the night before. There was also some weird larvae caterpillar thing going on on the ground.

When I woke up in the morning I had a ton more bug bites. Those bugs didn't give a shit about bug repellent, they're too punk rock for that. At this point I would say I had about 60 bites, I shit you not. Although I was pretty itchy I didn't really care that much because we were on our way to Graceland.

Graceland was awesome, of course. But I will say that it was exactly as I expected. It neither disappointed or exceeded my expectations. I think it was because I have seen it so much on the travel channel that I knew exactly what was there. I took a lot of pictures with my new camera phone but you have to hold it really still so some came out pretty blurry. I will say that the jungle room has fully inspired me to put a waterfall in my house or maybe more like a water drip. I have to admit, though it makes me look like a sentimental baby, that when we first walked into Graceland I was so excited I almost cried.

After Graceland we got some excellent BBQ at Tops BBQ, proudly serving Memphis since 1952. They have a very limited menu but I find that is the sign of a good restaurant. If you can keep people coming back for the same four things for over fifty years, they must be good.

Once we finished our lunch we headed over to the Stax Museum of Soul. It was fabulous. Since Stax is just about my favorite record label of all time, I was totally looking forward to this and it did not disappoint. In fact, it far exceeded my expectations. Aside from learning all these cool things about the history of the label that I didn't know (like that at one point they lost their entire back catalogue to Atlantic based on a handshake deal), I touched the three track that Otis Redding recorded on. Tell me that is not cool.

After that we headed over to Sun Studios but we would have had to wait an hour for the tour so we decided to come back the following day. To give the dogs and our bug bites a break and to get a humidity free nights sleep, we checked into a motel for the night. We also at more BBQ at Corky's which was very tasty, though I am not sure it is quite worthy of the "best barbecue in town" title.

Okay, later on Memphis Day 2.

More of the first two days

One thing I forgot to mention was that as we were driving through Kansas, Monkey decided he was bored so he pulled the window screen out with his teeth and tried to jump through the window. The dogs were in the back of the truck in the camper shell and there is Monkey hanging half out the window while we are going 80 miles an hour down the freeway. Luckily we were able to pull over before he got out, he sure moved fast. It was a really surreal feeling to be watching my dog out of a rear view mirror trying to commit suicide and there was nothing I could do about it. Even now it freaks me out to think about what could have happened had we not got the car off the road in time. High adventure.

Totally Off Topic

I would like to complain about something for a moment. Email. You know, that shit isn't as reliable as everyone seems to think it is. So if you send someone an email and they never respond, why don't you first try asking to see if they got it before you jump all over their ass. This isn't really pointed at anyone in particular, I just seem to be getting a lot of people claiming that they sent me emails lately that I didn't get. With all the spam blockers and what not, I feel like email is becoming increasingly less reliable, especially free accounts. But to the person who claims to have sent me two emails that I never got - to you I say, you are a stone cold liar.

Little Less Conversation, A Little More Vacation

We got to Memphis at about 6pm on Monday the 5th. I don't know if it was because of the holiday or because it was the 50th anniversary of elvis' first recording but that whole town was shut down. We had the hardest time getting food. I thought Mike was going to have a food related mental breakdown. Eventually we ended up eating at this trashy bar where everyone was watching some sort of SG-1 7th anniversary special. Although most of the menu was not available (at the late hour of 8:30), the food was actually pretty good. Okay, more vacation in the am.

Yes it counts

If you drive through a state it absolutely counts as having been there because you see the state. I don't have to be outside my car to tell you that St. Louis could be beautiful if someone actually cared about all those old buildings and that the arch is damn big. If you change planes at an airport in a state, that doesn't count. Unless, for reasons that I don't quite understand, you are Mike and that state is Texas.

The Trip

The first day, July 4th, we drove from Denver to Tulsa, OK via Kansas. Kansas is really long and empty. Also somewhere along the way, I decided that I would prefer it if Witchita was pronounced Wi-Chee-ta. I think it makes the town sound like it is more fun. We listened to songs on random play from Mike's Ipod all day, he has a really good mix though the "random" play does seem awfully partial to certain artists. When we got to Tulsa, fourth of July fireworks were in full swing. Damn, those guys love their fireworks. I think when someone has a gigantic personal fireworks display, they are hoping that people think "Wow, they really love america". Inwardly, I am sure they just like to blow stuff up. We camped at a KOA and the fireworks didn't stop until about three in the morning, much to Moab the dog's dismay. It was hot as holy hell and I got about 30 bug bites that night. Mosquitoes love me.

Day two we drove from Tulsa to Memphis via Arkansas and the corner of Mississippi. In Arkansas we stopped and ate breakfast at a Waffle House. Then drove into the Ozark national forest and let the dogs play around in a stream for a bit. Once again, the bugs were considerable and I got bit. Arkansas is really beautiful and was a nice change after the crappy roads and flat nothingness of most of Oklahoma. Arkansas is how you would imagine a postcard of the south to be, green rolling hills and leafy forests. Not to mention people with accents so thick it is like they are speaking another language.

In Mississippi really all we saw were the casinos of Tunica. They are pretty large for the middle of nowhere, I would say about the same size as Reno casinos, maybe a bit bigger. I used to think that I loved gambling but after visiting Reno, Tahoe and blackhawk, I have discovered that I really just love Vegas - the lights, the history, the glamour . We didn't stop in Tunica, it seemed pointless.

Okay, I have to do some real work now, so to be continued...

So much to say, so little time.

Hello all. My house has welcomed me back from tennessee without flooding or burning down. It is good to be home. It was a great trip though all the driving was a bit tiring and I only did half. We travelled to Tennessee via Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Mississippi and back via Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas. I had not been to any of those states but one so it was a lot to cross off of my 50 state checklist. We didn't make it to dollywood which I am sad about but it was such a fabulous time anyway that it isn't that disappointing.

I have a ton of work to do now that i am back but I will try to write a full report in the next few days.