Atlanta - Memphis - Tulsa

I was pleasantly surprised with the first long leg of the trip. I guess I had just assumed it was going to be pretty uneventful riding on long stretches of interstate, passing ridiculous billboards, getting cut off by big rigs, and of course being endlessly tempted by delectable treats at fast food restaurants. Of course, all of these things happened, but the midpoint of our trip made it all worthwhile. You might be saying, "Wow Jim, you stopped in Memphis and you liked it. What's your point?" Here's the point a-hole...After a day and a half of staying at my parent's house and talking about the road trip, I was starting to feel as if there was no spontaneity to this trip.

Last summer, I got in the car, knew when baseball games were, but that was about it. I slept in the car when I needed to and ran out of gas where I saw fit. This summer is a bit different. It is shared. My brother and I have a freakishly close relationship, but any time another person is added to the mix, you can't be totally selfish (as I'm so used to being). This trip is not so much an adventure for "finding myself" as it was last year. Instead, this trip is about quality time with my brother, seeing old friends I haven't seen in awhile, and enjoying the discovery of new places. We have had to coordinate things with a lot of people in order to have free places to stay and go to the right baseball games at the right time (this is key).

All that to say...Day one was a pleasant surprise. We were pretty hungry as we approached Memphis so we decided to go into town and find a non-corporate...aka...good restaurant to enjoy. As we inched by in traffic for over thirty minutes, we randomly stumbled upon Sun Studio, the only record studio to be registered on the national register of historic sites. Sun Studio's claim to fame includes discovering artists like Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Roy Orbison to name a few. We walked in and forgot we were hungry. After waiting around the store, we decided to give in and take the $10 tour and see the actual studio where Johnny Cash was discovered (as seen in Walk the Line), among others. It may have been 10 bucks to walk into a single room, but there was a sense of romance about the place that made it all worth it.

After the Sun tour, we realized that we were indeed still hungry. We hopped back in the car to search for Beale St. We eventually found it and picked a place to eat that very well could have been the worst restaurant on the street for all I know, but it turned out to be okay. There's not a whole lot for a vegetarian to eat in one of America's BBQ capitals, but I made do (okay, i may have eaten beans cooked with meat, but the mac n cheese was good). While paying the bill, we looked at the time and realized just how late the little side trip was going to make us for arriving in Tulsa. We had wanted to look for a couple more places before leaving, but sure enough, they found us.

If you have ever seen the movie Elizabethtown (and liked it despite Orlando Bloom's terrible attempt at an accent), you may understand how cool this next part was for us. We had resigned to the fact that we wouldn't find the Lorraine Motel and this other bar as he does in the movie, but as I pulled out of our parking spot, I decided to drive down the road a bit more because of its old look. Sure enough, we look up and we see Ernestine and Hazel's Sundry Store. This place was featured in the movie as Bloom's character was taking a road trip of his own. Now a bar, the place used to be a hang out for musicians like Ray Charles and Otis Redding, and also a brothel. We nearly jumped out of the car to go in and have a beer. The bartender could tell we were tourists and gave us an impromptu tour of the premises, including a room where Ray Charles used to shoot heroin. Needless to say, it was an uplifting experience. The bartender told us a few other stories before we were on our way. Good times. We hopped in the car again and started to head on the road to Tulsa, but sure enough, the Lorraine Motel popped its pretty little head out to let us take pictures and experience a little bit of history. I may just be a dumb tourist, but seeing the place where MLK died made me wonder if the city has ever gotten over that event. The whole 4 hours we were in Memphis made me feel as if there might be a shadow lingering over that city. Just throwing it out there.

Okay, I'll get on with it. If you are still reading, I congratulate you on enduring my long-windedness...yeah, it's a word. We ended up arriving in Tulsa at 2am and effectively kept our cousin up way later than he wanted. As I write he is plotting to blow up my car. I wish some people (not everyone) could have witnessed the last couple hours on the road trying to stay awake. If you ever want to crack up at the freakish closeness of my brother and I, you will have to hear us sing/scream Jackson 5 songs. Fred does a great Jermaine. I'm partial to Michael and my sweet falsetto...and on that note, I'm going to sleep

Still to come...Tulsa - Boulder