MEMPHIS TN 7 GRACELAND

Greetings! These pictures were taken in Memphis. Yes, that is Graceland. I bet you thought it would be bigger. Very interesting interior - a bit gaudy for my taste, but if you were Elvis you could do what you wanted. We did get to see the famous jungle room as well as all the other rooms on the main floor. The second floor is off limits. The next two shots are of the Memorial garden and his gravesite. There are always fresh flowers there. It was a very nice tour and we enjoyed it even though I never considered myseslf an Elvis fan. There is a car museum with the pink cadillac he gave to his mother as only one of many cars there. While in Memphis we visited Beale Street which is very much like Bourbon Street in NOLA but the featured music is the blues instead of jazz. We also visited the Peabody Hotel and had a drink at the bar while waiting for the ducks to be marched through the lobby at 5 pm. A daily ritual started as a prank by 2 duck hunters in the 1930's. The guy with the meat on the skewer is one of the waiters at the Texas de Brazil steakhouse where we had Mother's Day dinner. It is quite a dining experience. The boat is just one of many paddlewheelers on the Mississippi out of Memphis. We are currently in Fort Worth, TX visiting with our daughter Kristine and her husband Hank. We'll be hading to Missouri next week to continue our work/travel.

Nashville Rally

Greetings!! Two reasons why we haven't posted anything recently. One was that we were so busy we haven't had the time, the second was that Ken accidently deleted most of the pictures we took. This has been a working vacation for us but it has been great. We got to tour alot of Nashville sites including Andrew Jackson's house (the Hermitage) and Belle Meade which is a plantation with its roots in horse breeding (including the blood lines for Barbaro and Eight Belles). We toured RCA studio B where everyone from Elvis to Garth Brooks recorded (we got to record a song there) the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Ryman Auditorium (former home of the Grand Ole Opry). The pictures above are (in order): my birthday which was celebrated with some old and new friends at our staff meeting on the day before the Rally began; the next 5 were taken at the Lane Automotive Museum which we visited on our own after the Rally finished. There were some very unusual "cars" including some 3-wheeled versions and the one with front and back steering wheels so the owner didn't have to drive in reverse on some steep mountain roads and the Martin aerodynamic car which was built in Garden City, NY; the next picture is the Tennessee State Capitol taken from Bicentennial Park and the next two are at their WWII Memorial. Next is a picture of the General Jackson paddlewheel boat - we took an afternoon cruise on it on the Cumberland River. The next two were taken at the Grand Ole Opry and the last was also on the General Jackson. That's me (third from the left) enjoying a mrgarita with some friends. Some history on the Grand Ole Opry - it began in 1925 so it is the longest running radio show which means you hear all the commercials as well as the music. Each performance starts with a Minnie Pearl look-alike as MC. It moved to the Ryman in 1943 and ran there until 1974. Gaylord Entertainment then decided to build a new home for it outside of the city where it has been since 1976. They were planning to tear down the Ryman but decided to renovate instead and it is still used for live performances. Unfortunately, none of my favorite performers were at the Opry when we were there but in the next few weeks some of the performers will be Montgomery Gentry, Jewel and the Charlie Daniels Band. That's all for now. For those of you who are traveling - stay safe on the road, and to all of the others - stay well.

The Rio Travelers, Ken & Betty

Hi everyone. We are on the road again. It is April 14th and we are in Nashville for a Rally with Adventure Caravans. Our first stop was in Gatlinburg where we met up with friends that we made on our 2007 Mexico trip. We finally made it to Dollywood and had a great time. FYI -we were planning to go on Sept. 11, 2001. Since we are all staff with Adventure Caravans, this will be a working vacation with trips planned to visit the Grand Ole Opry and other sites in the area.

Finally Made It

Dolly's Steam Engine, You know I love trains

KEN