TCB – Elvis – Tupelo – The King.  If you don’t recognize these terms, you probably won’t enjoy reading about the exploits of today. (TCB – is Takin’ Care of Business usually accompanied by a lightning bolt – takin’ care of business in a flash.)

If you’ve been following along with this blog, you know last night was spent in a hotel in downtown Tupelo. Mississippi.  We are not big fans of hotel breakfasts so a quick Google search led us to D’Broken Egg Cafe in downtown Tupelo.  Since the cafe was only 7 blocks from the hotel and it wasn’t raining much we decided to walk.

On the way back there was another required stop that dealt with the life of Elvis.  It’s the Tupelo Hardware Store.  The story is that Elvis’s mother Gladys bought the King his first guitar in this store.  There is even a display showing exactly where she stood and exactly where the guitar was hanging.

There was a plaque outside.  I resisted the temptation to purchase a Tupelo Hardware Store t-shirt.  The sight of the store itsself almost brought a tear to my eye.  It’s a through and through old fashioned hardware store.  You can literally buy anything in this store if it is remotely related to hardware.  I could spend a day just walking the aisles but there was another Elvis related location that we wanted to see.

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About a mile away is the small home where Elvis was born.  We have been here before but it has grown considerably.  They have relocated a church that Elvis attended to the grounds and built a very nice museum (complete with a gift shop – of course).  I’ve included a couple pictures here in case you Elvis fans want to picture the King in diapers at his birthplace.

You really should visit here if you’re a fan or were born in the 50’s or 60’s.

I had another mission to complete while I was on the grounds.  A few weeks ago I was travelling with my son Spencer and we happened to be in Seymour, WI at the statue of Hamburger Charlie.  I happened to find a rock that had been handpainted with a smiley face.  (If you’re interested you can scroll back thru my blog posts for details.)  The instructions on the rock stated that I could keep it or rehide it and asked that the finder (me) post info on the Seymour Thunder Rocks FaceBook page.  I decided to keep it and report it’s travels until I found the appropriate place to rehide it.  Today was the day.  After all, what better place for a smiley faced rock than the birthplace of the King of ROCK and Roll.

It was time to say goodby to Elvis and head a short 100 miles up the road to Jackson, Tennessee.  I have adjusted / shortened our adventure to get home a little quicker and not have to endure more days of rain.  We encountered a few rain showers but nothing to write home about (or to write blogs about).

We rolled into Jackson and had 1 notable event.  At Tupelo as I was getting off the bike, I caught the pants leg of my rainsuit on the passenger floorboard and ripped it.  I really don’t like that suit but I need it (in one piece of course).  Jana found it quite humerous.

Rolling the last few miles into our hotel I smelled something plasticy (is that a word?).  Yep – part of my shredded pant leg was hitting the exhaust pipe and was smoking as it slowly melted away.  I was afraid to look at my bike exhaust.  I thought that the rainsuit pants were getting even for all of my harsh words about them while they melted all over by bike.  Fortunately, they were not successful in discoloring my bike and the pants were rewarded with a fitting end.

Dinner was next door at Moe’s Southwestern Grill which was nothing like the Moe’s that used to be near me. This one is almost identical to Qdoba – Mexican fast food.

Total miles for today was about 110. Again not huge amount but I was tired when we got to the hotel. Rain takes a lot of energy.

Tomorrow the plan is to continue moving away from the King and getting closer to the Man of Steel. It also will need to include a new rainsuit. Ugh!