Memphis & Nashville

Well, we thought there were a lot of "B's" for the New Orleans post, but there are more here.... blues, BBQ, booze, Beale St., Broadway (Nashville) and as always... bikes!

Beale St., Memphis and the blues were first, and we had a lively evening listening to a great band at BB King's bar.  It's a hoppin' street and got even crazier the next night when it was "Motorcyle Wednesday".  There were hundreds of bikes lining both sides of the street with their owners all hanging around in leathers, having a drink and appreciating each other's bikes.  It made for some great people watching and one of our favourite helmets was a shiny, stainless steel bowler hat!



We strolled by at least a dozen more bars with live bands playing great music!

 Next, it was time for some delicious BBQ, the food of choice in these parts.  We agreed on the "world famous" Rendezvous Ribs (there are soooo many world famous places everywhere we go!)  and you could smell the wood smoke 4 blocks away - mmmmm.

The bikes were next, as we had a great time exploring Memphis in the daylight.  It's full of historic buildings and a nice, pedestrian friendly downtown and riverfront.

The trolley system is great and only costs $1 per ride.

And finally, Jim found a place where he could play all the games he wanted!

 

Being on bikes allowed us to interact with the locals and unfortunately, homelessness is a problem in Memphis, so we heard many sad stories.  One man was hoping to make $6 for the 15 lbs. of cans he'd collected and all the people we interacted with were polite and friendly.

They also had a sense of humour as we heard from one man, loudly proclaiming as we passed, "Dang, it's a weeknight!  These people are just too broke, slash, cheap to gimme anythin'."

Our ride took us past the famous Lorraine Hotel where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot.  It's now part of a Civil Rights Museum.

The wreath marks the spot of the assassination and we experienced strong feelings of sadness at the loss of this great man.

It was here that we met Jacqueline Smith, who was living in the motel at the time of the slaying and was subsequently evicted when they decided to turn it into a museum.  She has spent the last 23 years on the street, across the road, protesting the museum.  She justifiably felt that the millions spent on the museum should have gone to low income housing, as Dr. King would have wanted.  The gentrification of the area now that the museum is there, has put more of the poor out on the streets.  We were astonished to hear that the local casinos have sponsored parties on the grounds of the hotel and as Jacqueline asked, "Do you think they would do that on the 9-11 site?"

She asked us to share her website with the good people from Canada. http://www.fulfillthedream.net/

We drove a few hours west to Nashville, through hilly and heavily treed terrain.  We listened to a lot of country music on the radio and had no idea there were so many sub-genres; alternative, rock, gospel and even techno!  This was the name of our favourite small town ... Bucknsort, Tennessee.


Apparently "Buck" founded the town in the 1800's and was a moonshiner, so.... people would head to Buck's for a snort!



Nashville's equivalent to Beale St. is Broadway and it's got even more live bands playing.  We heard everything from country, honky tonk, bluegrass and rock-a-billy to hard rock.  There was a very eclectic crowd with plenty of cowboy hats and boots. They seem to have cornered the market on large and unusual statues...

As you can see, Jim is still misbehaving and it seems to have rubbed off on me too!

We listened to this crazily energetic rock-a-billy band, then walked the main drag enjoying more yummy BBQ,  the colourful people and twangy accents.



We've finally escaped the record-breaking heat - 90 degrees or more every day, but managed to stay cool at each hotel.  Naturally, Jim's method was to incorporate activity into the cooling process....

We'll leave you with the last "B" - more billboards!



Despite the very attractive prices, we didn't go in.



Yikes!

This morning, we're off to the Smoky Mountains in Eastern Tennessee for a hike up to some waterfalls!