Southbound

We locked up the 5th wheel and hopped on the bike as soon as work ended Thursday. Rudee followed me to Plainfield in the Dakota which we are leaving at her Mom and Dad's until we get back.
Wednesday we have the bike scheduled into the shop for it's 10,000 mile service so we will be dropping it off Tuesday on our way back through and needed the truck to drive back home. Wow, that first 10k went fast. We have only had the bike for 15 weeks. We sure have been doing a lot of riding but I sure do miss it when the temperatures are in the teens and the snow is flying.

We dropped the truck off and Rudee's parents followed us to a local restaurant for dinner and then we pointed the bike south.
Our goal was to make it to Evansville. Once we were away from the Indy suburbs we made good time. We just missed seeing an accident south of Mooresville In. I noticed people hitting the brakes ahead of me about 1/4 of mile and saw a big dust cloud just over a small hill. When we topped the hill there were two cars smashed and one of them had been knocked into the dirt median (hence the dust cloud). The people were just climbing out of the wrecked cars and others were stopping to help. There was no safe place to pull the bike into so I continued on while Rudee called 911 and reported the crash.
We didn't make it to Evansville before it got dark like I had hoped but we arrived safe and sound shortly after 9pm. We checked into the Baymont Inn and called it a night.

Friday we left early since this was going to be a big travel day. The weather was perfect and we stayed on the state roads winding our way toward S.W. Tennessee. I really can't remember our exact route, I set the GPS and just followed it. we did skirt the northern edge of the land Between the Lakes. I'm sure this area would be getting busy for this holiday weekend.
We eventually ended up on US 51 and followed it into Memphis where we found US 61 and continued south into Robinsonville Ms.
We had reservations at Bally's Hotel and arrived there with enough time to cool down and freshen up before finding a place for dinner.

Saturday we left the motel shortly after 10am and headed into Memphis. Our first stop was the Peabody motel where we saw the ducks in the fountain. The motel has had ducks in their fountain since the 1930's. They live on the top floor and twice a day the "duck master" leads them onto the elevator and they ride either to or from the fountain. Not a bad life for a duck huh :-).

We also took a walk down the famous Beale Street. The street is lined with clubs and restaurants and this is the self proclaimed "birthplace of rock and roll".

We had some lunch at one of the Bar-B-Que joints before heading out again.

We took a short ride a few blocks to Sun Studio where Elvis, Jerry Lee, Carl (as in Perkins) and Johnny Cash all got their starts. The studio conducts a tour and we were going to take it until 2 busloads of people pulled up and piled in. The place was so packed with people that we had to leave or we were going to freak out with claustrophobia.
Our next stop was the National Civil Rights Museum which is housed in the Loraine Motel near downtown Memphis. The Loraine is the location of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who was shot while standing on the 2nd floor outside walkway.

We then did a drive by of Graceland which is Elvis' home (in case you are under 40 or have lived in a cave for the last 40 years LOL).
We visited and toured Graceland a few years ago so decided to pass this time and headed back towards the motel.
Rudee wanted a nice meal and US 61 is lined with bill boards advertising all the meals available at the casinos so we headed towards the Hollywood Casino. On the way we made a detour into the Fitzgerald to check it out. They have a parking garage so we were able to park the bike out of the sun. Toasted buns are nice on cheeseburgers but I don't like mine toasted on a motorcycle seat :-),
Fitzgeralds was a nice place and we saw a sign for a sale on a T-bone steak dinner in their steak house so we decided to stay there and have dinner.
The steak was pretty good and we played some of the slots while we were there and had some decent luck with those and walked out a few $$ ahead of the game :-).

Sunday we are checking out and heading north once again. Our plan is to follow the Mississippi River into Missouri and maybe even catch a roll in Sikeston. I'll keep you posted.