Day 2 - Memphis to St. Louis

Today, Rob and I got up pretty early and checked out of our room in Memphis. Why? Duh. We were going to Graceland.

Except here's the thing. Graceland is effing expensive. OK. I know I'm a baby when it comes to museums; I'm from DC, with the nation's best museums, and they're FREE. But $27 to walk around Elvis' redneck riviera estate? Please. Robin said, "Twenty seven dollars to walk through a drug addict's house? Might as well walk through a crack house." I agreed, especially considering I don't even like Elvis' music. I figure, this is the man who said black people were only fit to shine his shoes. I'll assume that means I'm not fit to spend $27 to walk through his big tacky house, too.

All hating aside, I got some kind of neat photos of some of the messages left on the graffiti wall that circles the property.

We wandered around Memphis a bit. We saw the "Pink Palace," a monstrous, vaguely pink house built by the guy who founded Piggly Wiggly. We drove back down Union Street to go to the National Civil Rights Museum. The museum itself is actually located in the (obviously) repurposed shell of the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. King was killed on April 4, 1968. The museum traces the black civil rights struggle from 1619 up to today. Like the Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC, most of the museum is one exhibit, but it had one temporary exhibit, a really nice set of panels, about the life, work and legacy of Roberto Clemente. I had no idea who Clemente was, other than a baseball player in the 1980s (sic). What an incredible guy. He's got the triple whammy of being black and Latino in America, but rises above the bullshit to be an incredible athlete, role model and humanitarian.

I grabbed a great quote from the Clemente exhibit: "Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don't do it, you are wasting your time on this earth." (Take that, children of New Orleans!)

Although I was generally impressed with the overwhelming amount of primary sources and artifacts available for the main exhibit, I was unhappy with the panel layout (right to left panels? NO!) and the single-mindedness of the exhibit. Malcolm X got just one panel. ONE PANEL. He was mentioned during the section on the Selma marches once too, because he visited. How can you call yourself a national civil rights museum when Malcolm X gets only one cursory, throwaway panel in your museum? Plus, there was almost no mention of other civil rights movements - what about AIM? immigrant movements? Uh, women? Very disappointing in scope, especially since they had a whole building dedicated to exploring the conspiracy theories surrounding King's death. A whole building about did James Earl Ray do it. One panel for Malcolm X. Boo.

After leaving the museum (and its gift store - Reed HS, get ready for these posters!), Robin and I headed over to Beale Street, only to realize it's just a Memphisized Bourbon Street. It even had a Pat O'Brien's. Lame. We asked two waitresses where to go to get real food. We ended up eating at the Flying Fish a few blocks away. Good food. Plus $1.50 PBR drafts? Seriously, I haven't had a beer in ages. It was incredible.

On the way out of town, we pushed a guy who ran out of gas to a parking lot. Weird. Then we headed west over the Mississippi River and drove through Arkansas.

Three hours later, we made it to Granite City, Illinois (population: don't come here) where our second Econolodge was waiting for us. To be only ten miles outside of St. Louis, this place is DESOLATE. It was late and we were tired, so we just had dinner at the nearby Waffle House. We drove the block rather than drive, so as not to give the two rednecks drinking on the hood of their primer-hued hoopty in the parking lot the wrong idea. Waffle House was depressing. But $3.50 for three eggs, toast and hash browns is all right by me.

We drove back to our motel only to find, as I started writing and Robin went to bed, that our next door neighbors really like doin' it. A lot. I've never heard any bed make the noise theirs made through the wall. Awful. Robin knocked back and said, "Can you hear us laughing at you?" Apparently they didn't. They kept plugging away. Gross.

They're finally done, though, and I'm finally done - though still trying to figure out posting photos - so I'm going to bed. Tomorrow is a long day - St. Louis, MO to Springfield, IL to Lansing, MI. I'll update you on our on the road adventures again tomorrow!

Bonne nuit!

Funny town names encountered: Cooter, Frisbee and Braggadocio, MO
Total states visited today: 4
Total states visited, whole trip: 6
New states visited today: 2
New states visited, whole trip: 2