Day Three

Note from John:

Tennessee is home of daredevil drivers, too. Yesterday a kamikaze driver drove in front of us to cross four lanes of traffic and nearly caused a wreck in the heavy traffic. Thank goodness John was paying attention and has a lot of practice in defensive driving!

Before we went to the RV parts store, which had become a group trip, Josh climbed up the ladder and took a picture of what was left of the refrigerator cover so we could match it. Then, it was off to the parts store to the parts store to see what we can find. We didn’t have measurements, of course, so had to guess which size to get. Then ask the lady checking us out where we could get keys made because the keys to the TT had mysteriously disappeared and were not to be found. Both guys “searched” their pockets but couldn’t find them. She sent us to a hardware store a couple of miles away. There we were told that we’d have to back to the RV parts store to purchase a blank for the TT key because Fleetwood won’t sell him the blanks.  The other two missing keys were cut and paid for and we were on our way back to the RV parts store for the blank, then back to the hardware store to have that key made.  Aren’t we glad that I had a second set of keys in my purse!!! All of this had to be accomplished between 11:00 a.m. and noon because both stores were only open until noon on Saturdays and not at all on Sunday.  Where is a Lowe's when you need one????

Once this mission was accomplished, we drove downtown to Bealle Street, the heart of the music scene in Memphis. There, John and Josh toured the Gibson Guitar Factory. They really enjoyed seeing how the guitars were made. Apparently Gibson's main factory was damaged in the recent flooding, so all of those orders were transferred to the Memphis factory to complete.

Then, since all of the morning’s hard work made us hungry, we headed back toward Graceland. We spied the sign for a Kettle, so decided to make that our lunch stop. What an experience. We were the only patrons other than a fairly large group of people from one of the black churches in the area who were enjoying a group lunch celebration after finishing teaching Bible school.

Then it was back to the RV park to install the refrigerator cover and plan the afternoon’s activities. John was voting for a nap. It was hot up there on the roof.  It was another successful use of duct tape since the cover wasn’t the right size. It is attached at the front end as it should be, but the back end is taped down. Another thing on the list for Camping World when we return to Houston.

We had to make a grocery run, so checked out what was going on at the Graceland ticket area. The lines were over a block long in the sun, so we thought we’d wait a while before trying again. By the time we got through at the store, the lines hadn’t gotten much shorter, so we voted to just look around (from the car) and forego the tours. John and Josh didn’t think seeing the cars and the planes were worth standing in line for.  Josh had seen what he came to Memphis to see – the guitar factory.

So, back to the TT for a nap for John and Pat and swimming for Josh. He got to check out both the pool at the RV park and the pool at the Heartbreak Hotel. Both were pretty good for swimming, but the hotel’s pool “had more chicks,” he said.

Sunday we got up and packed up, then drove down the street to get gas before hooking up the TT to the truck. We did stop for a few minutes outside Graceland (the mansion) so we could have a group photo in front of the gates. Then it was back to the RV park to hook up, walk Skooter one last time in Memphis, and start the northward trek.