Scratch That Hike

Mid-September usually marks the start of the hiking season in the Sierra foothills for me. Although the hills are still bone dry, the miserably hot temperatures have passed, allowing tolerable ascents from the canyons at the end of the day. And so, I looked forward to today's planned hike to the North Fork American River, on Stevens Trail near Colfax.

The smoke from the King Fire turned me around.

The King Fire started on September 13 near Pollock Pines in El Dorado County. It has burned 82,018 acres and is 10% contained.

Traveling this morning up Interstate 80, there was a slight smoke haze starting at Auburn, elevation just over 1000 feet. By the 2000 foot mark, the smoke was such that some people had their headlights on. I knew a hike today was out of the question, so I stopped at Colfax for some photos, and then returned to the Sacramento Valley.

Memphis

Work took me to Memphis for a few days in early September. It was easier adjusting to the two hour time difference than the humidity, summers in my Sacramento Valley being bone dry. Here's what I saw in Memphis.


Graceland

Dead since 1977, Elvis still brings in money. Opposite Graceland on Elvis Presley Boulevard, tourists were in line to board the small bus that would take them to the estate grounds. There were many visitors at this early hour of ten o'clock on Labor Day. My money stayed in my wallet, so I could only stand outside the large entry gates and look from afar up the winding roadway to the house. Countless people have scrawled graffiti over the years on the stone and brick wall along the front of the grounds.

Elmwood Cemetery

From the small Confederate flags and the inscriptions on headstones and monuments, I'd say the Confederate States of America still lives in this historic cemetery.

Lorraine Motel

The photographs taken of the motel balcony immediately after Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot are committed to memory, so seeing the balcony itself, preserved as it was on the day of the assassination, sent a chill up my spine.

Jacqueline Smith objects to money being spent on the memorial site. She holds her protest vigil at her booth across from the motel, telling all who will listen that the money used to operate and maintain the National Civil Rights Museum would be better spent on the poor residents of Memphis. I asked her if it was not proper to keep this site, so as to remember what happened here, and she said no. I didn't think of asking her about how the money spent by the many visitors helps the local economy. Only later did I learn that she had been an employee of the motel, and also its last resident after it closed.

Peabody Hotel Ducks

Wild Mallard ducks spend a few hours swimming about the fountain of the lobby of this historic hotel in downtown Memphis. At five o'clock each day, as they have been trained, the five ducks are led out of the fountain by the hotel's Duckmaster; and then, to the tune of John Philip Sousa's King Cotton March, with spectators filling the lobby, they march together along a red carpet to the elevator, to be taken up to their quarters on the penthouse.

Restaurants

I went to Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken for lunch at the recommendation of a friend. The place was filled with customers and I was fortunate to get a table so quickly.

Memphis is renowned for its barbecued ribs. I ate ribs at three restaurants. Central BBQ by the Lorraine Motel had the best ribs of the three. The other restaurants were Corky's BBQ on Union Avenue and Rendezvous in downtown Memphis.

I returned to California a few pounds heavier from my short stay in Memphis.