The Big Road Trip – Day 20

Day 20, a very HOT day. Yes, I mean that literally. I did not see temperatures across Arkansas into Memphis and finally over to Nashville below 90 degrees until dusk in Nashville when it dropped into the high, then mid 80’s. The highest I saw my in car thermometer reach was 99. I don’t think it ever broke 100. About 10:30 PM it was down into the high 70’s in Nashville. Now, I’ve seen as high as 106 on this trip, but that was in the high desert and the humidity was very low. This was not the case in Arkansas and Tennessee. The humidity was definitely adding to the discomfort.

Fortunately, even though I still don’t have the main blower working in the Caddy, the AC has held out so far (I’m knocking on wood) and the cabin of the car has not been uncomfortable at interstate speeds. And the roads were good, traffic very moderate, even light at some times. I’m glad I went through Oklahoma City when I did, since a few hours after I went through there they had those massive rain storms that closed three interstate highways, stranded an untold number of people, had all kinds of rescue missions going on to get people out of their swamped cars caught in flash floods. And, if I had gone through a couple days earlier, I could have been caught in the same kind of weather and flash flood conditions in the Little Rock area. So, my timing has been pretty providential. I’m in Nashville currently and they are calling for thunderstorms here tomorrow and while I’m leaving town to drive through Kentucky and ending in Huntington, WV. I have my fingers crossed that my luck holds up. I will say it’s going to be another scorcher.

My objectives for Day 20 were to reach Memphis and visit the STAX Records Museum and then move on to Nashville for the night and do meet someone in Nashville, an old Air Force friend of my buddy, Dave McAlary. I arrived at the STAX Museum at mid-afternoon and after paying my senior discounted admission of $9.35 – I went through. I was there until 5 PM. I had planned to leave at 4 PM to beat the Memphis rush hour. But, there was simply too much to see and I still, only scratched the surface. I met a few interesting folks while I was there. One was an audio professional from the Netherlands and his wife. They were very neat folks and they were being escorted by the museum curator. At one point we all ended at the same exhibit and I interjected a few comments into their conversation. Unknowingly, I upstaged the curator. He bowed out and left since I, obviously, at the comment of Renee from the Netherlands, knew far more about the equipment, displayed and the recording industry during the STAX era then the curator did. We struck a friendship and exchanged contact information and agreed to share some files with one another. Viola, another serendipity and another new friend.

In the recreated studio, I met another interesting fellow who was there with his family and explaining to his teenage sons what vinyl phonograph records were. It was interesting listening to his conversation with his young sons. This fellow was from Wilkesboro, NC, about 30 miles from my old Syracuse buddies, Dudley and Caroline Carpenters’ home in the Sparta, NC area. This fellow, Todd and his family owned a North Carolina Barbecue Restaurant in Wilkesboro and invited me to stop by sometime when I’m in the area. I will. I love barbecue.

The museum is an important legacy to a time and music that were important in the transformation of many social issues in our country. Chief among them, of course, was segregation/integration and civil rights. What STAX, its founders, its artists and its music did helped change our country in a very positive way and I’m glad I made the “pilgrimage” to go there. I have to go back to learn more. I was disappointed in the lack of some accuracy and in the ways they could have made the recreated studio complex much more realistic and accurate. It’s like they went just so far and then said, well, this will impress the uninformed general public. But, for those of us who were in the industry, who knew what studios were like and how they worked and have a love for the glamour and lore of those glory days of the recording industry, I felt (as did Renee) that there was a LOT lacking. But, who are we to say. We didn’t raise the money to build the museum from ground up, since the original building had been leveled by a wrecking ball long before the museum became a dream. I serves its purpose for the general public and that’s the most important thing. Us old industry veterans will just have to live on with our memories of a time past. My, what a difference 40 or 50 years makes.

I left the museum, which is located in a very run down section of Memphis. I would say it’s an area I would feel uncomfortable being in at night, alone or with someone. I let Fiona Magellan, my electronic navigator lead me to I-40 and out of Memphis in the middle of rush hour. Actually, people in the DC area would give an arm and a leg if their rush hour was like the one in Memphis. I was out of Memphis in less then 15 minutes and cruising at 76 miles per hour on my way to Nashville. I gassed up just outside Memphis and passed through Jackson, Tennessee, home of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and an annual Rockabilly festival. I didn’t have time to stop and search for the Hall of Fame. Dave McAlary and I did that once before on a trip through Jackson and never did locate it. But, we will . . . one of these days.

I arrived here in Nashville in very good time just as dusk was settling in. I checked out a few accommodations until I found one that suited my needs and my cost considerations and settled in for the night – after running into a White Castle (yep! Twice on the same cross country road trip – once going and once coming) and grabbed a few of their tiny hamburgers that I took back to the room to devour. I only had one of my protein shakes and some beef jerky and a couple of Carolyn’s great oatmeal, fiber cookies, while I was traveling. I called Ron Hurst, the fellow I’ll meet tomorrow and now, I’m calling it a night.

Nashville and the road to Huntington, WV tomorrow – Day 21.

Enthusiastically,
Ed