10-31-18
Happy Halloween from Nashville.

Did you know that Nashville is known as the Athens of the South?  Today we visited an exact replica of the Parthenon that was built here for the Exposition of 1897.  It was restored in the 20's during which a tornado ripped off the new roof.  Today it houses the art collection of James M.Cowan and a full sized statue of Athena.

There is a set of bronze doors here, each door weighing 7.5 tons. 

After our exposure to ancient culture we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum where we were treated to many more modern wonders. 

In Nashville it is permissible to cross a downtown street diagonally.  We did it just to have the experience.

Prominent on the skyline is the AT & T Building with its two distinctive spires.

Art of the day:

Australians call mosquitoes "moskies".  That would be adorable if I didn't have a necklace of bites on me.  I forgot!  We have very few moskies in Portland and I don't miss them.  Time to break out the OFF.  Or maybe I should call the extermination company whose ad we saw on a billboard here which said:

10-30-18

Goodbye to Memphis, a truly interesting city.

While we were there, we stayed at an RV park on the river side of the levee.  There were signs of previous flooding all over the park, for instance, electric boxes way up on poles, the public laundry room on stilts and a sign on one building showing how high the river had crested in May 2011. The office and public restrooms were on wheels and ready to be moved at a moment's notice.

It gave us something to think about.

Today was a travel day and now we are at a beautiful KOA in Nashville.  We have our own patio with a table and chairs plus a swing.  We'll be here until Friday.

10-29-18

Given recent events and my perception of the national climate, maybe our visit to the National Civil Rights Museum was unfortunately timed.  The museum is located in the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.

It is very well done.  The first room was dedicated to his life and contributions and celebrated this year's 50th anniversary of his death.  After that, it was a detailed representation of the struggles of black people in this country, beginning with the slave ships.

This art is a depiction of the African-Americans being led to the mountain top.

In the second room, two women, one black and one white and Jewish were holding each other and sobbing.  They kept saying that nothing had changed. It was very difficult to see.

The history unfolded room by room.

I felt profoundly depressed after visiting the museum.  I wanted to feel a sense of hope for the future but I didn't.

Later we drove by Graceland.  We had already decided not to do a tour at $40 per person as neither of us had ever been Elvis fans.  From the road you could not see a thing, so we continued to lunch and back to the trailer to tend to the pups.

Later, we heard people hurrying to the river so we went out to see what was happening.  The American Queen was sailing by.

The smokestacks are lying horizontal on the top, I guess so they can pass under the bridges.

Art piece of the day:

10-28-18

How lucky are we?  Today was the last day of Memphis' River Art Fest!  Of course, we went.

I didn't plan on buying anything but a special purse caught my attention. What do you think?

We went from the Art Fest to the famous Beale Street.  Along the sidewalk are musical notes with the names of noted musicians.

I'll bet you never saw one of these before.

Here is a duck crossing where ducks have the right of way on the way to the river.

We had lunch at Silky O'Sullivan's on Beale St. while listening to the Blues.

The next stop was the Museum of Rock and Soul.  On the way to it we passed the FedEx Forum, which has a cute row of concrete sports balls in front.

We enjoyed the museum which covered music in Memphis from old time gospel through Elvis.

This is the Memphis Pyramid which is very impressive on three sides, but on the fourth side says Bass Pro Shops.

Then back to the TrailBayser at the Tom Sawyer RV Park.  Here is Tom, himself.

10-27-18

On this day of unspeakable sadness due to the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, I am finding it difficult to share our travel news.  A distant cousin of mine who I know from sharing family tree information, Elaine Rybski, marked herself SAFE on Facebook after the event.  I didn't know that was her temple and am so grateful she is OK. 

As you can see, we have reached the mighty Mississippi River.  We are staying at Tom Sawyer RV Park in West Memphis, AR.  Memphis, TN is on the east side of the river.  We have driven nearly 3500 miles since we left home on Oct. 2.