Centering Out of Memphis, visiting from Tupelo to Natchez on the Trace!

 

End of the Historic National Road in East St Louis Illinois, before I drove south on I 55 to Memphis TN.  

  
Arrived late in the day in Memphis when it was dark, driving from Collinsville through East St Louis on leap day.  This is the Memphis MKP lodge where Gary Rosenberg, the regional coordinator invited me to rest and relax for my week here. Pilamiya, thanks misun Gary!

 
Eclectic Cafe' on Mclean Blvd, where I have met others, like Gary and Jack Armstrong for coffee and breakfast.   Tuesday morning bright and shiny welcome!   Recommended I check out the Sun Records location ----

 
Got centered in the idea of how Rock and Roll got started with Sun Studio, a recording studio opened by rock-and-roll pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950.   Here is the sign outside near where I parked. 


 The waiting room for the Sun Studio tour is like a old time soda fountain.  Elvis Prestley stool and the much ballyhooed "million dollar quartet" photo from the studio of Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis Prestley and Johnny Cash above . Waited for a bit and paid some $12 for the tour. 


 
Here in Memphis a lot of the black blues musicians as well as the white rock roll artists were recorded.  Part of the tour on the second floor. 

Elvis is featured in much of the tour.   I knew he was born in Tupelo MS and here is his Memphis Diploma in the museum .   Elvis dressed in cowboy outfit.   Remembering my brother Jack Weaver who introduced me to Elvis through his collection of 45 RPM records....

 This photo of the four musicians described above in the exact location where it was taken in the
 1950's. 

Break for Disc Golf at Shelby Farms Park east of Memphis.

Entry to Disc Golf Course at Shelby Farm's Park as seen from hole #18  

 

Map of 18 holes.  I played about half of them....

 

Hole #1, pad at Shelby Farm's - Had a big rain earlier in the day, and nice sand drainage.  

Another shot of the pad for #1 and the rain pattern.  

 

Pad for #6 with daffodils flowering in the field.  

Wednesday March 2, 2016 Sunny Day through Mississippi spring...and listening to NPR about the Super Tuesday Presidential caucuses. Easy does it...

 

I had the hit to visit more of the ancestral mounds along the Mississippi and Gary mentioned a great burger place in Tupelo, called the Neon Pig that won some award for their Smash Burger.  So after stopping at the Tupelo Visitors Center of the Natchez Trace watching the video, I drove to this strip mall in Tupelo to find the place. Then I drove  all Weds through Mississippi on the easy does it Trace from Tupelo to Natchez  Sunny Day

My first SMASH burger that I recall, tasty with locally sourced meat and sauces  at the Neon Pig 

 

 Bynum Mounds along the route around mile 232, burial mounds. 


Some of what was found in these mounds.
 
Arrived here near dusk and walked up and put down some tobacco to connect with the spirit of this land. 

 Pano from the top of the emerald mound at dusk

 

Large expanse of the mound taken at dusk, W to E