Walkin’ in Memphis–part 1

Black Friday – the rest of the world may have been out Christmas shopping, but we were making our way across Kentucky on the Cumberland Parkway (nice drive!),

and into Tennessee.

We needed to get to central Arkansas early on the following Tuesday to get some work done on our Aqua Hot system, so we made the decision to bypass Nashville (we’ve been there a couple of times in the past) and go straight to Memphis for the weekend.  We’d never been there before, so we could do some exploring, and have a fairly short drive on Tuesday.

After a quick overnight stop just about an hour east of Memphis, where Tom had to do a quick repair job on the steps in the morning before we could get on the road,

we crossed the Mississippi River into Arkansas.

Woo-Hoo!  A new state to add to our map!

When we were researching campgrounds, there were two main ones that RVers tended to stay in – either the Graceland RV Park, or the Tom Sawyer RV Park across the river in West Memphis, AR.  Tom Sawyer was clearly the favorite, with its views of the Mighty Mississippi,

and close proximity to downtown Memphis, and we weren’t really sure if we would go to Graceland anyway, so we chose Tom Sawyer as our destination.

Even with our little repair job in the morning, we still arrived before noon and had to wait a little while to get on our site.  It wasn’t long, though, as soon enough we were all set up and ready to do some exploring.

We don’t normally plan to do anything on travel days, but it was Saturday, and our reason for arriving early was so that we could experience Beale Street on Saturday night.  So that’s what we did!

We found a place to park just one block off Beale Street, and set out on foot.  While it was still light out, we visited the various touristy gift shops.  There were a few interesting ones,

but for the most part, they all had the same touristy “stuff”.  We did find a nice sticker for the Jeep – our only purchase!

There were street performers and musicians,

photo ops,

music notes in the sidewalk,

horse-drawn carriages,

and painted guitars.

Elvis memorabilia was everywhere, as well as B.B. King.

We were also trying to pick a restaurant for dinner, and after getting a couple of recommendations for the Blues City Cafe, we decided to give it a try.

They definitely didn’t disappoint!  We split the full rack of ribs meal, with an added salad, and it was plenty of food for the two of us!  So good!

They’re keeping the legacy alive!

After dinner, the sun was beginning to set and the neon lights were coming on.

We walked up and down the street again, stopping to listen to the various performers at outdoor stages.

We sat and listened to Cowboy Neal until the end of his show – they were really good!

The outdoor musicians were packing up about the same time our time was running out on our meter, and we were ready to head back to the RV by then . . .

We did manage to catch the last few minutes of the MSU football game in a sushi bar – happy to see them pull off a win!

Walking back to the Jeep, we spotted a pretty Christmas tree in front of one of the hotels,

and back at the RV, we spotted the moon rising over the river while we took Casey out for a walk.

It was a wonderful evening!