Moving to Memphis

Well, for a few days. Not permanently. Got here last night and enjoyed the graciousness of good friends (the previously mentioned Larry and his lovely wife, The Fox - it's pretty neat when two of your best friends get married and turn into one sort of super friend - Wonder Twins, anyone?).

Enroute yesterday, drove further south on the western side of the Mississippi than we've ever done before.

Roadkill and other things we saw:

(1) Deer, large, probably a buck
(1) Dog, medium, black, short-haired
(1) Bird, large, either turkey or turkey buzzard (aka vulture)
(1) Sign declaring a convenience store a "Gun Free" zone
(2) Armadillos, squashed
(6) Anti-abortion billboards/art installations
(Many) Unidentified parts of many different animals
(Countless) Scraps of Missourah Jerky (aka tire blowouts)

Music we listened to: Neil Young, Johnny Cash, various blues artists and The Raconteurs. Bought Broken Boy Soldiers just for the trip and am LOVING IT! Go buy this album right now and love it. Best thing Jack White's ever done.

And today we had, naturally, some great barbeque, saw the grave of Charlie Rich, the former home of Johnny Cash, a baby cemetery, drove by Sun Studios (we'll get there, don't worry), loitered around Graceland for a while and spent several hours at the Civil Rights Museum downtown.

If you haven't heard of it or been there, this is the Lorraine Hotel where the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968. It's a somber experience to see that balcony and that hotel room door, that bland roadside American motel architecture that has become a fatal icon. It was inspiring, though, to be there and to be contemplating the past while pondering the future, this day after Barack Obama became the first black American presidential nominee.

More reports to follow. But, for now, a good time was had by all.