FOUR DAYS OUTSIDE OF TUPELO (MS)

THURSDAY - I was looking forward to a nice and simple 79-mile travel day with 50-miles of Interstate 22 followed by 20-miles of the Natchez Trace Parkway.

In case you're not familiar with the Natchez Trace Parkway it's a 444-mile long drive through 3 states (MS-AL-TN) with limited entrances and exits, not one single stop sign or traffic light, a modest 50MPH speed limit and most importantly, absolutely no commerial vehicles allowed (i.e. 18-wheelers). We drove it end-to-end back in March of 2019.

The campground we left was only 5-miles from the Interstate entrance and the campground we were headed to was only 4-miles from the Natchez Trace Parkway exit. It would have been a nice drive, but just 4-miles into the Natchez Trace Parkway drive we found out the Parkway was closed and had to follow a 16-mile detour route along some very rough 2-lane Mississippi backroads to arrive at our destination.

In the end it all worked out and we landed at Davis Lake Campground.

The campground in located in the Tombigbee National Forest.

We have one of the lakefront campsites...

...with an awesome view of the visiting water fowl. No silly, not the flamingo!

I'm talking about the Great Blue Heron and...

...the dozens of Canadian Geese that seem to come and go all the time.

FRIDAY - Just 3-days ago we visited Graceland Mansion, the final resting place of Elvis Presley. Today we're going to visit the Elvis Birthplace, a modest "shotgun" style home in Tupelo, MS where on January 8th, 1935 Elvis was born. His father and uncle had built the house together with a $180 loan from his father's employer.

Two and a half years later the home was repossesed for lack of payment after Elvis' father was jailed several months for forging a check.

Elvis was just 13 years old when his family moved to Memphis in search of steady employment and a better life.

ELVIS' BIRTHPLACE

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Right out front is a Plymouth automobile that is the same make and model of the car
the Presley's drove when they left Tupelo for Memphis. It is not the Presley's car.
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The actual church where Elvis gave his first solo live performance at age 8
was moved in 2008 from about a block away and onto the property.
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The only original piece, other than the building itself, is the pulpit at the front of the room.
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This small chapel was constructed on the property.
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This is the Presley's original house at the original location where Elvis was born.
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This is the room where Elvis was born. None of the furnishings were owned by the Presley's,
but Elvis's father did help stage and recreate the layout of the funiture we saw today.
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The only other room in the house is the kitchen/dining room
where only the stove and fireplace are original to the home.
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One of several statues on the property, this one is called "Becoming".
It depicts Elvis at age 11 when he received his first guitar on his birthday
and him towards the end of his career in one of his lavish Las Vegas costumes.
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There is a nice wandering trail throughout the property.
This bridge was labeled "Bridge Over Troubled Water", sound familiar?
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The trail comes to a peaceful end near this waterfall and pool.

There is also a small two room museum explaining what Elvis' early childhood was like. They asked that you do not take photos in the museum, so we honored that request. There are numerous story boards and a few costumes and photographs from the early days, but since Elvis was not yet "Elvis" not much has been saved from his childhood.

Even his original guitar's location is still unknown and much of the Preseley's belongings were sold when they made the move to Memphis.

Looking back, I wish we had visited here first, before visiting Graceland. It would have been so much more appreciated. Graceland is just so overwhelming!

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