Since we began this adventure 17 months ago, we frequently have been asked why we are doing this and how we got started.

  Once both of us retired from our respective careers, we came to the conclusion that we no longer wanted to live with snow. While deciding to sell our house and give all of our belongings away to the working poor (none of our children wanted any of it) was easy, trying to decide on a new location in which to settle, was not. No place jumped out at us and said..."This is the perfect place for you to be!" So...we came to the conclusion that since we were "homeless" and "jobless"...let's travel!

  Lori was an elementary school teacher and I was a psychiatric social worker. We each have moderate monthly pensions, so our next decision was to use those as our budget perameters, and, as much as possible to stay away from any savings we had accumulated.

  After doing some research, we concluded that renting furnished apartments through Vacation Rentals By Owners (VRBO), Home Away, or AirBnB would be better (and cheaper) than staying in hotels. Using these sites, one can rent apartments anywhere from a few days, to a month or more. Thus, we can fully explore all aspects of each location, and not just the touristy venues, allowing us to come away with the essence of each. Using that as our guide, we found that planning at least two months in advance would be necessary in order to secure apartments that were centrally located (or at least on public transportation lines that allowed us easy access to where we wanted to go).

One question we often hear from our followers relates to "Do we plan out an itinerary for what we want to see each each day?" The answer to that is an unequivocal..."sort of." We do research about what each location has to offer in terms of attractions and decide which ones we would like to explore. That being said, we have also learned that some of the most exciting and interesting attractions we visited were those that we just happened across. There are hidden gems (e.g. secret staircases and hidden rooms) all over Europe. You just have to keep your eyes and ears open to the opportunities that aid in their discovery. Flexibility became our watch word. Speaking to locals about what they feel are interesting places to visit (which may not be in any tourist guides) brought us to many surprising attractions. This also allowed us to be more interactive with the inhabitants. We found that, no matter where we were, everyone was very friendly and helpful. There was always someone who spoke English, and many even helped us to learn some basic coversational language.

We kept ledgers on all daily expenses (meals, travel, rent, admissions, etc.). At the end of each month, we totaled all of these up and converted them to U.S. dollars, in order to make sure we were staying within our pensions budget.

The sum total of all the clothing we brought with us was minimized to fit into our two carry-on wheeled suitcases and two personal item bags, which did not include any heavy nor bulky winter clothes. Lori and I simply layered our clothes when the weather became colder. One of the requirements necessary in each apartment we rented was having a clothes washer. With minimal clothing, we needed to be able to wash our clothes frequently.

  During our planning, being in warmer climates was a goal. However, the biggest problem we encountered in this process was the Shengen Treaty. Thirty countries in the European Union signed this treaty in an effort to create open borders and a singular currency. For us, being non-citizens of any of these countries, we were limited to staying within any of the 30 Shengen countries a total of 90 days out of any 180 days. This meant that after three months, we had to be out of the Shengen area for an additional three months. As our travels through Europe progresses, this becomes increasingly difficult to plan (our goal is to not repeat visiting any country we have already seen).

  There are many ways to see the world. So far, this way is working for us.

  One of the Memphis attractions we really wanted to see was the Pink Palace, designed for Clarence Saunders, founder of the Piggly-Wiggly self-service grocery chain. A twenty minute ride on the number 5 bus out of downtown Memphis, brought us to the 155 acre (now mostly gone to developers) site of this beautiful mansion. It was sad to learn that Saunders never got to live here, as he lost everything in the collapse of the Memphis economy (1923) before it was completed. Unlike many of the mansions-turned-museums we toured in Europe, there are no period furnishings to show how the Saunders family would have lived here. Instead, the many rooms are setup in typical museum exhibit style. While it appeared grand on the outside, being devoid of the Saunders family's personal touches seemed to take away from the experience (imagine touring Highclere in England to see what life was like in Downtown Abbey, only to go through a bunch of empty rooms).

  Don't get us wrong, the many natural and scientific exhibits throughout the mansion were informative, but we had seen this style before. We were hoping for a look into the luxurious life-style of the rich, which was not here. It was missing. Too bad! What was also missing from the tour was access to the basement level bowling alley, movie theater, swimming pool, and shooting gallery, which we felt would have been interesting to see.

  If you are interested in more history about the Pink Palace and Clarence Saunders, here are a couple of links to look at;

       www.memphismuseums.org

       www.piggly-wiggly.com

  1968 was the height of the Civil Rights movement, when Martin Luther King, Jr. Came to Memphis in support of the sanitation workers' strike. He stayed at the only African-American owned motel in town, the Lorraine. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of the motel.

  Following nine million dollars of renovations, the motel, and associated buildings, opened as the National Civil Rights Museum in 1991. The history of slavery in America, dating back to the 17th century, and the advent of the Civil Rights Movement are well depicted. Lori and I were in our teens and early twenties as this movement gained momentum, so it was important to us to see how history looked back on these events. There is an awful lot to see in this complex, which includes the rooming house on Mulberry street across from the motel, from where James Earl Ray shot Dr. King. We were quite moved by many of the exhibits and impressed by the thoroughness of its presentations.

              www.civilrightsmuseum.org/

Something we have learned during the past 17 months of traveling is that some of the best places are those that we just happen upon. One evening, we went in search of a quick bite to eat around the neighborhood of our apartment. Two blocks away, we came across a little corner restaurant called Huey's. It is not much to look at from the outside, but we quickly learned that it is a Memphis landmark in its own right. Opened in 1970, Huey's ( the childhood nickname of founder Alan Gary) has been voted as having the best burgers in Memphis every year since 1984. And it shows: the place is always packed. Huey's is a fun place to visit and eat - the employees are always smiling; there is live music; and customers get into the spirit of the place by joining a competition to see who can blow the most toothpicks into the ceiling through a straw (apparently there is a prize). We loved it, and the food is good too.

  www.hueyburger.com

Stax Records is the other big recording studio in Memphis. Synonymous with "Southern Soul music", the company was originally founded in 1957 as Satellite Records by Jim Stewart and his sister, Estelle Axton. The name was changed to "STAX" in 1961 as a combination of the brother and sister's last names. Their integrated staff and performers was completely unheard of in those early days. Stewart and Axton set up shop in the Old Colonial theater ( six miles from downtown Memphis on the number 4 bus) because they liked the acoustical sounds of the old building. Artists, such as Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Rufus and Carla Thomas, recorded on their label. The house band was Booker T. And the M.G.'s. Many of these artists lived in the neighborhood of the old Colonial theater, so they were easily attracted to the studio for recording their songs. The museum is a wonderful history of Stax Records and of Soul music in general. We were thrilled to have been able to visit it.

www.staxrecords.com

It's just not possible to say you have visited Memphis without eating barbecue food. There seems to be BBQ restaurants on every corner. So...stops at a number of the more famous restaurants in the downtown area was "mandatory";

* Silky O'Sullivans on Beale Street is where the "Father of Barbecue" (Silky) reigned. He was the originator of BBQ contests in Ireland, Bankok, Russia, and Cuba.

  *Central Barbecue, located just behind the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, is one of the best places in Memphis for slow cooked BBQ ribs. The owner, Craig Blondis, has been on the "competition style" BBQ circuit since the early 1980's. The "wet" or "dry" ribs (i.e. With or without sauce) are really good. We just had to eat here twice in order to eat the ribs and BBQ chicken.

  *The Rendezvous Charcoal Ribs restaurant is down an alleyway opposite the Peabody hotel. Its motto is "Not since Adam has a rib been this famous." Opened in 1948, it now serves several thousand patrons on an average Saturday night.

  * The other famous southern food is fried chicken. Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken is located on Front Street, just a block from South Main Street's Orpheum Theater and Beale Street. Gus's began in a roadside shack in a tiny town east of Memphis over sixty years ago. It has attained worldwide recognition as having some of the best fried chicken ever eaten.

From time to time, we like to acknowledge some of the interesting people met during our travels. Here are the folks from Memphis;

Known the world over, the Peabody hotel is one of the top attractions in Memphis. A few months ago, our son, Carl, and his wife, Valerie, stayed here and upon learning that our travels would take us to Memphis, encouraged us to have a look at it.

www.peabodymemphis.com

It is luxuriously appointed, with the lobby centerpiece being a beautiful water fountain, sculptured from a single piece of Italian marble. What makes this fountain even more memorable is the fact that it serves as the daytime home of the "Peabody Ducks." Precisely at 11:00am each day, the five mallards (1 drake and 4 hens) are paraded from the rooftop "Duck Palace"; herded into an elevator; and then marched across a red carpet to the lobby fountain. It is a huge spectacle! At 5:00 pm, the process is reversed, so the ducks can spend the night in their rooftop accommodation.

YouTube - Peabody Ducks on Animal Planet's Most Outrageous Pet Digs.

One day, following the morning ritual, we met with the current Duck Master, Anthony, who gave us a wonderful two hour tour of the hotel. We learned that many famous folks have stayed at the Peabody (e.g. Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Queen Noor of Jordan, and every U.S. President since Harry Truman). We had a fabulous time! The staff at the Peabody were all very friendly and helpful, especially Anthony.

No trip to Memphis would be complete without a visit to Elvis' home for 20 years - Graceland. As we were riding towards the estate, we wondered what it would be like. How did Elvis live? After all, he grew up in a poor family, out in the little town of Tupelo. His home there was a shot-gun style two-room dwelling. When we arrived at Graceland, we were totally blown away by the opulence of the place. The first hint of the unexpected was the front gates, made of white painted wrought iron, designed to resemble the G-clef staff, complete with musical notes and a silhouette of Elvis. It was here that hordes of teen-age girls would gather, hoping to catch a glimpse of Elvis - or, if he came down to the gates, perhaps to be noticed by him (on several occasions, he was known to invite some of those teenagers up to the mansion for a visit).

Once inside, we expected to see a frat-house style bachelor pad, complete with typical, well-used, solid furniture. Were we wrong! Elvis, despite his poor upbringing, and his typical 20 something outlook, and a constant flow of young people in and out of the house, had a seriously sophisticated style of decor. His living room contained a custom made oversized (15 foot) sofa and a ten foot coffee table. Most of the living room furniture was upholstered in white leather. Beautiful stained-glass panels separated the living room from a large addition that he had made into a music room. Elvis was quite devoted to his parents. They lived with him here at Graceland (their lovely bedroom, decorated by his mother,was on the first floor, next to the staircase). The basement consisted of a poolroom, and a very large room, complete with three televisions, a bar, and many sofas and chairs.

The 14 acre grounds, with several outbuildings (e.g an office, trophy building, and a racquetball court) are beautifully maintained, with a granite kidney-shaped gunite swimming pool, horse stables, and riding areas. Elvis, his parents, and his grandmother, are buried on the grounds in the Meditation Garden. This place was well worth the rather pricey admission. It was time well spent.

  Originally called "The Memphis Recording Service", Sam Phillips' Sun Records Studio is located just a mile from the Rock-N-Soul museum. This is where Elvis got his recording start. The studio does not look like much from the street, but once you get inside, the history of the Blues and Rock-N-Roll just surrounds you. The shear number of famous recording artists we recognize today, that got their start at Sun Records, amazed us (e.g. Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Howlin Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc). The tour itself was a fascinating historical journey from the early days of the studio, until today - it's still an active recording studio. Lori and I grew up during the birth years of Rock-N-Roll. It was a thrill for us to relive some of this history.

              sunstudio.com

  Memphis, home of "Rock-n-Roll" and the "Blues", is our current stop. During our exploration of the city, we happened upon one of the iconic businesses here, the Gibson Guitar factory. Gibson is THE name in guitar manufacturing and since they offered tours of the factory, we signed up immediately.

  Orville Gibson developed and patented a single-piece mandolin design in 1898. Four years later, he opened his first Gibson Guitar and Mandolin factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The company has been at the forefront of acoustic guitar manufacturing ever since. Anyone who is a serious guitar player, including B.B. King and Elvis, owned a Gibson. Today, the whole process, from start to finish, takes 3.5 weeks to create a "perfect" Gibson ( they do not sell seconds; less than perfect guitars are crushed). The Memphis factory completes 60 guitars per day.

  While Neither Lori nor I play guitar, we found this to be an immensely fascinating tour and were impressed by the organization of their manufacturing process. With prices ranging from around $2000 to around $6000 each, these instruments easily are the most expensive on the market. We had a great time!

   www.gibson.com