We tried to leave Panama City early, but – somewhat predictably – we got a tad lost on the way out of town. We were looking for a numbered highway, and it turns out that, in the part of town we were in, it’s called Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway (or Road? Some sort of carway.) We have had to drive on a MLK Jr roadway of some kind in every town we’ve been in, I think. North and South. The only thing I’ve seen more of is Purple Heart roadways.
Our first goal was to find espresso. A goal that was tragically unfulfilled in Florida. And Alabama. And, finally, in Tennessee. It was a true tragedy, people. We even stopped and asked several people, all of whom directed us back to the town we had just passed through. Um…thanks. Or not.
I do have to say, though, that Alabama is much more rolling, green, and pretty than I would have imagined.
We pulled over in Montgomery, AL, to go to a Civil Rights Memorial that my fabulous guidebook mentioned, even though we didn’t really have a lot of time, and it was so worth it! It was designed by the same artist who did the Vietnam memorial in Washington, D.C., and it is equally simple, beautiful, and affecting. Plus it involves water, like all the best memorials. There was a small museum attached to it, and all of it was apparently part of the Southern Poverty Law Centre, so we looked around and read about some peoples’ stories. However, we didn’t feel like we had time to stay for their 17 minute movie that was starting in 10 minutes (heck, we didn’t even *really* have time for the stop itself…), and we TOTALLY got the hard sell! Both of the employees at the centre tried to guilt us into staying. Very uncomfortable.
Despite them, though, worth the visit. Plus, we got some good postcards.
We drove on, and arrived in Memphis just before it turned dark. We had two nights booked at the Heartbreak Hotel, which advertised its 24! Hour! Elvis! Network! and is apparently owned by the Presley estate.
Do you know where Heartbreak Hotel was, when we finally found it? At the end of Lonely Street.
Literally.
How awesome is that???
We headed out to find dinner, and discovered that Memphis, although a great and interesting city, is FULL of one-way streets that are not marked on the free maps they hand out to tourists. It took us an hour to find a freakin’ restaurant. Good. God. Dinner was yummy, though.
Then: collapsing. Under our individual Elvis headshots.
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