‘Values are like fingerprints, nobody’s are the same, but you leave ‘em all over everything you do’ – Elvis Presley.
A long road today as I am heading towards Oklahoma City, which is around 500 miles west of Memphis. To get there I will need to cross the whole of Arkansas, driving past Little Rock on the way, where Bill Clinton lived as Governor of Arkansas.
First though it’s time to visit Graceland, the beloved home of Elvis Presley.
A mecca for Elvis fans around the world, I have always been fairly ambivalent towards him. Not a particularly huge fan of his music, but not disliking it either.
I remember really enjoying his films, when I was a kid and they were often shown during the school holidays. He made a lot of films and didn’t really do any touring for quite a few years, until the end of the 1960’s, when he decided that he missed performing live and the audiences. He played thousands of gigs and had a phenomenal work rate, but always had time for family and friends and was generous to a fault.
Graceland itself is not really that big a house, compared to some of the mansions owned by rock superstars, but he added significantly to it over the years. The most extravagant addition being a racketball court (looks like a squash court) with accompanying gym, hot tubs, offices, bar and den, etc.
He redecorated several times over the years to reflect the latest styles up until how it is today, frozen in the mid 70’s. There are 16 TV’s dotted around the place, which were all state of the art at the time and mostly gifts from RCA, his record company.
You get a real sense from wandering around the house of the man and the era. You almost expect to bump into him as you walk around, such is the presence you feel. The experience is helped by the iPad and audio tour that you are given when you arrive, adding colour and detail to all that you see. The pool room, is covered in a carefully pleated fabric that took the craftsmen 10 days to put in.
There is so much to see here, from the offices where his father ran most of his business, to galleries full of fascinating family history and items from his career and private life.
Its not cheap to get in. You can pay $48 to see the museums and there’s is a lot in them, but to go into the actual house as well, which I highly recommend, it is $77 plus tax!
On that subject, the fact that everything is plus tax is a real pain. You’ve no idea what anything actually costs. Image if all the prices you saw in the supermarket, a restaurant or anywhere else were shown without VAT (TVA). I know you just have to add 20%, but what about zero rated items, do you know what they all are.? Also here the rate varies state by state and then you’ve got to add a tip as well, but far as I can see there is none of the plus tax business with fuel, the price you see is the price you pay.
Fuel by the way is so cheap, I have been paying about $2.80 a gallon! It costs me about £25 to fill the car up, empty to full!! We are being criminally fleeced in Europe with fuel duty.
Anyway, back to Graceland. You can’t go upstairs, as it is cordoned off, both out of respect and also because his daughter Lisa Marie stays here when in Memphis and the beautifully laid out dining room and place settings that we looked at will all be cleared away to allow for real dinner parties with friends and family when she is in town.
Another interesting room is the Jungle room, called the den by Elvis, with ornately carved armchairs and rock waterfall, completed with a green shag pile carpet. All the rage in the 70’s, I remember we had a dark purple one. The armchair with the teddy on was Lisa Marie’s favourite chair. Here they would talk about songs, and he actually recorded most of his last two albums in this room. 
Once you finally finish looking around the house and all the additions, take a look around the memorial garden. This is the final resting place of Elvis, his parents, beloved grandmother and one or two others.
Then it’s on a little bus back to all the other parts of the Graceland experience. All the cars, the outfits, guitars, motorbikes, planes and most of the gold disks. Loads of interactive exhibits are dotted around and there is a mock up of Sun studios where Elvis recorded a lot. Sections dedicated to all the films he made is just another part of an almost endless collection of memories.
In the end I spent over 3.5 hours there and enjoyed it enormously. I have a much better idea of the man and the amazing amount that he did and achieved in his short life, being only 42 when he died. 
I can tell you that I was impressed and I left there much more of a fan than when I went in.
I decided to skip Branson, from my original plan as it added yet more miles and hours to the drive and instead I pushed for Fort Smith, which is about 190 miles from Oklahoma City.
I spent the night on the outskirts of the town at a perfectly decent little hotel and went for dinner at the Texas Roadhouse, one of a chain. 
Famous for it’s giant Margaritas and steaks. Well and why not!
One thing I haven’t had much luck with in the States is their butter. It’s foul. They bring you over the usual big glass of water and some bread rolls complete with a pat of butter. You liberally spread the butter on your roll and tuck in only to find out you’ve been had again! Yuck, this one tastes of cinnamon and is sweet. I’ve had all sort of concoctions including cranberry, honey and just plain sweet.
One morning I made some toast, liberally spread the butter on it and then added some scrambled eggs, with a touch of salt and black pepper to finish off. It went so well with my sweet strawberry flavoured butter! Grrr, where is the actual real butter, that’s what I want to know! I haven’t seen any yet.
It’s been a long day of museums and driving, no signs of any masks or other restrictions out here in the wilds of Oklahoma. In fact they weren’t necessary at Graceland either, which was brilliant as I’m not sure I would have stayed there so long otherwise.