Harlan's Spring Roadtrip

March 29 - May 27, 2004

The East

I stayed at Paul and Nita's house in Dallas for the Easter weekend, and then hit the trail to the East Coast. I went up through Arkansas, and then on toward Tennessee. As I got closer to the Mississippi River and Memphis, I could only think about two things: barbecued ribs and Elvis!

When I rolled into Memphis, I made a beeline for Corky's Barbecue on Poplar Avenue. I'd been there before and know it is home to perhaps the best barbecued ribs in the world. They make two preparations: "wet" ribs are more traditional, basted with a tangy sauce that becomes a sweet glaze as they cook. And "dry" ribs, rubbed with a spicy seasoning that develops a powerful, salty coat that keeps the interior moist and tasty. Big decision! Wet or dry? Oh man. Tough call. I went wet and it was great.

I found a great camping spot at Meeman-Shelby State Park about ten miles north of Memphis, just east of the Old Muddy. The wild flowers were just coming out, and it made the whole campground a very nice place to stay. I had lots of company at night; the place was crawling with raccoons.

The next day I headed over to Graceland to check up on The King. I did the tour years ago; once is enough, thank you. But I wanted to document some of the tackiness and down right bad taste associated with the Elvis souvenir shops around his old homestead. When I was there the first time, I was struck by the whole idea that Elvis is making more money now selling cheap Elvisjunk than he ever made as an entertainer when he was alive.

Alas, the place wasn't as tacky as I remember. They may have cleaned up their act, or more likely, the degradation in popular culture may have dulled my acute awareness of tackiness. Madonna, J-Lo and her various consorts, and the Jackson kids are making Elvis and his posthumous enterprises look almost respectable.

Here are some pictures to remind you that, for a few bucks, you can take home a little bit of Elvis. I especially like the reproduction of his bed!

Lorraine flew over during her spring break and joined me in Nashville for a week of exploring Tennessee and North Carolina. Near our hotel in Nashville was a business called the Midtown Printing Company. They had a very interesting sign, a soldier in fatigues carrying an American Flag and operating a printing press. Was this some kind of political statement? It was the weekend, they were closed, and I never found out what they were trying to say.

Our base of operations in eastern Tennessee was the home of our friends Helen and Rupert in Tellico Village. They just built a new house, and we helped unpack their kitchen.

We made the trip across I40 from Knoxville to Ashville, NC. This is a cute little town with lots of local arts and crafts. In the downtown area, they have installed a variety of sculptures in public areas. Lorraine was especially taken by this bronze cast turkey.

In Ashville, the main tourist draw was finding out how the Vanderbilts lived at their Biltmore estate. It was a fascinating place, with lots to see. I've been through several of these "castles" both in North America and Europe. The Biltmore was unique because it has always been under control of the Vanderbilt family. As a result, the interiors and furnishings are not reproductions or mixes of period pieces, but rather the actual artifacts from the height of the Biltmore glory. The place was a time machine.

Here is Lorraine and me in front of the place, and Lorraine in the garden.

We checked out the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. The high point of the visit was, indeed, the highest point in the park, Klingmans Dome. They have built a large tower on top allowing you a stunning 360 degree view of the Smokes. Here's Lorraine admiring the view.

When we got back to Nashville for Lorraine's return flight to California, I took her to the ultimate Nashville experience, the Grand Ole Opry. She was a little hesitant at first, but turns out it was great show. Before the show we hung out with the ghost of Minnie Pearl. (Takes a lot of nerve to get dressed up like that in public.)

I visited with Tom and Pam Beliveau in Mt. Juliet near Nashville, then headed back across to the Smokes, then up the Blue Ridge Parkway through North Carolina and into Virginia. Decision time again: will it be the Civil War battlefields with all the historical trappings, or will it be the Shenandoah National Park? Oh man, never enough time to do everything! I picked the Shenandoah and I was happy I did.

If you haven't been there, the National Park lies astride a beautiful section of the Blue Ridge, which forms the eastern rampart of the Appalachian Mountains between Pennsylvania and Georgia. You are motoring along Skyline Drive which runs the length of the park and you are at least a thousand -- and sometimes several thousand -- feet above the Shenandoah Valley to the west and the Virginia Piedmont country to the east. It's a great feeling, and sometimes you think you are in an airplane, flying over the countryside. It's a very cool place.

The hikes are all very strange because you start at the TOP of the mountain. You start out going down, and you need to be careful; if you get carried away and hike too far, you have a tough time getting back to where you started!

Here I am overlooking South River Falls. The picture was taken by a woman forest ranger who was out counting peregrine falcons.

Time for more gastronomical excess. My next stop was the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. For people who like to eat, that means only one thing: steamed blue crabs. This delicacy is pretty much unique to this part of the world. They take hard-shell blue crabs and steam them with a very pungent spice. They are delivered to your table whole with the shell intact. You, the crab eater, are armed with a crab cracker, pick and a wooden mallet. For the uninitiated, detailed instructions are available about how to disassemble your crab. There is only one side dish for steamed blue crab: beer, preferably by the pitcher.

One of the premier steamed crab establishment on the Eastern Shore is the Crab Claw in St. Michaels. I managed to get into the kitchen and take a couple of pictures showing the fine art of crab preparation. My server Jenna did a great job of keeping me in crabs and beer.

It took a month and 5,000 miles to get from California to the East Coast. I hung out with my kids in New York for a few days before turning around and heading west.