Day 6: Memphis

Friday saw us on the road early and heading for Memphis, Tennessee. On the way we stopped in Clarksdale, and explored the restored bus station. It was restored to the Jim Crow era with separate white and "colored" waiting rooms. Our rolling classroom was used to get us ready for the day, especially the Civil Rights Movement.

Once in Memphis, we visited the Cotton Museum. Once the center of the financial world as cotton was the most valuable product in the world, the Cotton Exchange was where cotton was bought and sold. Today it is a museum that showcases some of the tools of the trade such as large bales of cotton, scales and chalk boards with prices on them.

From there we headed to Stax. The Stax Museum of American Soul Music was on the former sight of Stax Records or Soulsville USA.  While I must admit I didn't know much about Stax before my visit, I found that I loved their artists. If I ever had a doubt that Isaac Hayes was "one bad mutha," his Cadillac and attire put that to rest. We could have spent the rest of the day at Stax, but it was off to lunch.

Lunch was at the Four Way Grill. The Four Way Grill is a soul food restaurant that was the last place Martin Luther King Jr. ate before his assassination. Catfish, fried chicken, turkey and dressing and all the fixings greeted us that afternoon. The food and service were outstanding.

Despite suffering from a full stomach and being in serious need of a nap from Poor Monkey's from the night before, we pushed on to the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel. The struggle for civil rights was chronicled from the kidnapped Africans and their journey across the middle passage to Dr. King and more modern times. Being that the museum is on the site of the Lorraine Motel, the balcony King was killed on is still intact and a representation of the room he stayed in is on display. Across the street is the boarding house the James Earl Ray used as a base to stalk and shoot Dr. King.

After such a moving experience as the museum, it was good to finish the day with the garish opulence of the Peabody Hotel. The Peabody had been described as the beginning of the Delta; a place where fortunes have been made and lost. Frivolity was on display with full size bronze statues of dogs and of course, the famed Peabody Ducks. This hotel provided us with the experience that the plantation owner would have enjoyed.

Cotton Exchange Board

Me outside Stax

Four Way Grill

The Peabody Hotel and its ducks