Jersey City to Fort Worth ...Part FOUR

Leaving the area of the Shanandoah Valley , Hugh having performed very well , we then made our way from Ashville towards Knoxville , following directions such as ''ask for 81 South , National Pike , West , merge to......etc my driver had to watch all these directions and signs , while at the same time avoiding ,huge trucks and cars coming from either side .....
We followed signs for West Virginia , Tennessee , ...finally exit 1 B for Knoxville, on to Turkey Drive , down Snowgoose Lane ....and there it was Holmwood Suites Motel.
Tired , we went in search of food , having missed an opportunity of visiting the eating establishment that served the BIGGEST BURGERS IN THE WORLD...we settled for the closest we could get to the famous HATFIELD HOTDOG....

On Friday 3 rd of July ,yes , yes ,'as dawn's rose fingers touched the sky'' , we set off for Memphis, , passing out of Virginia into Tennessee, signs for Clarksville , Chatanooga , and stopping in Nashville ( the home of country music ) , to savour the 'action' in that legendary place . We parked Hugh , taking up TWO parking places , on Buddy Holly Boulevard , and went looking for the 'action' , but were unable to find it , eventually we had to ask directions from two cops in a squad car , who looked at us very strangely....we DID see Sun Studios where Elvis made his first recordings and WE were asked by a passerby ''did we know the way to Chet Akins'' , to my surprise my son had never HEARD of the famous guitarist and did not realise that the person was looking for a street not an actual person.
The only action we eventually found in Nashville was afternoon tea , served on a veranda , by a Greek orthodox lady , who apologised for not having any freshly-baked scones , and whose black-bean soup consisted of ..just that ,,black beans ...no liquid...she pressed some religious promotional pamplets as we rushed off to save our car and trailer from being clamped , or whatever they do to illegally parked cars in Nashville...
We arrived in Memphis in the late afternoon , an amazingly spread-out city ....found our motel . The Scots Inn , almost directly across the road from Graceville , Elvis's former home .We planned to stay two nights , to give the driver and Hugh a rest and enjoy the eve-of-Independence -day and Independence Day itself in the city .
We parked Hugh , booked in and made our way to the room .We went for a meal and on the way back my son said ''Did you SEE him ?'' , I said ''Who?''...He said ''The ELVIS impersonater on the stairs'' ...nooooo, this happened THREE TIMES, ''did you see him on the BALCONY''...''DID YOU SEE HIM IN THE CAR PARK ???..no...no...and again no ...I was beginning to believe that my son was seeing Elvis's ghost when I did see him on the stairs ....or did I???
Memphis by night on the eve of Independence Day is something to behold ....or maybe its like that EVERY night ....music pouring out of all the cafes and night clubs , dancing and acrobating on the streets , everyone merry , laughing , young , old , black white , drunk and sober ....and surprisingly for an Irishman visiting .....NO signs of violence or disorderly conduct....of course that MAY have had to do with the fact that the Memphis Police and Squad cars were very much in evidence , just think Rod Steiger ...''IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT'' , but they were laughing and joking too.
We went to BB.Kings night club for ribs , a Bud , and some jazz to round off the night..
On Independence Day we visited Graceland , a bit disappointing , the house almost as he lived in it , the jungle room very interesting ( details of Graceland can be found on the Internet ).
As we were leaving on the Graceland Tour Bus the african-american lady who was driving the bus started singing ''Blue Suede Shoes'', my son joined in and soon the whole bus crew and passengers were singing all the Elvis songs they could remember the words of ...and a few minutes before they had been strangers to one another......oh yes Elvis LIVES. We didn't see the fireworks as we had yet another early start the following morning....goodnight Memphis...tomorrow is our final leg of the journey....