RV

Memphis

/ marniesteve / Leave a comment

We rolled into Memphis on a clear day and could feel the vibe immediately. Our home in Memphis is the Tom Sawyer RV Park, located right alongside the Mississippi River in West Memphis, AR. Our waterfront site gave us a front row seat to watch a never-ending parade of barges. Throughout the day and night we listened to the hum of the barges as they passed. 

Luckily the water level seemed low—at least compared to the sign we saw in the park that indicated the water level had risen at least twenty feet in May of 2011.

Memphis is the home of the blues and there are numerous attractions celebrating music. We purchased a “Backstage Pass” which gave us entry into the key musical sites. First we visited Stax Museum of American Soul Music where Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, and Isaac Hayes among others cut their hits. It was fun to see the wall of records and Isaac Hayes’ 24-karat trimmed Cadillac Eldorado. 

The other big studio tour not to miss in Memphis is Sun Studios. Known as the “birthplace of rock and roll” Sun is the location where Elvis was discovered and where Johnny Cash recorded his famous songs including, “I Walk the Line.”

BB King, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Roy Orbison all recorded in the studio that we were able to wander around. Steve even tried to sing (not really) into the original microphone used by the hitmakers. After visiting Sun Studios we we felt like we had a pretty good introduction to Memphis music.

You can’t come to Memphis and not visit Beale Street. This legendary lane is where all the music goes down. We kind of compared it to Boubon Street in New Orleans. However, during a pandemic, there’s not much going on!

We were able to see a little live blues music at BB King’s Blues Club and wander the street without the usual crowds. 

Memphis is a significant location in the civil rights movement, and we were eager to learn more about the historic events that have shaped our world today. The National Civil Rights Museum traces the history of civil rights from 17th century to present day, though the story is certainly not over. Events of the last year seem to be mirroring much of what we learned at this incredible museum.

The museum is located in and around the Lorraine Motel, the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. As part of the museum tour we were able to see rooms 306 and 307, where King and his colleagues were staying. The rooms were set just as they were at the time of the assassination. You can’t help but have a deeper, more meaningful view of history when you visit places like this. 

A visit to Memphis would not be complete without a visit to Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley.

The highlight is certainly the audio-guided tour of Elvis’ eclectic home. We saw it all including the jungle room, the racquetball room, and the meditation garden which holds the remains of Elvis and his family members. The best part, at least for us, was the lack of crowds due to the pandemic. Most of the time we were alone as we took our time wandering the grounds. 

A tour to Graceland includes more than just the mansion. They now have a large entertainment complex across the street which features his cars, boats, motorcycles, and airplanes. It also displays his gold records, adorned jumpsuits, and tons of other Elvis memorabilia. I must admit, if you aren’t a big Elvis fan, it’s a LOT of Elvis. But we enjoyed it!

Yes, Memphis BBQ is as good as they say and we made sure to do our research!  Central BBQ is one we can highly recommend. We’re now headed east to Nashville, the home of country music and you can be sure we’ll continue our research! 

Dry Camping, Mexico, and Another Surgery

/ marniesteve / Leave a comment

We’ve been home for about a month and are already longing to be back out on the road. The freedom we feel traveling is like nothing else, and we’ll be back on the road soon (with new blog posts, of course). In the meantime we have been busy and thought we’d share a few updates.

Once we arrived home to Prescott after 81 days on the road we set out to clean and fix up the trailer. We washed, we polished, and we added a few decorations. Thanks to my dear friend, Dr. Michelle May, for hand-painting two pictures inspired by our photos of North Cascades National Park. They are now framed and proudly hang over our bed in the rig.

We also did a dry camping experiment. In our almost three months on the road this summer we never went more than a day or two without electric, water, and/or sewer hookups. We wanted to see how we’d fare without utilities, so we headed to a dispersed camping area south of Flagstaff and survived four days without the luxuries! It was a beautiful spot, nice weather, and a good place to just hang out. We probably could have gone another day or so, but we figured four days was good enough!

We also made a trip down to our condo in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico. With our dear friends Sam, Nancy, Tom, Rick, and Mary, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner out at our favorite restaurant, Regina’s. After being closed for six months for the pandemic, the restaurant was as warm and welcoming as ever.

We also enjoyed a nice dinner on the patio of Pane y Vino with sweeping views of the Sea of Cortez.

It was great to catch up with friends while taking care of some business for our rental. Beach time and sunset happy hours on the patio were also on the agenda, as usual.

On the way home we ran into a protest being conducted about 1/8th of a mile north of the Mexican border. A group aligned with the local tribe has been protesting the construction of the border wall and its encroachment on sacred lands and water sources. Luckily it was only a short delay and we were on our way.

Next up is another surgery on my left foot. Tomorrow I’ll go in for another procedure to hopefully alleviate the still nagging pain in the ball of my foot. My previous Lapiplasty surgery didn’t seem to do the trick. This time the doctor will be focusing on the nerves between my third and fourth toes, which are separating after numerous, ineffective coritisone shots.

They say this surgery will be easier than the last one. After four+ years of dealing with pain I’m hoping this is the end of this journey. I’ll post an update as soon as possible.

The Sawtooth

/ marniesteve / 2 Comments

From Salmon we drove about 150 miles south to the center of Idaho and the Sawtooth National Recreation and Wilderness Area.  Most famously known for nearby Sun Valley Ski Resort, the draw for us is the natural beauty. We’ve said lots of “Wows” on this leg of the journey.

First we headed into Ketchum, the closest town with a Verizon store. Replacing the broken iPhone is a priority but in these parts, your priorities are not their problem. After a number of calls and an uncomfortable store visit we left without a viable solution. The last photo my phone took was a call to 911, which I didn’t make.

So, we are working on one phone for the time being. The scenery, however, makes up for it.

Our first destination here was the small town of Stanley and the nearby ghost towns of Bonanza and Custer. This is gold rush country from the mid 1800s through 1960. In Custer we toured the ghost town that once held a large population, all there to work the nearby mill, built to process ore from the mines. Relics from the early miners litter the ground of this historic site.

Along the way to Custer we passed the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge, which is a 988 ton relic of gold mining from the 1940s and 50s. There are 71 one-ton buckets on one continuous chain and each bucket could hold eight cubic feet of dirt.

The dredge dug into the valley over a six mile swath to recover gold by washing and separating the rock, gravel, and dirt from the gold.  Having cut a large swath of land through a beautiful valley, the old dredge still stands as a testament to man’s search for wealth. We toured the four story dredge which over a 12 year period turned out gold valued at  $1.2 million in 1958 dollars.

The next day we hopped on the bikes and rode from our campsite to the nearby Pole Creek Ranger Station. Pole Creek is the oldest Forest Service construction in the Sawtooth National Forest and was home to Ranger Bill Horton for 22 years.

The station is on the National Register of Historic Places and shows how tough and hard working rangers like Horton were. 

The remainder of the day was spent at the popular Redfish Lake. With a lodge, visitor center, and white beaches, Redfish is popular with hikers, paddle-boarders, kayakers, and boaters.

We walked the Fishhook Trail from the visitor center and came across the Kokanee Salmon, a relative of the Sockeye in the nearby creek. It was spawning season, so the red fish were thick, having come up stream from Redfish Lake. Once they hatch and grow they will go downstream tail-first to live and enjoy the beautiful Redfish Lake. 

The Sawtooth National Recreation Area is filled with campsites, streams, and trails. We spent some time on the Harriman Trail, an 18 mile mountain bike trail that runs along the Big Wood River. We rode just a section of the trail, which was a good workout with incredible views. 

From there we headed to nearby Pettit Lake where Steve did a seven mile trail run while I rode the bike a little more. Steve’s run took him from Pettit Lake to Alice Lake. Along the way he had incredible views and scenery. 

The campgrounds were beginning to fill up in anticipation of the upcoming long weekend, which is our cue to move along. We really loved our time in the Sawtooth area and hope to return to explore more trails by foot and by bike. 

We are heading south towards Twin Falls for our next set of adventures.