So here’s a little cheat on the Header too. If you don’t recognize the rather odd room with the tacky furniture, that’s the famous Jungle Room in Graceland. Most people these days recognize it from the lyrics of Marc Cohn’s hit “Walking in Memphis.” Cher covered it too. For us fans of not just the King, but music history, we know how Elvis recorded an album in said room.
Back to a quick synopsis of this day.
I stopped outside Memphis on the first day with plans to finally see Graceland. In 1994, the jokes were still fresh as Elvis had only been “dead” for just 17 years. Drew Carey had the best one then: I paid 20 bucks to see a hillbilly buried in his backyard with the hounds!
It’s quite the operation set up by Priscilla. Even if you’re not a fan or in the case of Mills or younger, you have little idea who he was…the house remains preserved in metaphorical amber to give us an idea what life was like, what was wealth and what people thought was classy.
I only saw the house, I would check out the cars and planes four years later. When the tour finished, I hung out at the cafe next to an official post office where I could send a bunch of post cards stamped from Graceland. I tried to make a good joke about it being Groundhog Day too. Something to the effect of six more weeks of sightings.
The next leg was Little Rock to see what was already enshrined to first Democratic POTUS in 12 years. What a frickin letdown this hillbilly would be. Another four years of Bush the Elder would’ve gotten the same outcome in my opinion. He’s why I will never support any candidate from the South for a nationwide position.
I tried to think of something for Texarkana. Stumped, I said, forget it. Drove on to Dallas. Smart move. It was a very long stretch between the border to the City of Hate.