Hunka Hunka Burnin' Rubber

June 19.  Graceland.

I'll preface this by saying I've never really been much of an Elvis Presley fan.  I can appreciate his contribution to popular music, given what preceded him, but his music is a little "older generation" for my tastes.

However, since I was ultimately headed to the Knoxville area to ride at Deals' Gap, the road would take me to Memphis.  I thought it would be an interesting thing to stop by Graceland and have a look before heading out of Memphis.  I had no idea how big this Elvis thing is...

I had it in my head that the few curious passers-by could stop by Graceland and pay a couple bucks to somebody in a clapboard ticket booth outside and then you could go wander through..... I also imagined "Heartbreak Hotel" would be a clapboard motel with twenty or so rooms, with doors that open to the outside.  Boy, would I discover how wrong I was...

Graceland is setup almost amusement park like, corralling people to get tickets with set times to tour.

I suddenly started to get really weirded out.  I was at Graceland, basically to see a bit of American cheese, but then started to realize that hundreds of people around me were on some kind of 'pilgrimage' to Graceland; some sort of lifelong dream to see it.

In the end I actually found the whole experience a little creepy.

The entrance to the ticket buying building

You get to stand in line for the privilege of
spending $32 to walk through Elvis' house.

Honor Elvis' life and memory with a bobble head doll of him.

I can't believe I am doing this.  I am surrounded by fanatical weirdos.

Dining Room

Living Room

Kitchen 

Basement TV room.  He had three TV's to watch at the same time.

Pool room.  Walls and ceiling covered in fabrics.

The famous "Jungle Room".

Shudder.

Despite the house decor being extreme 1970s fromage,
 the outdoor acreage was very nice.

Elvis' Gospel Grammys.

The Gold Record Aisle

I wonder where I can buy an outfit like this, from the fat Elvis collection?

You know you have a lot of dough when you can buy your own jet.

Fun at the HD store

My trip to Graceland was complete.  Bucket list, check.  My piece of advice if you're travelling into Memphis and have time to do one thing?  Hands down and without question go to Beale Street, have some BBQ and listen to a great Blues band.  Graceland would be a distant second.

Despite being at the ticket booth before Graceland opened at 9:00, we ended up pulling out of Memphis at noon.

The plan was to avoid interstates again, and make a stop at the Jack Daniels factory in Lynchburg TN.  Unfortunately by the time we arrived at Mussel Shoals (think of the song "Sweet Home Alabama"), we realized we would show up at JD's just around the time they were going to close.

New plan. Stop for lunch in Mussel Shoals for some more Tennessee BBQ, and bee line it to meet Scott in Alcoa TN.

We saw a lot of this...

...and some of this.

I had no idea that Huntsville AL had a Space and Rocket
centre museum.  In a perfect world it would have been nice to stop.

With the power of text messages we were able to meet Scott part way to Alcoa, and he rode back with us.

Scott's bike was much shinier than our ditch pigs.

After about a 725km ride, we got some late dinner and decided I wasn't blogging again.  I'd catch up tomorrow somehow.

Next day: Deals' Gap - Tail of the Dragon!