Visiting with Old Dicky, or is it Tricky Hickory? Oh, it's Old Hickory!

So on Friday morning, November 11, approximately 8 days after we left our apartment in Studio City, CA, we were still 2 days away from our new home in Greensboro, NC. We planned as we drove out of Tennessee that we would stop at the next tourist trap we came upon, which just happened to be the home of President Andrew Jackson, otherwise known as OLD HICKORY, not to be confused with the likes of President Nixon, commonly known as Old Tricky Dicky. (I just added in the "old" part for purposes of this blog.) So we rolled the RV into some heavy duty southern Confederate territory and spent a few hours at the plantation, where actors were dressed in period clothing and me being a Yankee (that is a northerner, not to be confused with a Yankees baseball fan-GO RED SOX!), I actually feared for my life. But all went well, and we made it out of the Hermitage unscathed. Unless I spoke, no one had ANY clue I was a Yankee! It was pretty trippy to see the slaves quarters where some archaeological work had been done, so of course I was all into that. Then we hit the cotton fields, and the home itself, which had some pretty cool original wallpaper that I thought would make a killer dress! Anyhow, that was our last tourist stop before hitting North Carolina...yahoo!! Just one more night in the RV (the cats were going bonkers by now) and one more day on the road. Greensboro, here we come!! I quickly scrambled to my laptop to start this blog, which was supposed to be a daily writing event, but as we all know now from reading this in 2012, the original blog never happened! But I did start...the proof is in the picture!!

Why is there a Jiffy Lube next to Elvis' mansion????

We made it to Memphis, Tennessee by Thursday, 11/10/11, around 2pm, so we knew we didn't have much time to do Elvis things, so we had to prioritize Memphis and do it quickly. We decided that we would make a quick run to the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated back in 1969, then we would run over to Sun Studios where Elvis and other great artists recorded and basically got their start. Jeff and I were able to pretend sing on the actual microphone that Elvis used back in the day, exactly on the spot where he recorded, so that was SPECIAL (sounding like the Church Lady there). In case you guys didn't know, Jeff and I are the karaeoke king and queen! (Not new info for our friends who have attended our karaeoke parties in LA!!) Anyhow, we also wanted to hit Beale St. and then of course go to Graceland, but by the time we headed over to Graceland and saw just the outside of it, we decided to go back to Beale St. instead. Have you ever been to Graceland? Talk about a disappointment! I mean, it looks completely run down! There is a Jiffy Lube on one side of it and a McDonald's on the other, and graffiti all over the wall from fans who have visited there, which is nice and all, but really, it looks very trashy...Elvis must be turning over in his grave...or maybe not! I hear from how Elvis decorated the joint that maybe he put the Jiffy Lube there himself! And we know he CERTAINLY put the McDonald's there!! Anyhow, after spending enough time there (ten minutes) then we went back to Beale St. to grab a bite to eat and hear some cool music at a honky tonk bar. It was pretty cool, but coming from experience, some which I may not remember quite that well, it was NOWHERE near as cool as the Sunset Strip in Hollywood during the late 80's...sorry Memphis!! So we got back in the RV sometime that night and drove a bit more through Tennessee and found some random RV park in the middle of nowhere that we pulled into for the night. It was a long rock and roll day!!

Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial Site-An incredible Memorial!

So after we took some pictures of Jeff's war wounds against the TINO to post just for you, we got him all bandaged up (Jeff, not Tino), and attempted again to get on the road. (See Tino...he really is a cutie pie and not as sinister as he appears!) We finally got to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial and we were in awe of how it was laid out, with the reflecting pool representing the actual building that got blown up. The chairs on the lawn represent each person that got killed that day, and are placed according to where each person was in the building at the time of the bombing. It really was an amazing place and beautifully done. We went into the museum where they have an actual recording of the bombing, and just as you hear the bomb go off, pictures of all the victims flash across the screen of the room you sit in at the museum. It was eerie and so moving at the same time; not a dry eye in the house. The museum was done so well. It was a pretty amazing and emotional experience, and I recommend you go see it.
So after what turned out to be a very emotional day, we drove straight into Arkansas, hoping to avoid tornadoes that we heard about on the news. Jeff kept saying not to worry about the tornadoes, and luckily for us he was right...I was still a wreck from driving through the snow storms in northern Arizona! We found a gorgeous RV park on a lake, and decided to pull in and hook up for the night (the RV that is!) The next day we would be heading into Memphis, where we knew we would be checking out anything and everything ELVIS! Sun Studios, here we come!!

I KNOW...this moving blog is taking FOREVER!! But Oklahoma, here we come!

After leaving the Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico, we pretty much drove through to Oklahoma and stopped at, of all places, WALMART. It was a long-ass drive and a very long day, but we were excited about arriving in Oklahoma City to go see the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial, which we knew we were going to have to do the next day since it was already dusk, and we were dying to eat some good grub, so we figured we could get some salmon at Walmart...I mean Super Walmart, the one that was featured on SOUTH PARK and the kind that carries salmon! Anyhow, after doing the American thing and spending about $100 there, we slowly pulled out of the parking lot only to hear a loud crushing, crashing noise at the top of the RV. I immediately flipped out since Tino always slept at the top bed of the RV, and I feared he somehow got crushed to death. After many gut-wrenching screams, a frightened Tino appeared as good as new, but the RV not so much. The air conditioner unit on top of the RV had lost a battle with a concrete overhang that we obviously were too big to drive under…clearly someone had stuck it there to f#%@ up our night! I mean, why would there be a huge concrete overhang leading to nothing in a parking lot? Or better yet, why would Jeff choose to drive under it???? Remember kids, do not text while driving!! Oh right!! So, after Jeff went back into Walmart and spent another $100 on duct tape, he taped up the remaining portion of the air conditioner (he says it’s true…duct tape fixes ANYTHING) and we continued on our merry way, really looking like we belonged in Oklahoma, with duct tape all over the RV. We found an RV park and cooked up some salmon and had a great meal, all the while thankful that it was 30 degrees outside and we didn’t need the air conditioner. Next day was the Oklahoma City Memorial, which we were excited to check out, so we hit the sack early to get an early start.
As we started out towards the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial Site, Jeff had to slam on the brakes while at the same time Tino decided to try and jump up to his favorite sleeping spot on the top bed right about a foot or so from Jeff's head. What bad timing that turned out to be! As you can see from the photo, Tino never quite made it to the top bunk, but instead, he landed on Jeff's head, and the G-force of the acceleration and then stopping motion of the RV caused poor Tino to try and grab on to Jeff's head, but he was thrown back onto the table instead. At least I THINK it was the G-force stuff I just said that made Tino grab onto Jeff's head...well anyway, I have never heard Jeff yell as loud as he did, and to be honest with you, I never even saw Tino flying through the air. All I saw was Jeff bleeding like crazy from his head, and I knew this was going to be a rough day.