Not only did we expand our repertoire of self-discovery tools, but we also met some creative and adventurous people. Dave and Paul were two young men in our class. They had wanderlust and brought up the idea of a road trip to Graceland.
Graceland
I had lived in Memphis for a year after graduating from college. Although my first teaching position was at The Wesley School on Elvis Presley Boulevard, I never did the famous tour of Graceland.
So late on a bright Friday afternoon. Dave and Paul picked me up from Mom’s house in Beaver Dam. (My husband had no interest in the adventure. Mom was invited too, but she declined the weekend adventure.)
We drove all night–I don’t remember driving–I probably slept. I think Dave and Paul took turns. We arrived early. I think it was about 6 am when we walked up and down the deserted Beale Street. There was no jazz music, no noisy people entering and exiting the bars.
When Graceland opened at 9:00 am, we were the first in line. We all purchased the Platinum tour. (Although there are a variety of packages today, back then, there were only bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. You could add on a tour of Elvis’s plane.)
Although I was a grownup, I don’t remember much. I have this vague feeling that I was underwhelmed. I do remember the tacky jungle room overloaded with animal print furniture. At the end of the tour, there was a memorial area where Elvis is buried. I thought there were a lot of dead leaves that littered the area. It felt unkempt. Leaving the venue, we stopped in the gift shop. I purchased a pair of earrings that looked like mini white license plates with ELVIS in red letters. I wore them whenever I felt the need for a reminder of adventure and saying “yes” to myself.
After Graceland
Not sure what else we did that day. We did stay at a cheap motel overnight. There were two queen beds. I got one. Dave and Paul flipped a coin for the other. Paul won. Dave slept on the floor. Early the next morning, we loaded up the car. I don’t think we had any overnight bags..maybe just a toothbrush and toothpaste in my purse.
We drove straight home and they dropped me off at Mom and Dad’s house in Beaver Dam with plenty of time to spare before I went to work on Mondy morning.
I don’t think I ever saw or heard from Paul or Doug after that. Of course, that was well before cell phone time or Facebook or even MySpace.
The people and the place are just a fuzzy, happy memory of a weekend road trip to Graceland.
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