We took the city of Memphis bus tour. The guide was full of information even if he was annoying by repeating everything he said at least three times, example..."We are now driving down Elvis Presley blvd, Elvis Presley blvd, driving down Elvis Presley blvd. Didn't take long for me to tune him out. The tour said we would be driving to Graceland, he really meant driving by Graceland. We did manage to see Elvis' two airplanes in the front yard and could spot a couple of his cars. But like I said the guide was full on interesting tidbits. For example, Lisa Marie Presley sold Graceland for 100 million dollars a few years back, but she still receives 10% of the revenues, still owns the home and all of the belongings. Wish I could do that with our Lake property ! He also said that Elvis had been laid to rest beside his Mother in the graveyard up the road. The graveyard had so much traffic that his Father decided they were going to move both bodies to Graceland for privacy. When they went in to excavate the coffins they discovered two Memphis Police officers trying to dig up Elvis' grave. Apparently the were going to hold him for ransom...they are still doing time all these years later. He also told us that you can only visit the main floor of the house, no one can see the bedrooms upstairs, which makes people wonder if he is still alive and in hiding in his bedroom. Elvis Presley enterprises has bought up many of the city blocks in the area and the city of Memphis is planning on spending hundreds of millions of dollars creating a whole Elvis world. Graceland is the second most visited home in the U.S. of course the Whitehouse is number one. There is already a Heartbreak Hotel there. We then stopped by the motel where Dr Martin Luthern King was shot and killed. There is a women that has been sitting on that corner every day, 365 days a year for up to 12 hours a day for the last 34 years. She is protesting because the city of Memphis has spent $10 million dollars to turn the whole motel into a museum in honour of Dr. King. The outside has not been touched and the room he was staying in is exactly like it was that day including personal items left behind by his family. The reason she is protesting..she felt that Dr King would have preferred the 10 million dollars be spent on the homeless of Memphis, she will protest until the day she dies. That gives new meaning to being devoted to a cause. I remember the day he died and felt a few moments of sadness. There was a man on our bus tour that told us he landed in Memphis the day before the shooting, and told us all about how the city had shut down and even he had been stopped and searched and questioned several times. We then had one hour of free time on Beale St, since we had been there the night before we knew exactly where we wanted to go...yup you are right..we headed up to Coyote Ugly so I could get my picture taken up on the bar...not the most flattering picture, but how many of you can say you have had your picture taken there? We then did a quick run back to BB Kings outdoor patio for some more shrimp and Long island iced tea. The tour was really not worth the time or the price but what can you do. We also stopped at St Judes' hospital for sick children, you may know that this foundation was set up by the late Danny Thomas ( actor, comedienne and father of Marlo Thomas ). When he was trying to get a start in the business he stopped by a church and prayed the the patron Saint Jude. He prayed and said that if he ever made it big he would donate to charity, he then dropped his last $2.36 in the contribution box and left the church. True to his word when he made it big he started the St Jude foundation and built the St Jude hospital so no child in the U.S. would go without the best available medical treatment available...this grew to include children of other countries. His daughter Marlo Thomas ( from the t.v show "That Girl") still hosts yearly marathons to keep the foundation and her father's dream alive. Of course this could be any charity or marathon we have at home..but we just spent the last three days with a beautiful young lady who is alive only because of this hospital (I will get into that later). After the tour we jumped into the truck and headed northeast Covington Tn to visit Terry's newest friends. That is all about that and we hope everyone at home is well.
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