All shook up

The Lisa Marie















Pink caddie Elvis gave to his mom















Grave site. Flynn thinks it is a fake and that Elvis is a 75 year old man roaming around Memphis!















Jungle room















Pool room with fabric wall and ceiling















Living room
















Entrance to Graceland Mansion


We devoted today to touring Graceland. I'm glad we did it, just to see how Elvis lived. He was extreme in everything he did. It seemed like he was making up for his poor childhood. Lots of toys, cars, motorcycles, airplanes etc. It really is a tourist place but we enjoyed it. We also have been using the public bus system, an experience in itself. This morning riding in to Graceland we were the only white people on the bus. One bus that we rode was actually falling apart, you could see daylight above the drivers seat. Oh well, we had a great day and made it back to the motel just fine. Tomorrow will be a little different. We will be checking out some investment property. How long we stay in the area will depend on what we find tomorrow.

Memphis, Tennessee

Got to Memphis Sat. and decided to get a motel room. (We've got a corporate card that got us in for $25) We caught a city bus and trolley down to Beale street. Lots of Blues and rock and roll music. Eat your heart out cousin John. We even saw Elvis reincarnated.

Eastward Young Man

We left Weatherford today heading east. Hard to say goodbye to Mom and sister Joyce.
Later in the day we got to Paris (Niether of us ever thought that we'd get to see Paris in OUR lifetimes). We were disappointed though, we looked all over town and the only tower we could find is the one in the picture.
We took backroads all the way and sure saw a lot of "small town Texas". I was watching and I don't think I saw a single bar or saloon. Must be in the bible belt.
We're generally headed for Memphis so tomorrow were going across Arkansas.
We're at camp Walmart in New Boston TX tonight.

Striking it rich in Alaska

Gold flecks in the pan



Todd and Deb with their gold



Our "Poke" of pay dirt






Demo of drift mining


One of our last adventures was going on a tour of the El Dorado gold mine and trying our hand at gold panning. It was a lot more fun than any of us expected. We boarded a train and had a look at what an old mining camp would have looked like. Then a demo of the panning process and on to panning our own pay dirt. We all got a few flecks but combining them we got enough for me to have a necklace made. I think we all got hooked and would like to try it out on our own. Our trip is coming to a close and we fly out today for Texas. It has been a great trip, Deb and Todd have been good tour guides and found lots of fun things for us to do. We will miss them but look forward to them moving down to the lower 48 in the fall.

More fun in Alaska

Todd, Kenzie, and Deb



The graduate, McKenzie



This is as close as we want to get to snow



Nature reclaiming a power plant




Old gold dredge



Breakfast at a lodge 30 miles from Fairbanks



It's a long way to anywhere from Fairbanks




Todd, Deb and us touring downtown Fairbanks


We are still on the go and having a great time. Deb and Todd are trying to get in all the tourist sites before they move later this summer so we have tagged along as well. One of our adventures was to an old abandoned gold dredge. Flynn and Todd covered just about every inch. McKenzies graduation was later that night. Very nice program and she is really glad to be finished and free! Little does she know that now she is in the real world of work and paying bills.

Fairbanks Football

Saturday night we went to a semiprofessional, arena football game at the Charlton center in Fairbanks. Arena football is played on a 50 yard field with no sidelines (just a padded wall). Exciting game that we (Fairbanks grizzlies) won 58 to 43 over the Alaska Wild. In addition, Saturday was military appreciation day where anyone with a valid military ID (includes Nancy's dependent ID) could enter a drawing for the jerseys off the players backs at the end of the game. We have a picture to prove Nancy and I both won.

Last night we went to see the Williams and Ree show (The indian and the white guy). These guys are hilarious. Their lead in performer was Thom Bresh (son of Merle Travis). Not quite as good as Chet Atkins but a damn good guitar player.
On our way home we took another picture of a moose that didn't even look up when we parked next to her for pictures. Moose was less than 1 mile from Deb and Todds home and picture was taken at 9:30 with no flash (sun goes down at 11:00 here)

North to Alaska

Mama moose and baby



The graduate, Kenzie



The biking Harrops - Todd, Kenzie and Deb




You can take the boy off the farm, but you can't
take farm out of the boy.



Deb and Todd



In line to buy meal ticket



Fairbanks Salmon Bake


We have been in Fairbanks for only a few days now but have been busy having a good time. Todd and Deb picked us up at midnight so we all had a late night. It is daylight for about 19 hours now so we go to bed when the sun is still high in the sky and at least I get up when the sun is shinning, Flynn a little earlier than that! We went to dinner at a salmon bake, kind of tourist place, but had a good meal. Kenzie's last day of school was Friday so her parents treated us and her boyfriend Zack to a very nice dinner out. Her graduation ceremony will be Tuesday. On our way home from dinner we saw this moose and baby. It's not uncommon to see moose in the area. The weather has been great and a lot nicer than we expected. Deb has plans for a lot of activities the next few days, all sound like fun.

Mothers day in Texas

Holly, Bruce, Sara and John


Tea Time at Lolas care center



Flynn, Nancy, Joyce and Lola

Our visit to Weatherford started out nice, as you can see we were able to attend a Mothers Day tea with Lola at her care center. She was doing great and we had a nice afternoon. The next day, Saturday, we brought her out to Joyces. That afternoon she suffered another mild stroke or TIA and was admitted to the Weatherford hospital. Along with the stroke they are treating her for fluid retention. We visited with her today and she was in good spirits but will remain in the hospital for several more days. Joyces kids and grandkids were here for a cookout so we got to play with the little boys, they are so cute at this age. Tuesday we fly to Fairbanks. We hear it is snowing there today. I hope some of this Texas heat will follow us up there.

Lunch time at a Texas Resturant

We took back roads from Clyde to Weatherford just to have lunch at this well known local cafe. It had the biggest chicken-fried steak we had ever had. We shared a meal and still had leftovers. Notice all the pickup trucks, we fit right in even with the camper on.

Only in Texas

I bet ya'll were wondering where cadilacs came from. They're grown in a field a few miles west of Amarillo Texas. Based on the paint jobs, we think this batch is going to mexico.

First day on the road went well. We headed north out of Phoenix to an area that we hadn't been before. We were headed for Roosevelt dam, the drive was beautiful and not what we had expected. Very mountainous, lots of cactus in bloom. We didn't expect 22 miles of dirt road but it took us to this Forrest service campground on Apache Lake. Next stop was in Payson for fuel. It would be a nice town to spend the summer with an elevation of 5000 ft. We then took back roads as far as we could on the way to Albuquerque, had only about 150 miles of freeway. We found a good Mexican resturant and the parked at Camp WalMart for the night.