Part two of our Southern RV Road Trip continues! We have 400 miles until we hit Memphis Tennessee so we jump on I-20 in Atlanta and head to the west. We plan on doing some sightseeing and Tour Graceland to walk in the steps of Elvis Presley and hopefully find some amazing barbecue along the way!
Stopping in Mississippi was absolutely a last minute thing that we found completely by mistake while searching for a gas station. Memphis was our next stop on our Southern Road Trip for 2 reasons: Graceland and some good Memphis style BBQ. Tupelo, Mississippi was literally 5 miles off the interstate and we saw absolutely no reason not to stop. What’s Tupelo Mississippi? The birthplace of Elvis Presley of course and since we were headed to Graceland we could find a single reason to not stop and check out where the King of Rock and Roll was born.
The property is a museum and closes at 5pm but according to the GPS we weren’t scheduled to get there until 5:45. Fortunately the grounds are open to the public and the young lady I spoke with said that we can walk around and check it out. We just couldn’t go inside the house and church.
Elvis’s childhood home was about the size of our living room and dining room combine… and I think we live in a small house. Things were different back then. When you were poor, you live in what you could afford to build. There were a few other structures that were brought to the grounds like a church and an outhouse. Visiting here is definitely a must do if your are a fan of the king. We just wish we were able to get there earlier to see what the inside of the house and church looked like in person.
Here is more info about the property: https://elvispresleybirthplace.com/visit/
A few hours later we arrived at Graceland RV Park and Campground. Yes, Graceland had a hotel and Campgrounds on property which was pretty convenient and at $46 a night you couldn’t complain at all! Admission to tour the exhibits and mansion was a different story. We chose the Elvis Experience Tour which was $73 a person. This included the mansion, the jets and all the exhibits. The 2 more expensive packages just got you extra frills and such but the package we chose was probably the best option.
Visiting all the exhibits is an all day affair which we didn’t expect. There is so much to see about a man who left this world too soon! There is even a restaurant on property that serves up his favorite snack, fried peanut butter and banana sandwich. We came to Memphis as much of a fan that you could be when you weren’t even around when Elvis was alive but we left admires of the King.
I have been obsessing about trying good local BBQ since we got to “The South.” I can’t professionally cook anymore but I can still eat! The night we got into Memphis, not a lot of BBQ restaurants were open. I should have taken that as a sign and cooked in the RV instead but no I wanted BBQ! After some googling, and ruling out all the spots that were closed, we settled on Marlowes which was just up the street from Graceland. The service was excellent and they even pick you up in a pink Cadillac, which we didn’t know was running due to the “pandemic”. They had a good beer selection. We tried Zippin Pippin, a local IPA that had quite the story. Zippin Pippin was the name of a roller coaster that Elvis loved to go on. So the name was fitting for the beer and the beer for the Restaurant (I love things like that). The food… well let’s just say I didn’t finish my plate.
The next night we made plans to visit “the place” to get BBQ in Memphis, it was on everyone’s list for the best in the area so we went out of our way to drive downtown to try it. Not only were we not disappointed, I was speechless. I wanted to go back and get more before we were even finished with our lunch. The place was called Charles Vergo’s Rendezvous and it was out of this world. Next time you find yourself in the area, you must go.
Watch the video here
Next stop: The Panhandle
It took us a lot longer to get to our final stop, but we stay there a day longer and luckily the weather was on our side! Stay tuned for the final video coming real soon!
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