Picking Up Memphis, 2017

When I went on my Great National Retirement Tour in 2016, I was not able to squeeze Memphis into the itinerary. But I did want to experience Beale Street. So when my college room-mate Jane Gramoli invited me to come stay with her the next time I was in Louisiana, and since Memphis is sort of between Shreveport and Bloomington, Illinois, I decided to pick up a few days in Memphis.

My first adventure was finding a camping spot. There were three (3) RV campgrounds in the city - one far outside the urban ring road, and two on Elvis Presley Boulevard not far from downtown. I looked up the customer reviews and everyone agreed that the Graceland RV Park (yes, it is owned by Elvis Presley Enterprises) was the better of the two campgrounds. So, I made a reservation there.

I also contacted my friend Tait Danielson-Castillo who lived in Memphis for a while to get suggestions on places to visit and places to eat in Memphis. Tait gave me a list of wonderful suggestions. I'm afraid I did not have time to go to all of them, but the ones I did get to in my 2-day stay were stellar. Thanks Tait.

I got a late start leaving Shreveport because Brent and I had a regular on-going soap opera trying to open a savings account for DJ and opening up a safe deposit box for him at a credit union there. We finally got the safe deposit box settled on the last day I was there. DJ still does not have his "bank." I said all that to say that I got to Memphis late; almost midnight. I could not find my RV Park. I drove up and down on Elvis Presley Boulevard many times searching for it. I finally found a campground, drove in, and set up my camper for the night. Another night without heat since, after all the trouble I had in Shreveport with bad electrical connections, apparently the furnace also did not work. In the morning, I realized I was in the wrong RV Park. So, had to take down the pop-up, drive about a mile down the road, and set it up all over again. And yes, Graceland is a MUCH better campground than the other park was. And yes, it is also right across the street from Elvis' Graceland mansion.

This RV Park had very nice bathrooms with full shower facilities, a very clean laundry facility, and secuity guards to keep any cars without parking stickers out of the campground. They also had a "family" relationship with the Graceland hotel across the street so we could get shuttle rides to and from major Memphis attractions, including Beale Street from their lobby. I would recommend the park. My spot was on Shook Up Lane - and yes, all the driveways were labelled with Elvis' song titles.