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I arrived in Memphis on Sunday the 22nd of April 2007. It was an uneventful but pleasant drive up from Canton, Mississippi. After getting my rig setup I went for a drive around. I am only a block and a half from Elvis Presley's Graceland. I had to drive past it to get to the RV Park I was staying at which was the Elvis Presley Blvd. RV Park.
From my arrival on Sunday through Wednesday it rained everyday to the point I was beginning to wonder if I was going to be able to go see Graceland. I really wanted to see it when it was dry because the grounds, including Elvis and his family's grave sites, are such an important part of the visit.
Anyway on Thursday the weather cleared up and I was able to go down the street to the Graceland Plaza, which is the Elvis visitor center. After purchasing a ticket I went straight on to a tour bus that took us across the street to Graceland and dropped us off at the doorstep of the mansion. We then got an audio guided tour of the mansion, then a couple of outside buildings then finally the grave site proper. Elvis and his family's graves and the immediate area around them are very well layed out. It obviously is a bit much for the average grave site but not for "The King's."
After the tour of Graceland the tour bus picked us up and drove us back across the street to Graceland Plaza where the gift shops and a couple of small dedicated museums are. There is the Elvis Presley automobile museum, his two custom jet planes, and assorted eateries such as a 50's malt shop, a southern style lunch diner, and a diner which serves everything else such as pizza's, burger's, hotdog's etc.
The entire tour and knocking around took about 4 hours with absolutely no waiting in line.
I then went back home for the day. The forecast was good for Friday so I set about planning what to do the next day.
I have always wanted to take a ride on a river boat. You have to understand I grew up on stories of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and of course Mike Fink. So I went into downtown Memphis on the Riverside and took a sightseeing cruise aboard the Mississippi River Boat Island Queen. It was an enjoyable ride with a cool breeze off of the river. It was a step back in time with the interesting narrative of past and present river life by the tour guide.
I thought about doing something Saturday but since I was leaving early Sunday I decided to stay around the RV and get most everything stowed away for my early departure and to just relax a bit.
I left Sunday morning 29 April 2007 about 9:00 AM (yes that is early for me).
I enjoyed my short stay in Memphis and would not mind coming back to the area again. Perhaps when it is not so rainy, if such a time exists, and not so close into the city area. If I did come back in near Graceland I think I would like to stay at the other RV Park which is on the grounds adjacent to Graceland Plaza and the Graceland parking area. It is part of the Hard Rock Hotel complex and cleverly enough is called the Hard Rock RV Park.