The Mississippi Delta, was shining like a national guitar

I felt like the Michelin man when we went out this morning. Somewhere between the Michelin man and a Sara Lee pastry.

There was just layer after layer after layer. All necessary layers though because we started the day at 2°C, and it only ever hit a top of 3°C.

There were thermals, then jeans, a long-sleeved tee-shirt, a flannelette shirt and a jumper, then a jacket, scarf and beanie.

And I was still cold.

I have to say that it made going to the bathroom very complicated, making sure that everything got tucked in back in the correct order.

But it was all worth it because it snowed. Not exactly a blizzard … in fact there was not even enough snow to see it in a photograph, but it was undeniably snowing.

And you can believe me when I tell you that the seat warmers got a good workout today.

We started the day with a trip out to Collierville. MBW had done some research and identified that Collierville has been voted the prettiest main street in Tennessee. And it was a very pretty little town square.

I tried my hand at being Santa …

… but I don’t really have the whiskers for it.

Collierville is about 40km or a little over half an hour south east of Memphis.

Honestly, I felt like I was on the set of Heartland, popping in and out of these little shops in this tiny township.

But it was very pretty. We stopped and had a nice chat with the guy who ran the cowboy boots and jeans shop, and bought a few things from some gift shops. We had a nice coffee at the local coffee shop before heading back into Memphis.

From Collierville TN we next headed towards Graceland – the home of Elvis Presley.

Now before you get too excited, we didn’t go in. It was more of a “drive by” kind of thing.

Neither MBW or myself are huge Elvis fans, and I have a particularly low tolerance to things that are an obvious tourist trap where you pay extortionate fees for everything from parking, to seeing very limited parts of the house and everything else is (ka-ching) extra co$t.

And from all reports, it is not even a particularly well-rated tourist attraction, and located in a particularly grubby part of town.

So we spiced the whole thing up by parking illegally, taking a couple of shots of Graceland on maximum iPhone camera zoom, and racing off again.

But we still put enough planning and effort into the operation to claim “Graceland” as our song for tonight because we did go to Graceland, we just didn’t go IN to Graceland ..

“… I’m going to Graceland, Graceland
Memphis, Tennessee
I’m going to Graceland …”

And besides all of that, Elvis isn’t really dead anyway … he’s just pumping gas somewhere on the I-40.

Next stop was Bass Pro, which is like a combination of BCF and Kathmandu on steroids. Seriously.

They sell everything from clothing to fishing gear, guns, boats, quad bikes, 4WD buggy’s … everything!

And like everything else in America, everything is HUGE!

It doesn’t look so big there … is that what you are thinking?

Fireplace in the entrance of Bass Pro – Memphis TN

Huge fish/shark tank – Bass Pro – Memphis TN

I checked out the gift shop …

After all of that excitement, we decided to walk to Arkansas. Yes folks, you heard me … we walked to Arkansas.

We walked halfway across the Harahan foot bridge that crosses the mighty Mississippi River from Tennessee to Arkansas.

Now in the interests of full disclosure, we didn’t set foot on the Arkansas side of the river.

It was absolutely freezing out there on the bridge, with a very cold wind blowing off the river, making the reported 2°C feel something more like -10°C.

I was pretty sure that I was getting frostbite on my fingers and toes, so we made it to the Arkansas side of the state line marker and scurried back to The Don II to crank up the seat warmers and go find some lunch.

We had been told that Central BBQ is the place to eat in Memphis, and so we went and had a vegetarian’s worst nightmare – half a rack of ribs, smoked turkey breast, smoked brisket, plus sides.

Please believe me when I tell you that it is worth the trip to Memphis TN, even if it is just to eat at Central BBQ 🙂

Last stop of the day was a 3.30pm guided tour through Sun Studio: The birthplace of rock and roll.

The story is that Sam Phillips was a very popular DJ in Memphis and recognised that there were many talented musicians in and around Memphis that had no way of cutting their own record.

Od recording gear – Sun Studio – Memphis TN

DJ/recording booth – Sun Studio – Memphis TN

He set up the Memphis Recording Studio in January 1950 and allowed anyone to cut a record for a flat fee of $4.00 (about $58 today).

He had many musicians come in and cut their own record, and then one day an 18 year old Elvis Presley came in and recorded his first song.

*Elvis Presley and others – Sun Studio – Memphis TN*

The Memphis Recording Studio was unable to sign Elvis to a record contract, so Sun Records was established.

Other greats to record at the Memphis Recording Studio include BB King, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash.

Graham (our guide) also talked about how various sound effects were created – such as the sound of the train tracks in Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues“ – using a guitar with the strings all loosened.

The facility was sold in 1959 when Sam Phillips opened a new studio, and the building was used at various times as a barber shop, laundromat and a scuba/surf shop … yet none of the subsequent owners ever changed anything in the building.

When it was reopened in 1987 as a recording studio and tourist attraction, it was still functionally a recording studio, attracting artists like U2, Def Leppard, and Ringo Starr.