Early morning was spent making a big decision. Do we continue southward and visit more friends outside New Orleans and onward into southern Texas for more such visits and sightseeing ... or begin a more westerly heading toward home. We've been on the road 2 1/2 months and a continued pleasurable, educational and friend-filled days that includes the deeper south and southwest will add a month. That, dear friends, puts major pressure on being home a few days before Thanksgiving. In fact, the pace we've been enjoying would see us enjoying(?) Thanksgiving together, with fellow roadies, but without family and friends.
It became evident that we needed to delay those visits 'til our next trip when we'll cover the deeper South ... in depth. (Oh boy! I get to design another cross country road trip.)
Saying farewell to Georgia on a quiet Saturday, we cruise into northern Alabama. Rolling countryside, passing the Talledega Super Speedway, filled with more RVs than any rally we've seen (big races today), and with the sun at our backs, we approach Birmingham and decide to try some southern cookin'. BBQ'd ribs seemed in order and that is what we did ... order some. Surely there were better ones in the South because these did not rise to what Doris can produce with little effort.
Moving northwest, we reach our destination, Tupelo. Why Tupelo? I knew of Tupelo because of studying the Civil War ... and because it's Elvis Presley's birthplace. A small, truly southern town, it was easy to find the house where he was born, and where he lived with his very poor parents 'til age 3 when Dad moved the family further south in hopes of finding a job that could support the family. Elvis' life ended in tragedy, but he was a remarkable philanthropist. His first gift was a home to his parents, followed by purchasing his birthplace and 15 acres, giving them to Tupelo as an historic site.
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| Tupelo, MS: Elvis' birthplace. Two rooms, 2 parents, 2 children. |
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| Front room/living room/bedroom for 4. |
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| Kitchen/dining room/playroom. The bathroom was outside. |
We stayed the night in this town, now populated by 36,000 people and home to one of Toyota's manufacturing plants, supporting a poor region of this country.
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