Memphis, TN …and Wait, We’re NOT in Tennessee?

Marc & Bridget Saunders
Sep 18, 2023
3 min read

Happy Tuesday Chroniclers! How’s the Joe?

We’re visiting the home of the three B’s; BBQ, Blues, and B.B. King. Oh, and then there’s the other “King.” Elvis.

Let’s start at the beginning. I know we were headed to West Memphis. I did not know that West Memphis was not in Tennessee. When you go to West Covina, you know that Covina is in the same state, right? …and when you go to St. Louis and East St. Louis, same state too, right? No? What the heck is it with these cities split by the Mississippi River? So, we crossed Ol’ Blue, why it’s called that I don’t know. There is nothing blue about it. We crossed the Big Muddy, now that’s a name I can live with, and landed in Arkansas.

On the way to the RV park, Dr. Francois looked at some of the domiciles bordering the road on the right and made the comment, “This looks like some First 48 stuff right here.” He was right, it did look pretty shady and I was about to roast Samantha Stevens on this one. After making an excellent pick in Nashville, she really had nowhere to go but down. Having that in mind, none of us hoped to make an appearance on A&E, especially if it was going to be our high school grad photo. A half mile down the road and a left turn down a dusty road and through a thicket of trees and she redeemed herself. We’re literally on the banks of the Mississippi River watching commerce travel north and south. She was trying to lay the blame at the feet of Stephanie, but when it had better results, she wanted the credit again.

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On my bucket list, the historic Lorraine Motel. Everything looks so much larger in print. It was humbling and sobering. Inside the whole place has been turned into the National Civil Rights Museum, at the Lorraine Motel. It starts out with a video from the Ford Foundation with an intro by Edsel Ford, III patting his great grandfather on the back for all he did for civil rights. (umm, that was kind of insulting, Henry Ford was steadfastly committed to virulent racist and antisemitic views that he clung to for most of his life). Anyway the museum was interesting and had a lot of interesting and tactile exhibits. Notable was the actual bus Rosa Parks sat in and desks, actual photos, diplomas, identification cards and letters of some of the young men and women who integrated schools that we’ve read about in history books. Something significant, even though I read about them in school, some of these folks are only 10-15 years older than me.

Then off to Beale Street. We ate at B.B. Kings. The food was really tasty and the live music was very good. After we ate, we strolled past some of the other bars, the music piped out through speakers and the difference in talent was obvious. I’m glad we stopped where we did.

Yesterday, a visit to Graceland. The HB & I used the time for R&R. While we both like the music of Elvis, I was a little put off at spending $80 to visit his, Gladys’ and Lisa’s final resting place, an airplane and a house, neither of which had been remodeled in 50 years.

But, at the suggestion of a local, we tried another BBQ spot. Corky’s. Again, not a