Category Archives: Mississippi

Arkansas proved to be a great state to stop in.  We stayed in another Army Corps of Engineers park – Maumelle Park.  We had a large pretty site with a glimpse of Lake Maumelle and lots of trees.  After some rain at our last campground, we enjoyed bright skies and warm temperatures here.  The large pavilions in the park hosted family gatherings and church services on Sunday.  It was nice to see so much activity.  With my Senior Pass this lovely site cost us $12 per night.  We had water and electricity but no sewer. By being a little careful with our water usage, we managed to live quite comfortably thanks to our large black and gray water tanks.

Our visit to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library was the highlight of our stay.  Little Rock is a beautiful city; pretty much the only big city in Arkansas.  The capital building is impressive.  The Clinton Library is located near the Big Dam Bridge in a park along the Arkansas River.  The library building is a large glass and steel modern rectangle.  This is the first presidential library I’ve been to so I have nothing to compare it to, but it was much more than I expected.  We wandered through a replication of the Oval Office, saw the Clinton china plate collection, viewed cases of gifts from other countries, enjoyed a white and gold Chihuly glass sculpture and much more.  Seeing display after display of what the Clintons accomplished in their 8 years was amazing.  Having it all concentrated in a relatively small space emphasized the breadth of history that developed during those years.  We need to see more Presidential Libraries!

The library was hosting a temporary exhibit of the Beatles.  One of the guards told us that the same group we saw in Branson had performed the night before for the opening of this exhibit.  The grounds outside the library also have the honor of growing an Anne Frank tree.  Saplings from the tree that gave Anne hope when she was in hiding have been planted in special places around the world.

We also visited the National Historic site of Little Rock Central High School.  This huge and beautiful high school was where nine students quietly fought against violence and hatred by walking into their school.  It was a deeply disturbing time in our country and battles for equality and non-discrimination were fought in many places.  The museum across the street from the high school told the story of the legal side of the battle.  We read about the struggle in the courts and in the local government as well as reading about the human side.

It was the unrelenting media coverage that eventually broke the stalemate and the school was integrated.  Some of the original Little Rock Nine shared their stories on video.  All of them braved constant physical and verbal abuse all their high school days but survived and went on to get bachelor degrees.  Some have master degrees and some went on to get their doctorates.  Little Rock celebrates the role this city had in finally breaking the stronghold of segregation.

Both of these attractions gave us a lot to think about on our way to Memphis.

We didn’t camp in Tennessee, but instead stayed just over the border in Southaven, Mississippi.  Mississippi is the 15^th state we have visited on this trip.  We were in a Good Sam park called EZ Daze RV Park.

From there we drove the short distance to Graceland in Memphis.

Since the late 1970’s I’ve been wanting to see Graceland.  I wasn’t Elvis’ biggest fan, being totally in love with the Beatles and Bob Dylan.  But I knew all his songs and went to most of his movies.  I was feeding my very young sons their breakfast and waddling around the kitchen 8 months pregnant with my daughter, when I heard the news that Elvis had died.  I was stunned and felt personally grief-stricken.  I took an old black scarf and made an arm band.  I couldn’t explain to my little boys why I was so sad and couldn’t stop crying that day.  I remember sitting on our front lawn watching the boys ride their big wheels around the cul-de-sac and I was still crying.  My neighbors who were younger than me and didn’t care about Elvis.  They thought I was crazy and blamed my tears on my advancing pregnancy.  But Elvis’ death was sad for me and I developed a deeper appreciation of his music since then.

So finally here I was visiting Elvis’ home!  We took the Mansion Tour – you park at the visitor center, buy your tickets and wait a short time for the bus to take you across the street to Graceland.  As you enter the bus, you are given an IPad and ear phones.  With simple instructions you follow along as you enter the home and move from room to room.  The audio was sufficient for us to get the most out of the tour, but if you wanted to get more detail you could use the IPad to dig a little deeper.

For me, it was incredible to walk into the living room and know that Elvis lived there.  You see all the rooms on the bottom floors of the home – kitchen, jungle room (den), family/tv room, etc.  Everything is lovingly kept just the way it was when Elvis and his family lived there.  The upstairs bedrooms are off limits to the public since Lisa Marie and her family still stay there when they are in town.  The outside area and other buildings are all beautiful tended.  The meditation garden where Elvis liked to sit and enjoy some quiet time and the gravesites were very touching.

The home was remarkable and even if you don’t love Elvis as much as I do, seeing the period furniture would be groovy for any one who remembers the 70’s.  Probably the most impressive part of the tour was seeing the incredible number of awards Elvis received – hundreds of gold and platinum records that were floor to ceiling in what used to be his racquetball court.  And a part of his life that was unknown to me was the giving nature of this man.  I knew he was generous and loving to his family, but I didn’t know he gave enormously to many different causes and helped many individuals who came to him.  I shouldn’t be surprised – a man whose voice can belt out gospel music the way he can has to have a big and beautiful soul too.

So now we are in Red Bay, Alabama.  Alabama is our 16^th state.  Our stay in Alabama will be less touristy and more practical, although we might get in some local attractions.  We are in Red Bay because this is where our RV was manufactured.  We are staying here to get some warranty work done at the Tiffin Service Center.  We came during their busy season so we are right now in an overflow camp ground.  In a few days or so we will move into the main Tiffin RV camp ground.  It’s first-come, first served and we have 32 units ahead of us before we will see any service being done.  We were aware that we would have some waiting around to do.  Once we know what our schedule will be like, we can plan our days.  We expect to be here for a few weeks.

I will be flying back to Tucson for some family business.  That means that Doug will stay here and take care of moving the RV from our site into the maintenance bays as we are called in for our turn for service.  We have a list of items to be fixed, mostly small details.  Before I leave we want to go on the Tiffin factory tour to see how our beautiful home was put together.  There are a few places nearby that look interesting to us so if we get a few hours free we will try to visit them together.  Since I will be gone about 5 weeks, Doug will get to see a lot more of this part of Alabama than I will.  When I get back, we plan to head south for the winter months.