Monday 10th August

Torrential rain, thunder and lightning. Jes is at work until 12; we go to see her and have some lunch, then we all drive
down to Branson. While we are waiting for Jes to finish work, we visit a Pawn Shop because Jack has his eye on an electro-
accoustic guitar. The place is huge and ideal if you are planning a terrorist attack or a high school massacre. I have never
seen such reasonably priced fire-arms in my life. I could have bought anything from a sub-machine gun to a Russian Roulette
set (as modelled by Phil Spector). We buy the guitar and then me and John kick ourselves because we think we could have got
the guy to sell it to us cheaper - never mind - as Tony would say, 'My cup is always half empty'!Branson is only about 40 miles from Springfield. Jes comes with us because we think we will go on these 'Duck Boats' (kind of
amphibious landing craft) but when we get there they are out of circulation because of the weather. John tries to persuade us
to go to 'Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede' (see pic of horse's butt) where you watch a show and eat enormous quantities of
food, but we are all so stuffed from lunchtime that we can't face it, so we go to 'Ripley's Believe it or Not'
which is quite entertaining. Jes leaves for Springfield and we check into our La Quinta motel. Jack tries to put our key in the lock of what he thinks is
the door to our room. Immediately, we hear wild barking as at least two dogs seem to be launching themselves at the door;
Jack realises he has got the wrong room. The motel is lovely. Jack, Suzy and I go for a swim in the indoor pool. John says he doesn't want to be seen bare chested as
he thinks he might be mistaken for Stavros Flately!

Tuesday 11th August

Tuesday 11th August. Long, long drive to Memphis. It takes about five hours and we arrive around lunchtime. We go straight to Gracelands for the
tour

which (even if you are not an Elvis fan) is brilliant. Later on we drive to La Quinta which is near the airport. It's not so easy to find as the others and we drive through some
very dodgy areas in our attempt to find it. John stops off at a gas station to buy some beer. The shop assistant is locked
inside a bullet-proof booth.The hotel is brand new and our rooms are fantastic. There is an outdoor swimming pool which is brilliant as it is 80 degrees
at 9.30 in the evening. Jack says this hotel reminds him of 'The Shining' because we appear to be the only people staying
there. The lady on the desk offers to send out for some food - it is obviously not a place where you would wander alone at
night. She then tells Jack and Suzy her life story and about how she is getting married that weekend. I go to sleep listening
to Jack describe what happens when you get carbon monoxide poisoning - I have to tell him to shut up.

Wednesday 12th August

Wednesday12th August
A big day of sight-seeing in prospect. The lady in charge of supervising breakfast tells us that she has never been to Beale
Street; she also tells us (whilst watching the news about health service reforms) that she voted for Barack Obama but now
thinks he is the Anti-Christ! Her sister receives free health care because she is on benefits; her kids also receive free
health care but "Me - Mom" (who appears to have at least two jobs) has to pay. I feel compelled to ask why, in that case, is
she so worried about Obama's plans. She looks at me as if I have come from another planet and carries on cleaning the waffle
machine. A fifteen minute drive takes us into Memphis. We park the car and start to walk into the centre; it is already very hot and
in a nearby park there are tables set out and people sitting around in brightly coloured t-shirts - there is generally a
relaxed, 'holiday atmosphere'. In the hope of collecting a free souvenir we ask what is going on, only to be told
that free HIV tests are being offered... Our first visit is to Sun Recording Studios where Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry-Lee Lewis and many more, recorded their music
(see pic) Jack got to demonstrate how Mr Cash got the 'dead' sound on his guitar on 'Folsum Prison Blues'. He did this by
sticking a dollar bill behind the strings (and I thought it was because he was a crap guitarist!) Next was a visit to the Gibson Guitar Factory - the only thing we could afford to buy was a guitar strap(see pic); then we
travelled on a wonderful old-fashioned tram to the Civil Rights Museum which is situated inside the Lorraine Motel where
Martin Luther King was assassinated.(see pics) This was very moving and absolutely fascinating. One of the exhibits was a
bus. As we climbed on, there was a statute of a woman sitting at the front. Jack sat in the next seat which triggered a voice
that said, 'Move to the back of the bus'. The statue was of the legendary Rosa Parks.Later on, we went to eat bbq ribs (a speciality of Memphis) at this wonderful restaurant where the 'greeter' asked me if I was English and did I know Guy Fawkes?!!! As it's going dark we
walk down to Beale Street - the highlight of the holiday for me. There is live music in almost every bar and on the street
- everything from Elvis impersonators to guitarists who could have given Eric Clapton a run for his money and best of all
Richard Johnston, Hill Country Troubadour, who was playing some amazing blues on a cigarbox guitar.(see youtubevid) "Everybody's godda get on the kerb ...especially you 'Hooters' an don't stan' there wid your arms folded". The music was so good - for a split second me and Suzy did "shake our asses like retards ..." but not as well as the people on the youtube video!
When we got back to our hotel, we were very relieved to see that it was now packed with other tourists - obviously there for
the anniversary of Elvis' death - so La Quinta didn't turn out to be Bates Motel after all.

Thursday 13th August

Thursday 13th August A long drive back to Louisiana Mo passing through Tennessee and Arkansas before arriving back in Missouri. John and Jack make
one last ditch attempt to catch a fish or two in a creek just off the Mississippi. I am the first to catch a fish and I don't
even have a fishing rod. A poor old Blue Fin has been cut free but it still has a 'bobber' and line attached to it. I manage
to pull it out with a stick and show my trophy.(see pic) Jack is gutted (if you'll pardon the expression) but I can't bring
myself to grab hold of the fish to take the hook out of its mouth; thankfully Jack does this and the fish is returned to the
water. A few minutes later, Jack lands his first fish (understandably he has to have at least a dozen photos take with his
catch) (see pics).A man arrives on a bike. He takes a brown paper bag out of a rucksac (I think there is a can on beer inside) and starts to
drink and chat. He works on the barges on the Mississippi and says he has been as far up as Minnesota and has also been to
New Orleans.He is a really nice chap and tells us he campaigned for Obama (although he didn't win the state of Missouri) and
I am really beginning to warm to him until he asks me what I think about Jesus... at that moment there is an amazing sight -
the lightning bugs have come out and have lit up the bushes like Christmas trees. The mosquitos seem to be biting even more
ferociously in the dark so we say goodbye to the ageing Huck Finn and head off home to South Carolina Street.

Friday 14th August

Friday 14th August John and Suzy check their answer phone and there is a call from Witte. They are off to Vermont on Saturday
afternoon - we will be at home in Leigh by then.ps Friday morning Shovel Head zoomed past on a lawn-mower (he has been banned from driving but seems to think it is ok to
drive a lawn-mower on a public road). Alas we missed him ... Wonder if he was waving the rebel flag ...

Thursday 6th August

Thursday 6th August`
Heading back to Louisiana Missouri.Had a late night phone call from Shauny. He is at the centre of a 'domestic' and had phoned John to tell him his wife had chucked him out.(Oh my goodness I hear Grandma say!). This conversation brought on one of John's stories about Donny, Shauny, John and Little Engine which was hilarious but perhaps not suitable for a family audience. One of John's milder stories was about the time he heated his van by using an electric heater that needed to be plugged into a mains socket.After a few beers, John and Donny parked up in down town Hannibal and decided to sleep in the van. It was so cold that they were in need of some heating, so Donny parked up next to a coca cola machine unplugged it and plugged in John's heater. The cops pulled up behind them and asked what was going on; they explained that they were just sitting talking. The cops went away totally unaware that coca cola was paying for the heating in John's van!
This is for Tony the Anorak again.Heading north on route 75 just crossed the Swaunee River and stopped at a rest area North of Atlanta in Gordon County. There was a really interesting information notice (see picture)This is what it said:"During the early 1800s northern Georgia was the heart of the independent Cherokee nation. The Cherokees were the most progressive tribe in North American. In 1821 they were the first American Indian people with a written form of their native language, invented by Sequoyah a Cherokee Indian. They had their own national capital 10 miles north (of the rest area). They had a constitutional government and a legislative and judicial system. Once the largest town in the area, New Echota consisted of houses, stores, taverns and a Court House and printing office which published a national bilingual newspaper called The Cherokee Phoenix.Most of the Cherokees were farmers and lived in small log cabins but some owned huge plantations such as Vann House - 27 miles north.In 1838, at gunpoint, the Cherokee were rounded up and imprisoned by state and federal armies. Later that year they were forced to go to what is now Oklahoma. Four thousand Cherokees died on the march west - known as the 'Trail of Tears'.
Thought about you Ma while we were at the rest area. A party of pensioners arrived - it reminded me of tales of Auntie Ann and the Carnegie crew.