To protect the steering wheel in our coach, we added a cover that fairly well matches the wheel:
Graceland
We visited Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley, in Memphis, Tennessee.
An interactive map:
Gate to the visitor center:
Welcome to Graceland:
We had a reservation for a self-guided tour of the Graceland mansion. We each had a somewhat trashed iPad and headphones with an audio and video guide for the tour:
Shuttle bus across the road to the mansion:
Graceland mansion:
Upstairs was not included in the tour; it’s private to the family:
Backyard:
The manager’s office:
More exhibits, starting with Elvis as a child and his parents:
Gym:
Horses:
The Presley graveyard, where Elvis and his family are buried:
Then we shuttled back over the road to the museum area, and lunch at Gladys’ Diner:
We of course had to have grilled peanut butter and banana sandwiches:
Gift store:
Elvis exhibits:
An interesting experience.
Graceland RV Park & Campground
We stayed at Graceland RV Park & Campground in Memphis, Tennessee. (Campground Reviews listing.)
An RV park right next to the museum for Elvis Presley’s Graceland.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-11-05
- Check out: 2023-11-07
- 2 nights
Weather:
- Sunny
- High temps ranging between 77-79°F, lows around 54-59°F
- A little wind, gusts to 23 MPH.
Noise:
- Nearby road and city noise (sirens etc)
- No train noise (though might have heard one once)
- Occasional plane noise
- A little neighbor noise
Site:
- #7-17, pull-through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
- Unlevel front-to-back and side-to-side; used hydraulic jacks
- Gravel driveway about 73 feet long by about 12 feet wide
- Nobody on driver side, grass about 14 feet wide
- Grass between sites on passenger side about 10 feet wide
- Picnic table on grass; no fire pit
- Clean site
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 67 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, too recessed (though I have a fix for that), conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 6-18 Mbps down, 17 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
- Verizon: 6-9 Mbps down, 13-16 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
- AT&T: 7 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage pickup from site
- Seasonally closed pool
- Gate to Graceland
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Basic park on Graceland’s doorstep
This was a reasonably basic, no-frills RV park close to Graceland and the associated museum exhibits, which was our main reason for coming to Memphis. It was tough to get a reservation, not because they were full, but because it was impossible to get anyone to answer the phone. It took three days of calling multiple times a day before I reached them. Upon arrival, the office was closed (in the middle of the day), so we went through the extremely old-school check-in process of filling out a carbonless paper form and submitting our payment information through the “night” slot before going to our assigned site. A bit later, we noticed the office was open, so we went in and finished the registration process. It was a little confusing, but we got there in the end. Being able to walk over to Graceland made it all worthwhile. Despite being in the middle of the city, we found it to be pretty quiet at night. We camped at Graceland RV Park & Campground in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Definitely plan on spending half a day in Graceland in order to see all the exhibits. Marlowe’s is like a BBQ version of Hard Rock Café, but with all-Elvis swag.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Utilities:
The sewer was a little too recessed, so I used a handy new extension for the first time. And the water faucet was in an irrigation valve box, which was rather unusual:
Other sites:
The park emptied out quite a bit the next morning (a Monday):
Office/store:
Bathrooms:
Picnic shelter and tenter cooking area:
Closed pool:
Gate to the parking lot for Graceland:
A basic but decent RV park, super-convenient to Graceland, and only minutes to downtown Memphis. We’d be happy to stay here again, and probably will, since we didn’t have time to explore downtown and the many other attractions.
Food bonus:
We went to Marlowe’s Ribs and Restaurant for an Elvis-themed dinner:
Jenn had ribs:
I had baked potatoes with pulled pork:
Our first time trying fried green tomatoes (we liked them):
Crispy Crème Banana Foster Sundae for dessert:
A swag shop in the restaurant:
Tasty food, and I’m sure we didn’t need those years it knocked off our lives.
Video: Hot Springs, Arkansas to Memphis, Tennessee motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 196 miles from Hot Springs, Arkansas to Memphis, Tennessee.
Travel from Hot Springs, Arkansas to Memphis, Tennessee
We drove our coach 196 miles, about 3 hours of driving, from Hot Springs, Arkansas to Memphis, Tennessee.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:
An interactive map:
Leaving the RV park:
Bubba’s, where we got tasty food during our stay:
An uncomfortably narrow lane due to roadworks:
A break at some truck parking:
I had fun watching traffic cameras to spot us driving by; yes, that’s our coach and truck in the right lane at the bottom:
Another traffic camera showing us:
And another one, showing us from the other direction:
Another snapshot:
Another stop at truck parking:
A snapshot:
A bridge over the Mississippi River into Tennessee; a big milestone for us, crossing this major river for the first time:
Dissapointingly, there was no sign marking the occasion. Probably due to roadworks (with uncomfortably narrow lanes again):
Our destination, Graceland RV Park:
The office:
Our site before parking:
Garbage bin hanging on back of driver chair
Sometimes my Modification Monday posts are about significant projects, sometimes they’re a simple addition. Today is one of the latter.
On travel days we often have snack packaging or other garbage we want to throw away while driving down the road. So we added a small garbage bin (like this one on Amazon), hanging off the back of the driver chair:
Easily reachable from the passenger chair, and doesn’t get in the way of the slide-out when it’s in:
(It’s hanging off the strap for a lumbar cushion… which I could also cover in one of these Modification Monday posts. But it could easily be attached to the pocket on the back of the chair instead.)
A simple but satisfactory solution.
Garvan Woodland Gardens
We visited Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Map:
An interactive map:
An impressive architectural feature is Anthony Chapel, which we had to quickly visit as it was about to be closed for a wedding:
A waterfall:
Model trains:
This was in early November, so they were in the process of adding holiday decorations:
An impressive treehouse:
A very nice garden, highly recommended.
Hot Springs National Park
We visited Hot Springs National Park, an urban park in the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Map:
Convenient free parking:
The main feature of this national park is “Bathhouse Row”, a series of historic bathhouses that used the natural hot water of the area; some of which still operate today.
Buckstaff Baths is one that still offers bathing; Jenn did a traditional bath and massage package here:
Ozark:
Quapaw Baths is another that still operates; Jenn did a more modern spa package here:
Lamar:
This bathhouse contains a gift store:
The Maurice:
The Hale:
The Fordyce contains the park visitor center:
Floor plan:
Stained glass windows:
Historic bathhouse exhibits:
Machinery in the basement:
Spring in the basement:
Locker room:
Ladies lounge:
Exhibits:
Gym:
Info exhibits:
A handy reference model of Bathhouse Row:
Superior Baths contains a restaurant and brewery — the only brewery on national park land:
Menu:
Trolley:
Hot fountain:
Hot spring:
The Grand Promenade:
Hot spring:
Arlington Hotel:
We also visited the nearby Hot Springs Mountain Tower, with a view of downtown.
Approaching the tower:
A switchback road to the tower:
Info sign:
Token to go up the elevator:
There are two viewing levels; the lower one is enclosed:
Upstairs is an outdoor viewing level:
Parking area:
View of downtown:
A bit different than the usual national park.
Catherine’s Landing
We stayed at Catherine’s Landing in Hot Springs, Arkansas. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A pleasant resort near Hot Springs National Park and Garvan Woodland Gardens.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-10-29
- Check out: 2023-11-05
- 7 nights
Weather:
- Rain on first couple of days, then sunny
- High temps ranging between 52-66°F, lows around 30-51°F
- Negligible wind
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train noise
- A little neighbor noise
Site:
- #123, back in, concrete
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front
- Very level; used hydraulic jacks
- Asphalt driveway 30 feet long, concrete RV pad 40 feet long by about 16 feet wide
- Diagonal offset sites, with grass about 14 feet wide
- Concrete patio extension of RV pad, with picnic table and charcoal grill
- Fire pit
- Lots of cigarette butts in fire pit
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 45 PSI water, conveniently located
- Unthreaded sewer connection, very conveniently located (2 2-foot pipes needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 15-73 Mbps down, 6-12 Mbps up, 56-99 ms ping
- Campground Wi-Fi: 8 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 36 ms ping
- T-Mobile: 2 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 110 ms ping
- Verizon: 5-10 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 140 ms ping
- AT&T: 105 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
Amenities:
- Trash pickup from site
- Package delivery to office
- Closed pool
- Lake/river
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Lovely down by the water
This is a large, well-maintained campground near everything Hot Springs has to offer. We went for one of the Executive back-in sites by the water and loved watching the peaceful scenery. Since it was the off-season, most of the amenities were closed, so $110/night seems a bit much, but the view and serenity were worth it. Our site was perfectly level, which you expect with a concrete pad. We’d definitely stay here again. We camped at Catherine’s Landing in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Bubba’s Catfish was really good and just up the road.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Utilities (before hooking up the sewer, but you can see the sewer cap immediately opposite the wet bay):
The Power Watchdog had the red light that indicated that the power neutral was missing, which is apparently not a fatal problem (since the dog face wasn’t red), but not ideal:
The site was perfectly level:
After visiting Hot Springs National Park, we added its sticker; the last National Park of 2023:
Ouachita River / Lake Catherine:
Office:
The pool was closed:
Rental boat docks; they removed the pontoon boats for the winter during our stay:
A guest’s pontoon boat:
Ouachita River / Lake Catherine:
Morning mist:
The motorhome that was next to us when we arrived made an annoying compressor noise every few minutes; we were glad when they left about halfway through our stay:
Other sites:
A nice resort; we’d be happy to stay here again.
Bonus: some food samples from our stay in Hot Springs.
We enjoyed some Chinese delivery on our first night:
And some takeout from Bubba’s Catfish and Seafood on another night:
And David’s Burgers:
A nice touch: they bring around bowls of tasty fresh fries while waiting for the ordered food:
A decent burger:
Another nice bonus, free ice cream delivered to the table:
Video: Russellville to Hot Springs, Arkansas motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 128 miles from Russellville, Arkansas to Hot Springs, Arkansas.