The Great American Road Trip

Today we drove from OKC to Little Rock, Arkansas. It’s been really hot and muggy the last two days, so I guess the nice thing about driving so long is that it is air-conditioned at least! In Little Rock, we visited the Little Rock Central High School. It was the site of the first famous battle over integration of schools following the Brown vs. the Board of Education Supreme Court Ruling – which basically said that “separate, but equal” was not cool, and that everyone deserved “equal rights”. Period.

The “Little Rock Nine” were nine black kids who tried to integrate Central High School in 1957. They were met by crowds of protesters who shouted racial epithets, carried signs telling them to go back where they came from, spitting on them, and threats against their lives. The governor at the time basically said that these kids were not going to attend that school, but as police tried to escort the kids into the school, things got violent, and they had to be removed. President Eisenhower ordered the U.S. military in to take charge, and he also overtook the Arkansas National Guard so that these kids could attend school. It was a major test of America’s will to end segregation. Many in the south were not enthused about the changes.

The school sits on an absolutely gorgeous campus. There is a museum dedicated to this moment in U.S. history, right across the street. Both boys had read a book called “Warriors Don’t Cry”, which was a memoir written by one of the “Little Rock Nine”. They were very impressed with the museum, and found our visit to be a very cool one. I was impressed with their knowledge of the event. Chalk one up for reading! I, too, was greatly moved by the exhibits, which were informative and full of first-person accounts in audio recordings and videos. I highly recommend visiting this place if you ever happen to find yourself in Little Rock, Arkansas.

After Little Rock, we got back in the truck and continued down I-40 to Memphis, Tennessee. There are several things we wanted to do and see while in town. All of that had to wait, though, because as we crossed the bridge from Arkansas to Tennessee, the boys caught sight of something which blew their minds: The biggest friggin’ Bass Pro Shops they had ever seen. This was not a planned stop, but I have to admit that it was pretty impressive, so we took a detour, and pulled up to what had to be one of the Earth’s man-made wonders. What’s funny is that neither boy is very outdoorsy, but that didn’t stop them from gawking at this store. Like I said, it is huge. There is actually a hotel inside this place. That’s right, you can rent a room inside the store, overlooking just about any outdoor camping, hunting, and fishing equipment you would ever need or want. There were ponds full of trout, catfish, and even sturgeon. Another pond has live alligators. This place was unreal.

After departing the Pyramid, we headed on down to a place I had been looking forward to: Sun Studio. Although Nashville often steals the music limelight from Memphis, Memphis can always claim that they birthed the King Of Rock and Roll: Elvis Presley. We made it to the last tour of the day, and in fact we were a little early, so we had time to sit at the bar in the lobby and drink sodas and gawk at all the memorabilia on the walls. Signed photographs from some of rock and country’s biggest early stars were on the walls. Blue music played on the speakers on the walls. Gold albums and 45’s were also on the walls. It was starting to feel like heaven to this old blues rocker! The tour got started upstairs where there were lots of interesting artifacts like the actual sound equipment that Sam Phillips (owner of the studio) used to record Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Our tour guide told us some great stories like how Phillips’ first recording he did at his studio was a group which feature Ike Turner (Tina’s former husband). He told us the story of how Phillips heard about some inmates who had an A Capella group, and he got the warden to allow them to come to the studio to record an album. The prisoners arrived, in chains, and they recorded their album, with prison guards standing behind them with shotguns! My favorite story was about how Elvis came to the studio because he heard Sam Phillips would allow anyone to record a demo for $4. Sam wasn’t in the day Elvis showed up, but the secretary knew how to work the equipment, so she set it up, and became the first person to record Elvis Presley. Phillips would later produce and record Elvis’ very first song, and hit, “That’s All Right Mama” – which made Elvis an overnight star.

The second part of the tour was downstairs in the actual recording studio. Nothing in the studio had been changed. It was the way it was in the 1950’s. It was incredible to be standing where people like Johnny Cash recorded “I Walk the Line”, or Carl Perkins recorded “Blue Suede Shoes”, and to be able to sit at the piano Jerry Lee Lewis used when he recorded – right at that spot – “Great Balls of Fire”. I must say that I was awestruck throughout this portion of the tour, and more than once I got goosebumps (chicken skin for my Hawaii peeps). Before the tour, the boys weren’t so sure they were going to really get into this stop, but at the end, they too were in awe, and they enjoyed this museum a lot.

After the tour, we hit Beale Street – one of the most famous music related streets in America. There were a dozen blues clubs, juke joints, and bars on this street, and from every one of them, blues music poured out into the humid night. I was in heaven. We ate at a place called the Blues City Cafe (awesome fried catfish and Memphis ribs). Then, we walked around for a bit and took in the sights. I think today was an awesome day!

Some final thoughts about today:

• People have been nice on this entire trip. No matter what color or nationality. I’m not a talkative guy, yet people are always striking up conversations with me. At the VLA, I had a very nice conversation with two Native American men (“Don’t go to Roswell. It’s too touristy”). I had a funny conversation with an elderly white woman in an elevator in Roswell about how it sucks getting old (she had ridden the elevator down, forgot what she had gone down to the lobby for, and in the elevator ride back up to her room exclaimed, “Goddammit, I just remembered what I had gone down for!”). In Texas, I had a conversation with a large black woman about how crappy humidity was for large people (like she and myself), and for her hair.
• Deborah had booked our room for us in Oklahoma City, and when I checked us in, the front desk lady told me “you requested the handicapped room.” I didn’t know what to say – I was a little embarrassed. Obviously I wasn’t handicapped, and I’m sure Deborah just asked for a room with two queen beds, so I told her, “I’m not a small guy, and the other two people I’m with are just like me. We need a big room because we’re big.” I was surprised when she said, “I don’t blame you, honey. I would want a big room too!” Later, when I returned with my two boys, she said “My Lord, you weren’t lying!”
• We’re planning on being in New Orleans on Friday, and I heard that there is a possible hurricane heading our way. Not sure what we’re going to do besides just play it by ear. Last I heard, it was “just” a tropical storm. Our trip is suddenly getting VERY exciting…Stay tuned!

Thanks for hanging out with us. See you tomorrow!