Route 66 - Day 12 - Conway, AK to Nashville, TN

Iv saw a spider on the wall last night, so I got up to kill it, but when I got closer, I saw it was a roach. Blargh!

Fortunately, no more sightings last night or this morning, but I kept my luggage zipped up and well off the floor & away from walls...

Breakfast at the Waffle House next door was good, at least. Next stop: Graceland!

99% of the people who worked the service jobs at Graceland were black, and mostly ignored by tourists. I said 'good morning' and 'thanks' a few times, and got startled looks, which I didn't know what to make of, until I went to the Lisa Marie (Elvis's private jet).

A young guy was taking tickets in there, so when he took mine, I said, "thankaverramuch" in a bad Elvis voice. Then I said, "I bet you've heard that a million times."

He responded, "No, sir, most people don't say anything to me."

Graceland itself was nice, although just to get into the mansion itself was $30. For $4 more, you had the opportunity to do self guided tours through the Lisa Marie, a display of some of his cars, an 'Elvis & fashion' exhibit, an 'Elvis & pop culture' exhibit', a '68 special exhibit, and 'Elvis & his movies' exhibit.

If you go to Graceland, skip the pop culture and '68 special exhibit, but check out the other ones. Elvis & fashion was pretty cool, and his plane, although a bit dated, is still pretty extravagant.

We were going to find a BBQ place for lunch, but one of the triple D places that I had on my list (Marlowe's Ribs on Elvis Presley Blvd, just down the street) was closed. Iv suggested something on Beale St. instead, since I wanted to see Beale.

On the way there, we passed the Soul Museum, as well as Sun Records, but it was already 2pm, we hadn't eaten, and still wanted to make it to Nashville for early evening, so I deferred these for the next time I was in town.

We parked at the Peabody Centre, and made our way to Alfred's on Beale St. for lunch. I had a pulled chicken sandwich and a Dr. Pepper. Iv had the same, but with a Sprite. I thoroughly enjoyed my sandwich, but the first three bites Iv took had small bones in them. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. He had enough of Memphis, and wanted to get out of town as quickly as possible. I, being the king of ill timing, tried to put a positive spin on the sandwich by suggesting at least it shows that it's real chicken prepared on the spot. Not the best time to mention this...sorry, Iv!

Once we got past Jackson, things were better. Ivan stopped at a McDonald's for a lunch reboot (I had a chocolate shake). Logged onto the internet, where my friend Molly suggested on Facebook we check out the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville tonight. Thanks, Molls (although we didn't quite make it there)!

She also suggested we check out "Mountain Dew Mouth" if we hit Kentucky. I thought to myself, "That sounds like an interesting name for a big rock formation, or maybe a waterfall", so I googled it. HA HA HA

At the Comfort Inn in Nashville, which is a very nice, close to downtown motel. We actually got in before the sun set, which was a rarity for us. I tried using Google Phone to call my friends Rob & Trish to ask for some further Nashville suggestions, but they didn't answer, presumably because their call display would show some crazy number (next time, answer all incoming calls from Uzbekistan, guys).

(pause for Jeff to go out, hit downtown Nashville, drink some Maker's Mark, and come back)

Nashville is AWESOME!!! I had so much fun here, and Ivan really enjoyed it, too! We started off walking down 5th St., and debated going to a Keith Urban concert that was going on that night, since scalpers were selling tix for $25. We nixed the tix, walked down Broadway, which is the main strip with bars with live music. Here's a clip of a bit of it:



We settled at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge. Alex Williams & Amanda Allen were playing there. He sounds a lot like Waylon, which was pretty cool, and she played the fiddle.

We stayed for a drink, and took off to check out another place, since there was so much to choose from. We finally ended up at the Whiskey Bent Saloon, further down the street, where the Brandon Giles Band was playing.

If you're ever in Nashville, check them out. Some bands play; these guys performed. Here are a few clips. Note: the big cowboy and the bandana-wearing biker constantly got up really close to the stage and recorded the guy, so the clips are sometimes obstructed.

First clip: segue from "Can't You See" by the Marshall Tucker Band, to "Dixie", to "Duelling Banjos", back to "Can't You See":



Second: I went outside for a few minutes, and when I came back, Ivan said I missed a Jerry Lee Lewis-type performance. Fortunately, it happened again:



Third: and again, even more Jerry Lee Lewis! If you skim through this blog, at least watch this clip:



Goodnight, folks!

Route 66 - Day 11 - Tucumcari, NM to Conway, AK

We ate at Kix on 66, which is a diner in Tucumcari. I had the huevos rancheros, which were muy bien! (Lorena Ludeña, que estaría orgulloso de mí: he usado mi amplio conocimiento del español para decir 'gracias' un par de veces en el viaje).

Nik forwarded a list of 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives' for us to potentially check out from here to Memphis. Thanks, Nik!

While driving through Texas, past Wildorado, there were a few tumbleweeds rolling across the highway. Cool!

What was NOT cool was the cattle ranch after Wildorado . I opened the window to take a pic of all the cows, but should've thought of both the winds and the impact of 10,000 head of cattle in a small area. Smell-ee!

Another cop scare: we were going slightly above the speed limit, but not a crazy amount, when all of a sudden, a Texas State Trooper pulled out of nowhere, and drove up so close and so fast behind us, we both thought he was going to ram us. Then he passed us, drove about 10 ahead of us in the next lane, and craned his head around to look at us. Then he sped up, and kept tapping his brakes. Finally, he slowed down, drove over the grass median, and U-turned onto the westbound highway.

Iv's been a bit worried at different points due to his tinted windows. They're a 20% tint (i.e. they let 20% of the sunlight in). In Canada, they're legal, but in some states, apparently, 35% tints are the minimum you can have on the front windows. We're not sure how the law applies to out of country cars, but it's a consideration that we could get stopped for pimped-out glass...

We stopped at Conway, Texas, to see Bug Ranch, which is a take-off of Cadillac Ranch. It's even more roughed up than Cadillac Ranch was! Oh, well; still photo ops.

We passed by Groom again.









Groom's Giant Cross - redux (recrux?)

Onto Oklahoma! We stopped in Erick to look for a picture of the 100th meridian (everything west used to be the "Great American Desert"), but all we could find was the 100th Meridian Museum and a quiet town. The Roger Miller Museum there was also closed, so we kept driving to Clinton.

Clinton has a few things in it: a Route 66 museum, Jiggs Smoke House (they make jerky there), and the Tradewinds Inn (Elvis stayed there four times). We decided to check out the Route 66 museum.

Definitely worth checking out! Very well maintained, compared to some of the other museums we've seen on the way (the McDonald's museum in San Berdoo, for example, was mostly of the 'get some memorabilia and slap it into a cabinet without organizing it' variety). A lot of good picture moments.

I bought some stamps (finally) to send postcards that I bought over a week ago, and am writing those up now. They'll probably get back after I do, but it's the thought that counts, right?

We hit Leo's BBQ (a triple D featured place) in OKC. SO GOOD! I ordered the Leo's Light, which is obviously ironic, since it consisted of at least a pound of ribs, brisket, baloney, and a hot link, with baked beans and potato salad.

When we walked in, too, the place smelled smoky, like there was a fire burning. Once we looked past the cash, we realized why. There was a fire burning (note in the close-up of pic on right the fire behind the waitress)! Apparently, they smoke all their meat on site. Dinner was great: the hot link was the best sausagey meat I've ever had, and the same went for the baked beans. Their BBQ sauce (which came in the squeeze bottles) was a sweeter variety, and they had both mild and hot versions. I probably ate twice as much as Ivan (I ate my meal, and also polished off half of his baked potato), but this is why he looks like he does, and I look like I do. I can exercise when I get home...

So on to Memphis. Iv's determined to get there tonight, which equals 1 300 km of driving today. Ouch.

After passing Fort Smith around 8:30, a giant glowing cross appeared on a mountain in front of us. We debated whether it was guiding us, or trying to trick us into driving into the mountain. We're still undecided, because it disappeared after we turned a corner.

Maybe the cross was guiding us, because we got pulled over AGAIN for the second time during the trip (this time by an Arkansas State trooper; he was very friendly, too), and got off AGAIN for the second time. Third time's a charm (or maybe fourth time, if you count the cop from this morning)?

He came over to my window and asked for Ivan's license, registration, & for him to step outside. Then he came back, and started talking to me, but I ended up asking him more questions than he asked me (had he ever been to Canada? No. Did he know where Ontario was? Just north of New York State. Had he heard of Nova Scotia? Yes; it's out on the eastern seaboard. And so on), so I think he let us go just to shut me up.

The last part of the conversation confirmed this to me:

Jeff: blah blah Route 66 blah blah Canada blah great trip blah blah...
State Trooper (smiling): excuse me for a minute.
Jeff (ready to ask for Arkansas travel tips when he gets back): okay!

Ivan gets back in the car. The cop's car lights go on and he takes off.

Jeff (slightly hurt): He just took off?
Ivan: Yeah. He let me go, jumped in his car, and drove away.
Jeff: Oh.

Since this happened at 9:30, we decided to stop travelling just outside of Little Rock, crash at a Motel 6, and drive to Memphis in the morning (still four states in one day). Good night, all!

P.S. Watch for rattlesnakes.