'Shining like a national guitar'

Memphis! We're walking in Memphis!! Well, not right now. Right now, we're sitting around watching TV in Memphis, but it's almost the same. We had lunch today in the Arcade Diner which was exactly like a proper diner, and Elvis ate there! Not while we were there, but once. Apparently. It was very delicious, and we had milkshakes and it was wonderful. Aaaand, we went to the Rock and Soul museum which was totally brilliant because they give you headsets and you get to listen to all the music as you walk around the exhibits. So I learned all about the development of Rock n Roll and Blues and Soul in Memphis while listening to it at the same time. It was great! And we saw costumes that people like Johnny Cash, Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis really wore, and Luciiiiiiillle the guitar, and Ike Turner's first piano and Al Green's bible. It was fantastico. 

And as if that wasn't enough, this afternoon we've been on a river cruise on the Mississippi in one of those paddlewheelers like in Ol' Man River.  And it had a narrator telling us lots of interesting facts. It was totally cool because when we got half way across the river we moved from Tennessee into Arkansas - a whole different state! And the man doing the talking had the most brilliant southern accent which I could have listened to all day. You may notice that we haven't been to Graceland, Graceland, Memphis Tennessee yet, but of course we will! Tomorrow. I can't wait!

We arrived here last night after an 8-hour bus journey from Atlanta, which was actually not as bad as it sounds... Firstly, our bus was driven by Morgan Freeman, which was really good (although it MAY have been someone who sounded like him), but also we had a half hour layover in BirmingHam, Alabama which helped. It also added to the list of states we've visited and the list of songs about places we've been to (WOAH Black Betty came from Birmingham way down in Alabama if you remember...) so it's all good. 

There was actually a really nice atmosphere on the buses - people are really open and friendly down here in the south, and they all help each other out a lot without any fuss. There was a lady sitting across the aisle from me who was moving house from Atlanta down to El Paso and she had a little girl with her and sooo much luggage that she had to push around the station on a big trolley thing and she was just chatting to anyone and everyone in this amazing southern drawl. At one point when we stopped, she asked me to look after her 'sleeping young'un' while she went outside for a cigarette, and she voiced everyone's worry about whether or not our bags had made it from the pavement into the luggage bit of the bus when she said, very loudly, 'if my bags aint under there, I'm gon' sue somebody.' It was funny. I think that the buses would generally be a fantastic way of getting around (they're comfy, clean and pretty cheap), if it weren't for the fact that the stations are often in really dodgy areas of town, so you really don't want to arrive late at night (which they often do). It's a shame really. But we're all done with the greyhounds now - that was our last one. 

Tomorrow night we're getting our second overnight train, but this time we have a 'roomette' which is very exciting... Doesn't it sound nice? We'll let you know how it goes! 

Scarlett