Atlanta to Memphis, Looking 4 Elvis

We heard that there had been a recent Elvis sighting in Tupelo, Mississippi.  We packed our bags in Hot-Lanta and headed west.  Our first stop out of Atlanta was a much overdo diversion, a Cracker Barrel.  These roadside bastions of everything bad with middle America, are our favorite weakness.  A small immersion into the glories of traveling decadence.  Cracker Barrels, for the uninitiated, have clean bathrooms, food, a wide selection of candy, and enough junk to keep Fred Sanford in business. The restaurant serves both healthy and unhealthy cuisine, usually on the same plate.  Sue and I opted for the breakfast sampler of eggs, bacon, yogurt, granola, fruit and a 3,000 calorie muffin.  After leaving the restaurant we bought some candy corn and Sue's favorite, French burnt peanuts, aka Boston baked beans.  It should also be noted that the term "French or Boston" in reference to this candy hides the fact that the peanuts used are really Spanish, go figure.  This delicacy was in honor of the time Sue saw some French burnt peanuts on a "free sample plate" in an upscale store and announced to all within earshot that these were her favorites from childhood.  After stuffing a healthy free sample into her mouth she discovered that it was the store's potpourri and not a free food sample.  Sue blames dim store lighting.

French Burnt Peanuts

Somewhere out on highway 20, just across the Alabama line, three of Alabama's finest had a couple of other cars pulled over on the right.  The drivers far ahead of me instinctively braked.  I was in the inside lane of this 4 lane divided highway.  Seeing the brake lights ahead,  I hit the SET button on the cruise control to coast while moving my foot to the brake to slow down.  I mentioned the troopers ahead to Sue and she looked up from her task of (I don't remember, but she was looking down) and freaked at the slowing traffic and flashing blue lights.  She let out a stifled noise that indicated to me that she had seen something that I presumably had missed.  I pressed the brakes a bit harder to avoid whatever was going to happen.

About this time I looked in the rear view mirror to see a white car approaching at a high rate of speed.  I say high because the driver had yet to slow down.  I next saw the driver try to pass me in the breakdown lane to my left.  They lost control and skidded into the grassy median where they did a Hollywood worthy 360 degree spin-out complete with flying grass and dirt.  When last seen, the white car was in the middle of a grass and dirt doughnut in the  center of the median aimed in their original direction.   Since they were very near the Alabama troopers, who were involved in whatever troopers do, I figured they were in good hands.

The only thing with this incident that would have been different had Sue been driving would be that we would be listening to a new song on the radio.  You see Sue's Honda has the cruise control on the right where our Chevy Traverse has it on the left.  When Sue uses the cruise control she is constantly changing our music.

We made it to Tupelo, Mississippi, all in one piece.  We found our Hampton Inn stuck in the middle of a field.  I guess it is their Field of Dreams.  Build it and they will come.  To the west and south are cleared fields awaiting the construction of some new shopping venue, or something.  Tupelo gets its name from the Tupelo trees.  Thankfully they went for the common name and not Nyssoideae Cornaceae as it is called among dendronologists (aka tree folks).  The word Tupelo is of native American origin and comes from the Creek words (ito opilwa) that translate to "swamp tree."  How ito opilwa became Tupelo is probably due to the fact that people here speak a form of English foreign to most of us.

The King of Rock and Roll

In addition to being the birthplace of Elvis, Tupelo is also the site of the last bank robbery for Machine Gun Kelly, who netted a whopping $38,000 from the Citizens State Bank.  This ends the educational portion of our blog.  There will be a test next Tuesday.

Machine Gun Kelly

We plan to visit Elvis' birthplace before heading to Memphis for a relaxing three day visit with Kathy (aka Putty) and Terry.  Stay tuned for updates.