Moto Memphis!

I have got to be the luckiest guy on the planet. I’m taking this great tour through the South, and yesterday we found ourselves in Memphis.  Memphis is a great city for many reasons, not the least of which is Graceland.  As I mentioned in the CSC blog yesterday, Susie and I took the Graceland tour and we loved it.   It was beyond awesome.  I’m a great Elvis Presley fan, and the opportunity to visit his home was not one to be missed.  Folks, if you ever get to Memphis, Graceland is a must!

Well, our good fortune did not end there.   We had an awesome dinner at the Rendezvous, a super barbeque joint my good buddy Georgia Robby recommended.  Folks, trust me on this…barbeque just doesn’t get any better than this!

The Rendezvous in Memphis...the best of the best!

After our great dinner, we moseyed on over to Beale Street.   That’s kind of like the Memphis version of New Orlean’s Bourbon Street…it’s the place to be in Memphis.  We noticed a lot of motorcycles heading that way, and then, hey, we saw that the street was shutdown…and it was nothing but motorcycles!  Turns out that Wednesday night is Motorcycle Night on Beale Street!  Check this out…

Midweek Memphis Moto Madness on Beale Street!

The Memphis moto night is one big street party, folks!  We were having a blast talking to the riders there.   They saw my California Scooter shirt and everyone wanted to know about the CSC bikes.   It was awesome.  We met a lot of people and made a lot of friends.

The photo below shows Carl and Ryan, a father and son team.  These are cool guys.  Carl was on his Gold Wing, and Ryan was on a CX500 he and Carl rebuilt.  Ryan just graduated from technical school, and when his father asked him what he’d like for a graduation present, Ryan just asked to go with Carl on his next motorcycle trip.  That’s pretty cool stuff, folks.

Wisconsin Carl and his son Ryan...riders extraordinaire!

We actually rode alongside these guys about 100 miles east of Memphis without meeting them.  Susie recognized the Gold Wing when we saw them again at the Memphis moto night.   Talk about a small world!

I grabbed a lot of photos on Beale Street.   Every body was having a good time.   I asked the fellow below if I could grab a shot, but he kept smiling for every shot and looking like too nice of a guy.  I asked him to strike a tougher pose, and wow, did he ever!

He's really a nice guy!

We were having a lot of fun.  We noticed police officers at each intersection making sure that Beale Street allowed no one other than motorcyclists, and I asked a couple of them if I could grab their photo.   They said sure, but only if Susie was in the picture…

Susie with two of Memphis' Finest!

The LEO on the left looks like he’s having a good time…but the guy on the right looks like he wanted me to explain that traffic ticket I never paid…

Well, hey, the next day we had an absolutely awesome Memphis breakfast….I had a French toast fluffer-nutter with whipped cream and blueberries, and hash brown sweet potatoes with marshmallows…

There's peanut butter and bananas sandwiched between those slices of French toast!

Hash brown sweet potatoes with marshmallows!

Steve saw the above photos and he told me I might need to lower the gearing on my CSC motorcycle when I return!

We made it to Mobile, Alabama last night, and it’s another great southern US city.   This morning we toured the USS Alabama, which is a floating museum just outside of Mobile.  It was beyond awesome.   The ship just bristled with guns.   I was amazed, and I have to tell you, it’s worth a trip to this part of the country just to see this magnificent battleship.  I’ll post a few photos of it in another day or so.

After seeing the USS Alabama, we followed the Alabama Scenic Byway to the Emerald Coast in Florida’s panhandle, and we had a great grilled amberjack dinner in Fort Walton Beach.  Imagine bone white sand and emerald green water, and you’ll have a pretty good handle on Florida’s Emerald Coast.

That’s it for now, boys and girls…more to follow!