Saturday was Kevin's second leg of his long lonely drive to Texas. He hit the road by 9:00am towards his first scheduled stop - Memphis, home of The King. He had never been to Graceland before so he was excited to check out this legendary mansion. I had been to a wedding in Memphis a few years back and checked it out myself, but found the neighborhood a little "lacking." It seems the demographic has changed quite a bit from the years when Elvis ruled the Billboard charts. So, Kevin locked the doors, rolled up the windows and headed to Graceland. The place has now been dubbed "the biggest tourist trap Kevin has ever seen in his life." Buses and tourists with fannie packs and shorts packed the streets in front of the house in crowds as thick as a peanut butter and banana sandwich. He could barely make his way to the gates to see the place and only managed to get a picture in front of a sign. After he paid $10 for parking (which he thought was actually the entire admission fee), they tried to pry another $28 to get through the gate and $60 to get the "Blue Suede Shoes tour." He noted that there were 3 different Elvis impersonators actually in line for the tour - probably not their first time. After turning that down, he said a not-so-fond farewell to the Volunteer State and drove on to Arkansas.
Arkansas did not get better reviews. He drove across the state in a whopping 4 hours and even passed through the hometown of our most ridiculous president, Bill Clinton. We both agree that the union would do just fine without this state.
By the time he crossed the border into Texas, he was delirious. He did appreciate the big sky and wide-open plains, but had his fill of 18-wheelers and the Dairy Queen signs that line the entrance into the Lone Star state. He raced into Austin with the sun roof down (at night) and the music up as loud as it would go to keep him awake and alert. He finally got to my mom's house around midnight where I was waiting with a beer to reward him!
Miles traveled: 900
Book on tape heard: Horse Soldiers
Weirdest sight: any of the people he saw at gas stations in Tennessee
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