Michigan

We took the I 94 South out of Chicago and what a busy freeway that is. I would hate to have to drive that each day. And the traffic chops and changes lanes in the blink of an eye. They are like French drivers – move over I’m coming through.

We crossed into Michigan an hour or so later and found the drivers similar here so it was nice to get onto a lesser road. We had hoped to spend the night at Warren Dunes state Park on the shores of Lake Michigan but being school holidays and the middle of summer it was booked out. Resort to plan B and the trusty camping bible. There was one in Coldwater so off we went, traveling along lovely quiet country roads. The directions in the book to the campground were quite simple but proved to be totally incorrect so we had to rely on Marty’s hunter gather skills after getting some meager directions from a local. We drove right past the entrance on the first attempt. Not surprising when the sign is 50 meters back from the road. When Marty suggested to the owner that he should have his sign closer to the road he replied “that sign had been there for over 20 years and there had never been a problem with people finding the place. Besides we don’t get too many strangers here. Now about that motorsickle. You’re not going to be taking it off the trailer because we don’t allow motorcycles here”. After ensuring him that we wouldn’t be using the bike and paying our fee we set off into the camp but not before Marty gave him a quick check over to see he didn’t have 6 fingers and toes. We were sitting in the camper trying to decide where we were meant to park as we couldn’t see the large open area we’d been told to park in when a guy came up and asked if he could help us. He told us where we could park and then told us off for speeding on the road to the camp and if that wasn’t bad enough we had also sped in the camp. He went on and on, making sure we knew he wasn’t anything to do with the camp just a camper who had been coming here for the last 35 years and of course we weren’t going to use the bike were we. We were wondering what sort of hill billy place we had landed up in this time. Had our tea then went for a walk around the lake before retiring to the camper for a game of cards. Shortly after the camp’s law enforcer turned up, this time he assured us his visit was purely social and her hoped we weren’t offended by his earlier outburst but that was the way things were done blah de blah de blah. He was a really boring man who reeked of alcohol.

Next day after a very leisurely breakfast and some housework we headed for Marty’s cousins place just north of Ann Arbor. A straight forward drive that I had planned on the map so it should have been no problem. Yeah Right as the Tui ads say. There was a misprint on the map. All went well until we hit Inter State 94. The exit we needed was marked as 179 so when exit 171 came up pointing the way to the 14 which we wanted I was thrown into a state of confusion which stayed just long enough for us to miss it. I still remained convinced we needed the 179 but as we traveled on and I studied the map more closely I could see we were headed in totally the opposite way that we wanted to be going. “Sort it” grumbled the driver so I did and we had a pleasant drive through the centre of Ann Arbor. Thankfully I never made any stuff ups and we were soon back on track. We only had one other navigation problem and that was caused by Marty’s shorthand. His ⅞ of a mile should have been written as 7 – 8 miles which caused a little hiccup and evened the score for navigational errors for the day. (Marty may not agree with this). It was a relief to pull into the driveway.

We were made very welcome by Michael and husband John. Their daughter and son in law came out for tea which was great as Marty had never met his 2nd cousin and it has been a long time since he had seen Michael. We also met their extended family - a lab called Daisy and her two pups, Guinness and Mack.
We had a lazy day there on Sunday before loading up the bike and heading off around the Michigan Peninsula for a few days.
We traveled along the shoreline of Lake Huron for most of the first days travel. It is very built up with houses occupying 80% of the shore. There are a few small public access areas so you don’t actually see much of the lake as you travel. We took a detour to visit a lighthouse in Saginaw Bay. The lighthouse keeper’s house has been made into a little museum and we found it really interesting. Spent the night on the outskirts of a town called Alpena.
One of the highlights of the next days travel was crossing the Mackinac Bridge. This is a suspension bridge that connects the upper and lower peninsulas. It is about 5 miles long and 200 feet high. John tried to put the fear of God into me about crossing this bridge before we set out by telling stories of cars being blown off the bridge in high winds, truckers to scared to drive their trucks over and enormous sheets of ice hanging on the bridge. Thankfully we had a beautiful day without a breath of wind so it was great.
We rode up to White Fish Point which has a big Lighthouse Museum complex and is on the shore of Lake Superior. The lake was like a millpond so it was very hard to imagine that it becomes very rough and a major danger to shipping.
We spent the night in Sault St. Marie a lovely town across the river from the Canadian border. It is here that the Soo Locks are situated and we timed it right to see a small boat going through. There are four locks here the earliest was built in 1914 and the latest in 1968. There are plans afoot to replace two of the locks with a new larger state of the art one capable of taking the larger vessels now operating on the lakes. More than 11,000 vessels pass through these locks every year varying in size from small passenger ferries to large 1000 foot ships carrying more than 72,000 tons of freight in a single load. Most cargo is, iron ore, coal, grain or stone. It would have been great to see one of these large ships go through but we weren’t that lucky.
We were tempted to nip across the border into Canada but after talking to one of the security men at the locks we decided not to. Apparently it isn’t always that easy to get back into the States. We decided we’d rather be stuck in Canada when we have the camper and all our possessions with us so gave it amiss and just gazed at it across the water. It was like being in a candy shop and not being allowed any candy.

We traveled down the west coast of Michigan through some lovely towns. If my togs hadn’t have been buried in the panniers I would have had a swim when we stopped at a little place called Acme. The water was really warm. Next stop was the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Unlike many others there we opted not to climb to the top.

We spent the night in Ludington. I guess it is home to the Luddites. It is a lovely town and we were lucky enough to get a motel very close to the lake shore. After tea we strolled out to the Lighthouse and watched the sun go down on Lake Michigan. It was beautiful.
The lakes are so huge that they look like an ocean so it takes a bit of getting use to no salty smells. There were plenty of fish to be seen but the fisherman on the walkway to the lighthouse didn’t seem to be having any luck whatsoever.

We got a little lost in Grand Rapids the next day and it had nothing to do with me. It meant that we spent about ¾hr touring the suburbs and industrial areas. In the suburbs we went from rich to poor, back to white, the changes happening within the space of a few houses or a street in some cases. There were some beautiful old houses in all these districts.

Marty eventually negotiated us onto the ring road and west toward Hastings just in time to avoid being rained upon. We went to a bird sanctuary just out of Hastings. The brochure told of all the many different species of birds and mammals you could see there so when we passed 4 huge grey cranes on the road in I had great expectations, but alas it was not to be. We walked the 1.5mile loop track around the sanctuary and saw 3 cardinals and 500 flies. To say we were disappointed is an understatement. Maybe it was just the wrong time of the day, month, and year!!!

This little bit of excursion had made us both very thirsty so we stopped at a little no name town that had a general store and a couple of houses, for a drink. We struck up a conversation with the owner, a 70 odd year old machinist who had been running the family business for the last 30 odd years. He and Marty got onto welding and things so I was excluded from the conversation and left to get on with my drink – until Marty told him I had a lathe and mill drill then he thought I had engineering skills so I was included in the conversation. I had to appear very interested nodding and commenting in the appropriate places. It was very difficult to leave. He would have talked all night if he could but unlike the guy we had encountered back at the camp he was very interesting and knew lots of neat little welding and machining tips. We had an uneventful trip from there back to John and Michael’s arriving in time for tea. We had done just over 1000 miles.

We were up early next morning as Marty had arranged to meet a guy he had been in contact with thru a motorcycle Egroup on and we were to ride down to Wauseon in Ohio for a swap meet. We were 5 minutes late but they were quite a bit later as the guys on the Triumphs were having bike problems. The Matchless had no such trouble.
The swap meet was quite big, but nowhere as big as next weekends in mid Ohio apparently. There were truck loads of Harley bits for sale. Some very nice complete Indians and several Clevelands for sale. There was also flat track antique (classic) bike racing but we never saw this as we were to busy looking for British bits. Marty found a couple of switches he needed then discovered a 750 Norton motor that would be just perfect for the racing sidecar outfit. Off he went to the money machine to get the necessary loot. Then we had to track down the guys we had come with to see if their mate who had a stall there could take it back. All was sorted and the engine purchased and loaded into the good Samaritans car before we headed for home. I spent $1.80 on a Garfield mud flap that Marty says will definitely not be going on the 350 comp. He will put it on my BMW but that is all. All in all a good day out.
When our Good Samaritan, Antero arrived home with the engine his wife was less than impressed and even less so when he told her that he was picking up the rest of it tomorrow. Having wound her up sufficiently he then told her the truth so she was quite glad to see us turn up. We spent a very pleasant few hours there and now have the engine safely stored in the camper. I wonder what treasures will turn up next weekend.

We have had a wonderful time here with John and Michael. Lots of laughs, too much food, just enough alcohol and lots of fun with the puppies. Marty has been earning our keep by helping John split firewood,(it is John in the pic not Marty) chop trees down and other little tasks. I on the other hand have done stuff all. Getting the blog up to date has been my most time consuming and arduous task.

So that’s it from this end till sometime after the swap meet. If you are short of something to read get out your Harry Potter books.

Chicago

My job as navigator was to get us into Chicago without getting into the down town area so that is exactly where I took us. Somehow we missed the off ramp and ended up on the road that took us right along the scenic waterfront drive in down town Chicago. While I was busy clicking away on the camera and enjoying the scenery Marty was doing a very good job of battling the traffic which didn’t seem that bad from my seat. One thing we both noticed was the distinct lack of other campers on the road, both moving and stationary. We also discovered a distinct lack of RV parks so when we could we pulled over and got on the internet to see what was available. Luck would have it that there was one not to far from where we were so after a few wrong turns we found the address only to discover the park was now commercial buildings. Next stop a motel to have a look in their phone book. There were only a couple listed but again one was in the area so off we went again. Same story it no longer existed.
It was at this point having spent the better part of two hours driving around Chicago that Marty made an SOS call to our friend Hartles in NZ to get the name of a VOC member in Chicago who may have been able to help us in our search. A few more ph calls and txts around the country and we had Glen’s phone number and were soon on our way to his house. We arrived there about 6pm. Glen had made a few phone calls and apparently there are no RV camps anywhere near Chicago city. They are well out in the suburbs.
That night after going to a “local” we went to visit a friend of Glen’s who has a large workshop. To my delight there was a Vincent Firefly there. Marty was in heaven. Vincents and Royal Enfields everywhere. It was a hard job to drag him out.

After a slow start and having to entice Marty out of Glen’s shed we went into the city on the train. Took a 2hr bus tour to get the lay of the land then spent time wandering around. Chicago is a great city. The skyline is stunning. Every road you look down the effect of the buildings changes the view. The architecture is also amazing. Lots of different styles that all seem to blend in. We had a wee disagreement when catching the train to come home as I refused to squash into the first train that came. So we caught the next one in silence and each had a seat although not together which was probably a good thing. By the time we reached our stop my inability to “push aboard” had been forgiven. We went out to a VOC meeting that night which was a lot of fun. Met some more really nice people.

We managed to get a parking ticket while at Glen’s as the parking officer never saw the permit in our window. Don’t think he even got out of his car as the ticket was stuffed into the drivers door handle. We have contested it so hopefully it will just go away.

We spent three days in Chicago, not nearly long enough to see and do all that is on offer so it is a place we definitely would like to go back to. And wouldn’t you know it The Moody Blues were playing at the Chicago Theatre the following week!!

This picture to the right of a sculpture donated by Pablo Picasso to the city. Kids seem to have the most fun with it as they use the lower portion as a sort of skate board half pipe.

Marty got a bit of shed time in and lots of motorcycle chatter so he should be good till we get to the Ohio Swapmeet in a couple of weeks.

Hopefully we will get to repay Glen’s hospitality one day in New Zealand.

Kentucky

Our first stop in Kentucky was Wal-Mart and their tyre service department. One of the front tyres had a flat spot and the ker thumping as we drove along finally got to Marty. They didn’t have the tyre size we wanted so Marty asked them to take two rear tyres from one side and swap them with the front ones, then balance the ones put onto the front. Not a difficult task one wouldn’t think but it was almost mission impossible to the Wal-Mart tyre bloke. Marty had to ask him what he was doing twice, (and that’s after he’d been told 3 times by his boss what was wanted) but two hours later and a very small charge later we were ready to go.

We stayed the night at Mammoth State Park and went on a tour of the “Historical” Cave as recommended by the park Ranger. The tour guide warned everyone of a very narrow part of the cave called “Fat Man’s Misery” that we would have to go through plus a very open high climb out of the cave. She advised anyone who didn’t like heights or confined spaces not to go. She did a pretty good job of putting the fear of God into people because some actually decided not to go. Unfortunately we don’t have any photos of the cave. It said no backpacks, handbags, camera bags etc so I didn’t think I could take the camera. Wrong it was just the bag. What a blonde. But the cave was so huge I don’t think the pictures would have been very good. The cave has been used for thousands of years by man. The last use (during the 1812 war) was when it was mined for saltpeter to make gunpowder. Remnants of this activity can still be seen. Mummified bodies have also been found in the cave and remain there to this day. The cave system has 360 miles of mapped caves and scientists and geologists believe there could be at least another 700 miles of unmapped caves yet to be discovered. We walked a three mile section of this cave and managed to get through Fat Man’s Misery with relative ease the stairway to the top of the Mammoth Dome (about 100ft) was so awesome that you forgot you were looking into a bottomless pit and having to climb 300 odd steps. This is a must visit if anyone ever comes to Kentucky.

No visit to Kentucky is complete without a trip to a Bourbon distillery. We had planned to go to Jack Daniels but the campground where we wanted to stay ( so we could ride the bike down) wasn’t opening this summer and it wasn’t economical to take the camper. After all, we couldn’t get a drink there as it is a dry county and has been forever. Next best thing was the Jim Beam factory in Clermont. I missed the RV car park and took us down a no exit road with next to no turning places so once again I endeared myself to the driver. I told him to look upon it as a search for moonshine but that failed to get much of a response. We made it in time for the last tour of the day. You don’t actually get to go into the factory but get to watch a 15 minute video of the history of the Jim Beam family, some out buildings, the homestead and one of the original warehouses. Samples are available in the Homestead so we headed there first. Sorry folks but I still prefer Coruba. They have the oldest working still in America on display plus a licensed working scale model still. The smell of the fumes from the warehouse was something else. I think if you sat there all day you could definitely get drunk.

Fuelled by JB we ended up crossing the bridge at Louisville and entering Indiana where we stayed at Hardy State Park. We went for a long walk through the bush to the lake. I kissed the ground here when I failed to observe a tree root. Before I knew what had happened I was laying fully horizontal face planted on the ground. No damage done but Marty did try to relieve me of the camera. At the lake we got talking to some people fishing who said we really ought to go to Madison as they were having a big regatta there at the weekend. A little more investigation and we discovered that there was hydroplane racing there on the Ohio River. Marty had seen this on TV in NZ so he was quite keen to see it. We booked into Clifty Falls State Park which is just 5 miles from Madison. The roads into the camp (there is a north and south entrance) are magic. They are through the bush which was really beautiful and several times we went out of the camp just to ride these roads. We took a primitive site which means the only facilities provided are rather unkept long drop toilets. Not a problem as the camper has all facilities in working order. (A little different to The Pod, Heather) A thin line of trees separates this “primitive” area from the main campground which has all facilities. About 11pm one night I decided to sneak across to the other side and have a shower. It was a 2 minute walk almost in a straight line. No trouble getting there or having a shower but something went wrong on the return journey. I came out the wrong door, (which I didn’t realize) and the 2 minute trip turned into a 15 minute nightmare journey trying to find my way back. It didn’t help that the heavens opened the moment I discovered I was lost so by the time I got back to the camper me and everything I had with me was absolutely saturated. Marty didn’t show any sympathy when I told him I had gotten lost and said I may just as well have stood outside the camper and showered. Oh well I was cool and clean so it wasn’t all bad.

The second morning we were here the group of campers across from us packed up to leave. We have never seen anything like it and we were riveted for the whole drawn out saga. It is stuff that Monty Python movies are made of. 3 families, 7 small 2 -3 man tents and one large BBQ which had to be lifted into a boat. I could recount the whole darn thing to you but I won’t. (Maybe I will write it up as a separate event at some stage if I get any requests J). I will just tell you that it took them 5 hours to complete the task and leave the camp. At times we felt like going over and doing it for them. Unreal.

One day we took a ride on the bike up the Ohio River Scenic Byway. An absolutely gorgeous ride. Very little traffic and stunning scenery. We met up with another motorcyclist and rode with him for quite a way before going our separate ways.
That night, the start of the Regatta festivities, we went into town to listen to the Battle of the Bands. Not really our kind of music but I’m sure our sons would have enjoyed it immensely. We sat through the performances of three bands, two of them in the pouring rain protected by our $1 plastic bag type raincoats before calling it quits. Needed a stiff drink to get over that.
Friday was practice day for the boats so we headed into town after lunch to have a look. Got a spot right at the waters edge with a great view up and down the river. Was rather nice sitting in my chair, feet in the water watching the boats going through their paces. These hydroplanes are amazing. Powered mainly by Huey Cobra jet engines, they can do over 200 mph and average 160+ for an oval lap. Martys pick was the only piston engined one, powered by a V12 Allison which sounded awesome (he said).Unfortunately it was not too reliable and had a couple of engine changes over the weekend (35 mins).
Before returning to camp we walked up to Main Street, found a spot to put our chairs and sat and watched the street parade. It was quite amazing and took 1 ½ hrs for all the floats and people to go past. We didn’t go to the racing on Saturday but we did go to Wal-Mart to get a few supplies. One of these being a phone card so we could call the boys. We were trying to find out how much the charges were by ringing the card company but getting to speak to a person was almost impossible. Marty was outside on the pay ph while I hovered with the trolley inside. Didn’t take long for the store security to become interested in my activities but I soon got rid of them by chatting to the girls on the tills who just loved to listen to my accent. It took us longer to buy the phone card than the trip home. Back into town at night to watch the fire works display. A barge came up the river and the residents of Madison and those on the Kentucky side of the river are treated to a wonderful display. This was followed by displays in campgrounds on the Kentucky side of the river that seemed to be having their own competition to see who could put on the best small show. Fireworks available to Americans are unbelievable. Far superior in size and quality to the crap offered for Guy Fawkes at home.

Sunday was the big day on the river so we packed lunch, strapped our chairs onto the bike and headed into town. Got a spot under a tree near the start line which proved to be a very good decision as it was a very hot day. The view may not have been as good but as least we didn’t cook. The local Boat, Miss Madison was the hot favourite amongst the locals and she didn’t disappoint in either of her heats but alas in the final race a bad turn in the first corner after a great start saw her passed and unable to regain the lead. She finished 2nd. The boat is owned by the people of Madison. She is a new boat this year and the hull alone cost the major sponsor (Oh Boy Alberta – Beef Jerky) $2 million dollars. Goodness knows how much the motor etc cost.

So after six days relaxing in Madison we headed off to Indianapolis. I spotted a home welding business sign on the side of the road so we pulled in to see if he could do a wee welding job on one of the trailer mudguards. Marty was a bit dubious when a very hill billy sort of guy appeared, looked at the job and said yep he could do that and Marty didn’t even need to remove the guard. Too late to change our minds but Marty told him he’d prefer to take the guard off which he duly did. Turned out the guy was a very proficient welder and a good gardener. He gave us a whole load of fresh veges from his garden which was really great.

We arrived in Indianapolis about 2pm and found the Indy Fairgrounds Camp Grounds which were just a big concrete jungle. The camp caretakers gave us a tourist book to look at as we couldn’t decide whether to stay or not. We were both feeling very hot and bothered and not at all in a city visiting mood so after a cup of tea we headed towards Chicago.

We missed the turnoff to the camp Marty had selected out of our camping guide and the one I had chosen no longer existed but we found a nice quiet little layby off the road and spent the night there before making the push to Chicago.

Missouri to Tennesse

The scenic route from Keokuk to St. Louis is quite beautiful. We made several stops along the way to admire the scenery and see the enormity of the Mississippi even though we are no where near where it really spreads out. The little town of Hannibal lies on this route. Home of Mark Twain so we had to stop off there. Had lunch by the waterfront then went on an hour long cruise up the Mississippi on a pretend paddle steamer. Pretend because although it looked the part it actually had a motor to power it. Still it was lovely. The Captain on discovering we were from NZ wanted to know all about Burt Munroe. He had seen the movie a couple of times and he wanted to know if Burt really was as eccentric as the movie portrayed. We told him more so which delighted him immensely. He asked us not to leave before he had had a chance to come and look at our bike. He was looking to buy a BMW and thought ours might be like the one he was interested in, but turns out he’s looking at an R80. Also turned out he was an ex cop. We seem to have a way of attracting these people. He was very nice and told us the easiest way to get into St. Louis where we were headed to visit a long lost cousin of Marty’s.
Before we hit the chaos of the St Louis freeway we stopped at a little town called Clarksville – (and we arrived at 4.30) in time to meet not the last train but a barge going through the lock. This particular barge was pushing 15 containers, (3 wide – 5 deep) and had to go through the lock in two stages. We watched from start to finish and it took just over an hour. They have built a viewing platform to the side of the lock so you get a really good view of everything that is going on. Consequently we were later arriving in St Louis than planned but that probably saved us from dealing with the 5 O’clock traffic. We found Dave and Pippa’s house without any drama and had a lovely night beside their pool. Pippa and Marty had a lot of catching up to do.

It was nearly 11 before we got ourselves on the road and into the city the next morning. First stop was the Scott Joplin House. We went on a guided tour of the house and this was the best $2.50 we have spent on the holiday so far. The young guy that took the tour was a Scott Joplin fan and what he didn’t know wasn’t worth knowing. He could even play the music and if it wasn’t for the fact that another small group caught our tour up we’d probably still be there listening to him play. I even got to play some of his music on the piano myself and I have to say I sounded pretty damn good. Of course that was in no small way due to the fact that all I had to do was press the pianos peddles the roll music did the rest.

Next stop Downtown St Louis. We rode around a bit on the bike to get the lay of the land before going down a couple of one way streets the wrong way in search of a car park. We found one close to the park that has the famous arch which of course we had to take a look at. It is a very imposing structure. For a small fee you can ride an elevator to the top then crawl out to a viewing window and look down. Not for me I got the heebie geebies looking up at it. (If you look closely at the picture you can see these). I told Marty he was more than welcome to go up but he declined using the excuse that he had been up the Eiffel Tower. We sat on the steps under the arch and took in a thunder and lightning storm. As it got closer we made a dash for cover and had Chinese for a late lunch while it passed. Next stop the zoo. We haven’t been to a zoo since Matt and Mike were little so it had been a while; The St Louis Zoo is huge and has some wonderful displays. I didn’t like the monkey or bear cages. The animals don’t look very happy. Having seen a Grizzly running around in absolute freedom it was rather sad to see them in a concrete cage.
The bird and reptile displays were superb. Marty was followed around by a strange large bird before it decided he wasn’t a terrorist and got back into its enclosure. Some of the enclosures just had thin strips of wire down the front which actually looked like glass with reinforcing in it. I got to see a rattlesnake and lots of others as well. I think it is a better way to see them than have one appear in front of you in the outdoors. We ran out of time to see the whole zoo and planned to return the next day but after getting soaked while visiting the Botanical Gardens we decided to call it quits and returned to Dave and Pippa’s pool where of course they had had no rain, nor did it rain the rest of the day there. The city however had quite a downpour with a bit of flooding in parts. So we have left a few things unseen in St Louis but that means we may go back there one day.

From Missouri we headed south to Tennessee and Memphis. We booked into a State park about 10 miles out of town. The camp host reminded me of “Pa”in the cartoon The Hill Billy Bears. He was a real southerner and just looked like he should be sitting on his wooden verandah in a rocking chair with his shotgun. Turns out he is a retired archeologist so that might explain it. Having said that, he and his wife were very nice and helpful. The first night there he came to warn us about an approaching storm and that if he got the word we would all have to congregate in the laundry room as that was the strongest building on site. “No point in staying in your camper and taking a ride you wouldn’t really enjoy” he said referring to the possibility of a tornado uplifting the camper. But that bit of excitement never eventuated and we had a very quiet night except for the thunder and lightning around us.

We decided to leave Graceland’s till last so headed into town to see the sights and listen to the Blues. The 10 mile trip took us about an hour as we took a wrong turn and did a 40 mile loop around Memphis. We had a slight disagreement over where to park the bike which saw us park in a legitimate car park rather than the illegal park Marty wanted. (With the help of locals we found a free park for future trips into town). We loved Memphis. So much Blues music to listen to. Not only in the clubs but also in the little park on Beale Street where guys just sit around playing and hoping the listening public will be generous in their tips. We were. When we could drag ourselves away from here we visited Sun Studios – I didn’t kiss the floor where Elvis stood but did hover in areas where Bob Dylan, BB King and Johnny Cash sat and played. A good tour but they hurry you through the building so they can get as many tours through as possible. We got the hurry up look a few times. We took a tour of the Gibson guitar factory and again we kept getting the hurry up. In one part of the factory we were so slow that the automatic doors closed on us and one other lady and we were shut off from the rest of the group. It gave us a few more minutes to look around. (Note the Scrap guitars. These are all destroyed. None are ever sold as seconds.) No such trouble when we went to the Museum of Rock and Roll as these were self guided audio tours. This was great as they had Juke boxes all around the exhibits and you could select heaps of music to listen to as you looked around. Sometimes we just sat on the seats and went thru most of the songs in the jukebox. It was great. We dined out on BBQ ribs, saturated ourselves with Blues and didn’t get to the Martin Luther King Memorial Museum. I did however get accosted by a guy selling his book (a stapled A 4 printout) on the true meaning of MLK according to him – a chosen disciple - so I probably don’t need to go to the museum - just need to find some time to read it.

Just up the road from the camp was a very old Indian site so we went there and had a look around. Turns out this is where our camp host worked his whole life from the day he got his degree till the day he retired. They uncovered a settlement going back thousands of years. After wandering around here for an hour we were ready to hit Gracelands.

This is the most expensive and possibly the most visited tourist attraction in Memphis. You have to do it if you are there. Marty wasn’t that keen but he came along for the ride. Gracelands itself was a lot smaller than either of us had imagined. It had a nice homely feel about it. A nice lived in feel. The rooms housing his collection of Gold Discs etc were absolutely amazing. It was mind boggling the amount there was. Even a non Elvis fan had to be impressed. His car collection, which also included a couple of motor bikes, was pretty cool as was his personal jet. I could get quite used to flying in that sort of style but I don’t think there is really any hope of getting out of cattle class. Dreams are free.

On the return ride to the camp at a 4 way stop I alerted Marty to a car I thought he hadn’t seen (he had), but not knowing what I wanted He slammed on the anchors and came to a sudden stop. He was not happy when he found out that I was being a back seat driver and was even less happy when he went to zoom off and the bike just coughed and farted and didn’t want to do anything. Consequently we limped the last two miles to camp. Once there I quickly got off, popped the top of an Alco pop and buried myself in a book while Marty looked at the bike. Nothing major. It seems the sudden stop caused the little bit of fuel and most of the crap that was in the tank to slosh forward and bloke the fuel filter. Luckily we had a new one in the bag of bits so it was all go in next to no time and the air slowly cleared and peace was restored.

We made the pilgrimage to Nutbush, the birth place of Tina Turner. Not much there at all and I was very disappointed that I couldn’t have my photo taken by the Nutbush City Limits sign. It doesn’t exist. They have changed it to Nutbush Incorporated. I guess they had too many signs pinched.

Last stop in Tennessee was Nashville. A big disappointment so we were only there for a few hours and then headed to Kentucky to see what was on offer there.