Drove all day to Meteor Crator campgrounds near Flagstaff Arizona to be within driving distance to the Grand Canyon the next day. A lot of windshield time and much gas.

Pretty drive, but an awful lot of the same desert, and taking forever to get to the next mountain off in the distance.

By now we had driven 1398 miles from Columbus, and it was finally starting to look like we where "Out West"

Amarillo Texas, where the most interesting part of the day seemed to be watching old route 66 run right next to New Rt 40. I had hoped to drive on old 66 for much of the way, but it is largly gone.

We stopped at the Rt 66 Museum at 4:55PM Texas time, but they closed the museum at 5PM, so we just walked around the outside instead. The only regret Jerry and I had was that the saloon was also closed.

That night we stayed at the "Oasis" RV park at Amarillo, a very nice, new, all concrete pads, full bath house facilities etc. $20.00. At 3AM, a very strong wind woke us up. It lasted about 30 minutes and I really thought we would be blown over. It created a vacuum inside the camper that set off the carbon monoxide detectors. The next morning they told us these "Amarillo winds" are common at least weekly, and are usually 50 to 70 MPH.

Next stop on the trip was at Little Rock Ark, to visit the Clintton Library. We're not sure how it compares to other Presidential Libraries, but this one is quite extensive and detailed.

It's hard to believe that one man can participate in so much activity in such a short time. Then again, not all of them do. I know no one wants to hear my comments beyond that, so I won't say more.

Jerry and Jane stopped by to say high to the President in the Oval office, but he was out for the day, so they just left a message.

This guy, My brother-in-law Jerry, was a major contributer to the entire trip. He just had to pay for everything every time we stopped.

He also had to draw crowds of people who wanted to bug him about the Buckeyes every time we stopped. I think people where calling ahead warning each other about this "Big Buckeye" that was on his way.

What a pleasure it was to have company like him on my first big cross country excursion, and we will be doing this again as often as I can pull him and my sister away from Grand Lake St Marys for vacation away from their vacation.

Now this is my sister Jane, who made sure all the details where covered every day of the trip. Jerry and I did not miss a pill, always had snacks and drinks supplied and kept fresh in the cockpit and co-pilot seat.

She would study all the maps, and the many books we had along to make sure we didn't miss a site along the way. We turned the Lazy Boy around to face the front so she could keep us aware of where we where and where we where going. Now she is a "Traveling Lady", and welcome anytime, going anywhere. What a pair.

Graceland has it's own campground right across the street from the Mansion, actually almost right next to the Elvis jet plane display. Nothing fancy, but good clean facilities and walking distance for everything you came to see.

On Wed the 8th of Dec we arrived at Graceland in Memphis Tenn. There they have their tour broken down into 6 different, individual tours, each with it's own fee. We did all 6, but as luck would have it, we all ran out of batteries for our camera's very near the beginning of the 1st tour. This is Elvis's mansion, pretty much the same as he left it. They give you each your own little radio like device so you can walk and gauk at your own speed.

The 2nd floor is "Off Limits" to tourist, but the rest of the grounds are open to the public, and the bus loads of us coming and going kept the place hopping, mostly behind the "Ropes" but in full view of how Elvis lived.

This shot, and the next are of his living room, pretty much white and red all over. Elvis was of course a world traveler during his career, but he loved his Memphis home and Memphis friends. He entertained guests almost constantly and his home had every feature to do just that.

If I remember right, this is a 20 foot living room couch.

Elvis's pool room, which was kinda like my "Man Cave", except he never drank beer. He did stock it for his friends though.

Right in the middle of one of the many lobbys they have a water display with music that reminds you of Las Vegas. This is just the start of many displays that Opryland has inside and outside of their hotel.