Now we are REALLY in the South!!

After ten days and more than 2,900 miles behind us, we have reached the farthest point from home, the lovely and humid New Orleans. Today we didn't have any emotionally evocative experiences, but not every day has to be so serious. This is our vacation, after all.

Our view for most of the past few days has pretty much been this.

the open road in the South

The home of the King

We started the day at Graceland - why else come to Memphis, the ducks? Graceland is a large home, but not unbelievably so, and we only took about 45 minutes to get thru the house and mediation garden, where the King is laid to rest. The audio tour is excellent, which is good because a tour guide would be hopeless...there is no room for a guide AND a bunch of shuffling tourists. The house wasn't built as a museum.

Mr. and Mrs. Presley, you have a lovely living room

The Jungle Room is cool, especially the green shag rug on the ceiling.

The TV Room is cool in yellow and navy blue, but what is with the white monkey on the table?

The racquetball court is unreal, with the walls covered from floor to 25 foot ceiling  with gold and platinum records.

Did you enjoy the tour? Thank you very much...

And the JUMPSUITS!

Yes, Steve wishes this was his closet

There is certainly more to see at Graceland, including a car museum and the King's airplanes, but we had many miles to go today, so we took off to the south.

Yes, the plane is called the "Lisa Marie"

Somewhere on the road thru Mississippi, we saw this obelisk - what the heck?

Next stop was Jackson, Mississippi, near Pearl, the hometown of our good friend from Brooklyn, David H. We stopped at the state capitol building of course, so a little southern photo op.

Our destination for the day was New Orleans, which we hit in the late afternoon. We walked thru French Quarter, taking in the sights (and smells) of Bourbon Street. It was crowded, loud and bright, and we saw a gay pride parade, so it was kind of like being in New York, but even more humid. We got caught out in a little rain, and had some coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde, a typical tourist time in the Big Easy.

Bourbon Street as few see it, in daylight

No, we did not partake of any of the magic green elixir

On the banks of Old Man River

Tomorrow we are off to Texas. Time to sign off, and we will talk to you tomorrow!

Memphis Tonight

Something funny happened when we got to the hotel in Memphis. The registration desk at our hotel had, instead of offering mints or cookies to guests, offered ear plugs, because the hotel is less than a block from Beale Street, the entertainment and nightlife heart of Memphis. Beale Street is like a mini-me Bourbon Street in New Orleans, a hedonist, booze-soaked 2-block pedestrian mall. And hot as hell in the middle of the day. We hope the noise won't bother us, since the bars are allowed to stay open after 3 am (from a special exemption from the state legislature). Ear plugs at the ready!

a hot crowd on a hot day

We went to the Peabody Hotel to see the 5 o'clock duck march, a daily Memphis tradition. But the crowd in the hotel lobby was crazy, and the Peabody Hotel duck wrangler just went on and on about the history of the duck march, so we left before the main event. We got this shot of Allegra sitting on the fountain with the famous ducks a while before the grand ceremony. If you're interested, you can see the event here.

cute duckies!

Dinner was at a place recommended by many people - The Rendezvous for ribs. This is a rub, not a sauce, place, and the family was split on the ribs. Blythe and Steve were definite thumbs up (best ribs Steve ever had), but Allegra was a partial thumbs down - she prefers sauce to a rub. If you are in Memphis, definitely try this place. The menu is simple, there's no dessert, but the food is great and it's not real expensive.

Have fun finding the entrance!

We see the King and Graceland tomorrow, then hustle down through Mississippi to the Big Easy, so we will talk to you later!

Happy 17th Anniversary!

Happy 17 Years!!

What a great way to spend the first half of Day 9, also our 17th anniversary, at the Clinton Library & Museum. Steve and I met and got married, and Allegra was born during the Clinton presidency. In many ways, Clinton speaks to our generation. The building is on a beautiful site right on the banks of the Arkansas River, which Steve and I floated on in 1993. The first time I met his family was driving in a Winnebago with Martha, Betsy, Martin, Henry (1 year old), Diane, Andy and Adam, from Pittsburgh to Hot Springs for the The Coates Family Reunion. At that time I was thoroughly vetted by the Coates side of the family (all 6 aunts, 1 uncle and their respected spouses and Steve's cousins) and I guess I passed the test. We're going to reunite with some of them when we're in Texas in a few days.

Very post-modern

The Clinton Library did a very good job of presenting a very balanced picture of Clinton's presidency. Allegra learned that Bill had 5 saxophones that were specifically made for him (4 of them were tenors). This was the first presidency that we became acutely aware of the positive impact his decisions had on our lives. We were reminded of his decision to allow graduate students to not have to pay tax on tuition remission. Clinton emphasized globalization and the information age. He was adamant about equal rights for all, health care and education. President Clinton brought our economy out of a deep post-war recession into the most successful American economy in 100 years. We miss Bill!

That silver mouthpiece is supposed to be the best

Strive for the best, then give back to our community/country

President Peelor gives the Cabinet the business..

We've landed in Memphis and are about to head out to Beale St. and the Peabody Hotel to do some sightseeing. Stay tuned...

Arkansas

We made it to Arkansas today, after a very tree-filled drive through the Ozarks. We stayed off the interstates for the most part, on the back roads, like we did a lot of in the Dakotas on our last road trip. We managed to avoid stopping in Branson for a little (very little?) entertainment; I was really lobbying to see the Yakov Smirnov show, but Blythe and Allegra stayed the course and got us thru Missouri.

Our drive through nature let us see the World Wonder of the Natural Bridge, bit of sandstone deep in a valley outside Clinton (yes, it seems like every state has a town named "Clinton", I'm surprised there's only one in Arkansas). They also had a replica whiskey still, guarded by a fierce looking gentleman. At $15 for the three of us, that may have been the most expensive, measured by the minute, tourist trap we've ever been to. The guy who worked there was nice, though, made some barbecue recommendations for Memphis (tomorrow's destination).

Not exactly sure why they built this bridge...

Old Jeb, still guarding his still from the Revenue Men

When we got into Little Rock, we really knew we were in the South because it was hotter than hell!

like 97 degrees today, in June - Texas next week is going to be a blast...furnace, I'm sure. Our first stop in the city was, you guessed it, the state capitol building. For the first time, there was no construction going on! A very nice building, thought they could use some gold leaf or something on the dome.

no scaffolding in sight

Next was Little Rock Central High School, a National Historic Site. It commemorates the conflict (understatement) over the attempted integration of the school by 9 black students in September 1957, three years after Brown v Board of Education. We've all seen the photos of soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division escorting the Little Rock Nine through a crowd of literally bloodthirsty white folks. The museum across the street from the high school (which is still active today) has a very powerful exhibit about the 1) events that led up to and of September 1957, including video interviews of the Little Rock Nine, and 2) descriptions of other actions, both protest and positive, in the fight over civil rights for minorities. 

The exhibit was not as shocking as the Brown v Board site (see yesterday's post here), but is very emotionally evocative. This crisis was one of the first times people throughout the US, even the world, could watch the personal battles over racial discrimination in real time with the television coverage of the day. They say that 100 million people watched President Eisenhower's address on September 24, 1957. Part of the site is a preserved Mobil gas station, restored to how it looked in 1957. It's directly across the street from the high school, and because it had a pay phone it was an important meeting place and was the main connection the throngs of media had to their varied headquarters in the pre-cell phone era.

Little Rock Central HS itself is a very imposing building. At the front, around the reflecting pool, are nine marble benches, each inscribed with the name of one of the Little Rock Nine. 

One of the benches

This trip has been unexpectedly educational so far, as the two sites we've seen so far, in Topeka and Little Rock, have really driven home personal stories of the fight for civil rights. Hopefully we will find more as we continue on our journey.

Tomorrow morning we are off to the Clinton Library, then quick drive (for us) to Memphis. Talk to you later!

We're just wild about Harry (S Truman)!

Finally a day with a short drive! We only had 200 miles to cover today, from Salina, Kansas to Independence, Missouri.

We stopped Topeka, the capital of Kansas, for a quick photo of the capitol building (under repair, again).

We also saw a sign for "Brown v Board of Education Historical Site". This was unexpected, so we had to see it. We followed the signs and came to Monroe Elementary School, which has been preserved by the National Park Service, and has a couple small but powerful exhibits about the conflict and violence that resulted from attempts to desegregate schools like Little Rock Central High School and the University of Mississippi. We're glad that we got to see an important landmark like this on our trip; Allegra felt it was historic as well (she's never seen an elementary school that was just one building before).

Brown v Board of Ed National Historic Site

Our next stop was at the University of Kansas to see the campus and get a t-shirt or two. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!!

"Allegra, can you see going to school here?" "Nope."

Lunch was at the world famous Gates & Sons Bar-B-Q in Independence. Delicious BBQ, delicious french fries, and ENORMOUS drinks - yikes! Geoff DiBello, thank you for the tip!

Before

After - is that lemonade big enough?

The Harry Truman Presidential Library and Museum was very impressive. The first Presidential Library built (1957), President Truman kept an office there until the late 1960's. It was also the first time that a former president gave all of his papers and state gifts to the National Archives for research and public access, and he was very active in making the library happen.

The (obligatory) introductory film, describing his life up until becoming president, was less aggrandizing than the Eisenhower film yesterday, and it led into the exhibits of Truman's presidency and associated world events in the post-war era. Rooms depicting the economic problems in the US and in Europe immediately after WWII were especially striking, as these aren't things often highlighted in how we learn about that time. There was also extensive coverage of the campaign of 1948 (of course), with very little equal time given to Governor Dewey - oh well, to the winners go the spoils!

The museum also has a replica of President Truman's Oval Office (furniture replicas, most actual accessories), with some narration recorded by President Truman himself. The (figurative) centerpiece is a huge globe that was given to President Truman by General Eisenhower (Eisenhower kept it when he became president).

Excellent words to live by

We also did a drive-by of the Truman House, where Harry and Bess lived before he was elected to the Senate in 1934. Bess Truman came from a prominent local family, so Harry had to marry into money to get this sweet house!

Harry Truman's house on Truman Street (what're the odds?)

Time to sign off, we have a long drive through the wilds of Missouri and Arkansas tomorrow. We'll talk to you later!

We Like Ike!

After 6 days and almost 1,800 miles, we finally got our Presidential Library Tour "officially" underway today, with the understated but impressive, Dwight Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, in the throwback town of Abilene, Kansas.

The day started with some confusion - what was this UFO hovering over the freeway?

A little while on, we were disappointed by the Hastings Museum in Hastings, Nebraska. We were led to believe there was an awesome exhibit about the origins of Kool-Aid, but it turned out they just had Kool-Aid stuff in the gift shop. Kool-Aid was invented in Hastings by one Edwin Perkins, who wanted to call it Fruit Smack.We got as few items there, but it was not all we were expecting.

In case you were wondering, it is CRAZY windy in Kansas. I think they shot the Kansas scenes in The Wizard of Oz on location along US-81. No gunshots in the stateline sign this time.

What, no bullet holes?

Crossing into Kansas, we saw another massive transition in the landscape - they added shades of brown!

Fun Facts about Dwight Eisenhower (according to the film they show you):
Dwight Eisenhower cured polio.
Dwight Eisenhower ended racial strife in the US by signing the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
Dwight Eisenhower convinced Sen. Joseph McCarthy to tone down his rhetoric.
Dwight Eisenhower kept the cold war "cold."

We started with a short tour of Eisenhower's boyhood home (where it always stood), that seemed much too small to have had parents and 6 boys living in it.

The Museum was very impressive, with an excellent timeline exhibit of his military and political, and post-political careers. The architecture of the whole site was very cool, very modern.

The Museum

The Library (duh!)

They had a few WWII vintage vehicles on display, and it was very telling that the staff car Cadillac was larger (and probably heavier) than a troop mover. One item on display we found interesting was a paratrooper's uniform - the uniform of the #23 guy in this picture, from D-Day minus 1, talking to General Eisenhower! They preserved it pretty well.

The political career displays were also neat, especially this sign that was on the Eisenhower's campaign train from 1952.

Why don't they use trains anymore?

DDE's final resting place

Tomorrow, Gates & Sons BBQ and the Truman Library! Talk to you later!