Yesterday morning (Day 2) we woke up in Tennessee from probably one of the best night’s sleep I have ever had. My stress head ache was gone and I was ready to ride!

Before we started our Day 2 drive, we went to the gas station next door where I saw one of the most terrifying things of my entire life (see picture).



A mannequin in an antique wheel chair. His name is Buster and he lives at the Bean Pot. Terrifying! Imagine coming into work every day to that…

After I took these pics we left on I-40W.

We were still very hesitant driving my newly fixed Ford Focus on the open road. Every little noise made us nervous. And then there was one. One particular noise that continued for a few miles. People were in fact looking at us as they drove by. Dave and I looked at each other in fear. The noise got louder. It sounded like metal scraping and it seemed to come from the front of the car. Oh great!

We took the first exit and as we coasted the ramp the noise got louder and louder. We were freaking out! We parked at the first gas station, jumped out of the car…forget shoes…and noticed the noise came from the back. The windshield wiper for the back window was on. There was no rain. Somehow we flipped the switch to turn it on. So the noise was rubber on dry glass. Are you serious???!!! Dave told me it was my turn to drive…he was done for the moment.

A few hours into Tennessee we passed through Nashville (see picture).


Note the sunrise. Gorgeous!

Then came Memphis baby!! Graceland!!

We used my handy GPS to get to Graceland from I-40W and pulled in. (see picture – Elvis Presley Boulevard)

$10 to park…uh no! We found a free place right next door and walked. (see picture)


We used every membership we had to get a discount on tickets and jumped on the bus. Below are my favorite pics from the day and the rest are in my AshleyMariaPics. I would definitely recommend Graceland if you are driving through and have a few hours to spare. We didn’t see everything Graceland had to offer because of time, but I definitely have a new respect for Elvis. I wish the tour had been more edgy though. Should have cut the surface a bit more as to who the real Elvis was. One sentence mentioned his drug addiction and death. Yes, I realize these are loving Elvis fans they are targeting but I want more!

on the bus with our headphones for the audio tour
actual wedding veil and lisa marie’s toys
me with his awards – cool!
his dad’s sign
elvis, dave and me!

Then came Arkansas, The Mississippi River and my car hitting 50,000 miles. Woohoo!

We stopped once in Arkansas at probably the grossest bathroom ever but pretty cheap gas! Once we got to Oklahoma we made it all the way to Shawnee. As a side note — Arkansas and Oklahoma have REALLY bad roads…write your congressman.

Dinner was the classy IHOP with Samantha, our waitress. She has a boyfriend who plays football and wrestles but she can eat three times as much as him. She’s a cross country runner and plans to continue in college at either NorthWestern (Oklahoma) or ECU (Oklahoma). She always eats pancakes at work but decided to eat the massive salad IHOP has to offer which was so big that she’s taking half of it home. Then a fellow coworker of hers came in who had just been jumped (mugged, robbed, beaten up, attacked). His face was not finished bruising and a huge cut was on his leg. And they were all out of mints!

Today’s trip (Day 3) — yes it snows in New Mexico…but more on today’s trip tomorrow. My camera died and I won’t be able to get to my charger til tomorrow afternoon…car is packed!

Hampton Inn has the most comfortable beds so far!