Wok N Roll with us...Bob and Teri Along with Atlas and Kalani: Tupelo,Mississippi September 10, 2018

Thirty miles outside of Tupelo we blew a trailer tire and it happened while there was a huge thunderstorm accompanied by lots of lightning. While it was an unexpected delay, we are counting our blessing as we were able to find tires in Tupelo. The tires only had 12,000miles on them, but that is the second one that has blown so we decided to replace all four. We are headed to Manitoba in some remote areas and we do not want to miss out on traveling with the group due to not being able to find a tire if we have a problem. We are carrying the 2 remaining 12,000-mile tires with us as additional spares.

The most significant monument of Tupelo, Mississippi, I think most would agree, is a small two-room house where the King of Rock & Roll, Elvis Presley, was born on January 8, 1935. His twin brother was born stillborn. The house was built by his father, Vernon Presley, with a $180 loan during hard depression times. The house had no running water. One room was a kitchen, the other room all of them slept in. The family lived in the house for about three years. They lost the house when his father, Vernon, went to Parchman Farm—the Mississippi State Penitentiary— to serve eight months of a three-year sentence for altering a four-dollar check. During this time, Elvis and his mother took the long bus ride to Parchman on the weekends to visit his father. The family lived in other places in Tupelo until when Elvis was 13 when they moved to Memphis Tennessee. After losing their home they lived in a succession of low-rent homes before they all left for Memphis in 1948 in search of affordable government housing. What a blessing that would end up being as Elvis records his first song in 1953 in Memphis.

The Elvis birthplace memorial includes the two-room house he was born in, the Assembly of God church he attended, a museum and the Elvis Presley Memorial Chapel.

While in Tupelo we also visited the Tupelo Automobile Museum-120,000 square feet of automobiles, many we have never seen and also some we have never heard of. Enjoy the pictures. It was a great museum.

Next stop is Littlerock, Arkansas.