We've spent the past 2 days in Memphis, Tennessee.  Ann toured Graceland (Elvis Presley's mansion) and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Today we went to Mud Island River Park and walked in a very high walkway above the Mississippi River.  In the park there is a concrete sculpture depicting the river 1/2" to 5', (middle photo) it's 1/2 mile long, winding as the river goes, through different states until it empties into the Gulf of Mexico.  There's a ramp that we walked down right to the river where you can dip your foot into the river, if you like.  Richard did.  Right now the river is at flooding level and on TV there's a call for volunteers to fill sandbags tomorrow.  We are quite a bit higher than where the river is but we have seen evidence of the high levels--we've seen trees and a road covered with water.  The bottom photo is at B.B. King's Blues Club where we had dinner and enjoyed some live music. -Ann
All of the fun of Beale Street, Sun Studios, STAX records, Graceland etc. was very cool. What was most impressive to me was to stand in front of the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was gunned down in 1968. He was one in a series of larger than life people who helped bring more of the vision of Lincoln to fruition. We had just visited Vicksburg and seen where 20,000 Americans died in the struggle to make that vision a reality or to keep slavery alive. There was a reverence at both Vicksburg and the Lorraine Motel. Richard