Days 183 - 184 Birmingham - Memphis - Pine Bluff

Morning in Birmingham was literally freezing. The temperature had dropped below zero during the night and even in the morning it was only 2 degrees Celsius. I had no chance to postpone my departure as I had more than 250 miles to go.

Riding in coldness wouldn't be bad with proper gear which I don't have. Especially the problem affects to my hands. The gloves I bought in Los Angeles are made for summer. And as the bike is not equipped with heated grips my hands and fingers get cold really fast. Again I had to stop to warm up every 10-15 miles. Fortunately the weather got a little warmer during the day. According to my phone and Accuweather.com the temperature reached as high as 8 degrees Celsius. Not too hot I'd say.

Roads from Birmingham to Memphis were quite okay. As usual I avoided using the interstates and had a chance to see normal little towns and villages. Even though I wasn't on interstates the road was mainly 4 lanes. The Americans really like to make their roads big! I couldn't find any reason for the road to be that wide. There was not much traffic or anything particularly demanding. No trucks, RV's or stuff like that.

As I mentioned my goal for the day was Memphis, Tennessee. Home of the King - Elvis Presley himself. I had booked a room very close to Elvis' home Graceland. It's not cheap to see the home of the King but I thought it's probably my only chance ever to visit there so $60 should be worth it.

And it really was. The visit to Graceland gave me a totally new perspective to this great character. Guidance was made with iPad and included a lot of short interviews of especially Elvis' daughter Lisa Marie. She told her memories about her father as a relatively normal, loving father who loved his family and wanted to spend time with them as much as possible. I have to find a biography of Elvis to read. His significance to rock is as huge as the Beatles.

The tour included the actual Mansion and a huge Elvis center on the other side of the road - Elvis Presley Boulevard. In the mansion the upper floor is still private as Lisa Marie occasionally stays there. I had a chance to see downstairs, basement and the surrounding buildings. Everything is like it was the day Elvis passed away.

Elvis Presley Center included a car and motorcycle exhibition, lots of costumes and memorabilia and walls full of gold records. As a changing exhibition was a section of Elvis' time in the army.

Bass and boots of Gene Simmons from KISS 

Cadillac of Sam Phillips, the founder of Sun arecords. The record company that brought us Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash among many others.

After an extremely interesting 2 hours in Graceland I had to get going. I planned a route Pine Bluff, Arkansas. On the way I crossed a flooding Mississippi River which was huge. Too bad it was impossible to stop on the bridge for a photo. But this photo shows the size of flood. According to my navigator the nearest river or lake is at least 2 km away.