Ribs & Blues in Memphis Tennessee

We arrived at Memphis South Campground in Coldwater Mississippi on 21 May 2026. We were booked for three nights here and we wanted to see Memphis Tennessee one day while we were here. Although the weather forecast showed more rain chance on Friday than Saturday, we opted to do our Memphis experience on the Friday. We lucked out and didn't need the umbrellas we carried. We had to get fuel and propane while we were out and about, so we found a propane refill place first. Next we drove to Graceland to see the home of Elvis Presley. Well, we got to the ticket kiosk in the $10 parking lot and were told it is $85 per person for the tour. We turned around. Neither of us are Elvis fans with his peak being before our time.

Graceland in Memphis TN - 22 May 2026

Elvis' 2 planes - 22 May 2026

We wanted to see the Martin Luther King Memorial, but we opted for the Civil Rights Museum which is huge and very well done. The bulk of the museum is in the old Lorraine Motel where King was shot. We spent a couple of hours in the museum and learned some interesting things about MLK's death. James Earl Ray was arrested and convicted of King's murder, but he always maintained that he did not do it. The museum has evidence showing that the bullet that killed King did not come from Ray's rifle, but from another shooter hidden in the tall bushes below the window from which it was believed that Ray shot from. James Earl Ray was hired to shoot MLK, and he tried, but did not hit him. The theory well supported with facts in the museum puts forth that MLK was seen as the "Black Messiah" by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI, so the theory is that King was targeted by the FBI, Mafia and local police. The son of MLK interviewed James Earl Ray in prison and believed him when he said he did not kill his father. The conspiracy theory is pretty credible and makes the US government a plausible participant. It was alot of information to absorb, but Anita got enough to believe she'd have been jailed alongside the protesters in the 1950's had she been a college student then.

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Civil Rights Museum - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

We left the museum around 1-ish and we were famished. We headed to a rib restaurant the Knights of Columbus Grand Knight in Arnaudville Louisiana had told us about at the social after mass the previous Sunday. Chad, the grand knight, told us about a restaurant on Beale Street down an alley and on a basement level. He called it the Rendezvous and we found it with just that, but the name is actually Charlie Vergo's Rendezvous restaurant and it's got lots of interesting memorabilia on the walls. Opened in 1948, their website says: For over 75 years, the Vergos family has been serving their signature dry rub ribs in a basement through a downtown alley across from the Peabody Hotel. And while the world outside has changed considerably, very little has changed in that magical basement. We certainly enjoyed our ribs, beans and cole slaw! After that big meal, we walked around especially on Beale Street. We wanted to find some live blues in the middle of the afternoon. We had almost given up, when we asked a man collecting money for the homeless and he pointed us to BB King's House of Blues. Unlike the other two performers we'd heard outside who played more of a soft rock genre, these guys were just what we were looking for. The band had a drummer, two bass guitars and an electric harmonica. They played old blues songs and even got the audience singing. It was really a blast!

Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Charles Vergo's Rendezvour Restaurant - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

It's easier to see the Peabody Hotel at the end of the alley in the painting below...

Charles Vergo's Rendezvour Restaurant - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Charles Vergo's Rendezvour Restaurant - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Charles Vergo's Rendezvour Restaurant - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Charles Vergo's Rendezvour Restaurant - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Downtown on Main Street - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

One of Anita's favorite authors...

Downtown on Main Street - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Downtown on Main Street - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Downtown on Union Street - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Peabody Hotel takes up a whole city block...

Downtown on Union Street - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Lansky Bros Clothier

Beale Street - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Beale Street - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Inside BB King's House of Blues

Beale Street - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Inside BB King's House of Blues

Beale Street - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Beale Street Blues Band

It was heart warming to see the old guys jamming...you could just as easily see faces like that in a nursing home, but these guys were having fun playing music.

Beale Street - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Beale Street - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

Orpheum Theater

Beale Street - Memphis Tennessee - 22 May 2026

We got fuel on our way home and back by 5:45pm. We had left at 7:45am, so it was a long, but very good day. We enjoyed our leftover ribs for dinner that night. Saturday (23rd), we hung around the campground and attended mass at 6pm that evening. We went to Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Hernando Mississippi. That day we had taken a walk around the campground and did a few little projects around the "house" that get done when there's time. Anita had noticed on Friday that Steve's knees didn't seem to hurt even with walking over 3 miles in Memphis. The injections he got in his knees on April 15th seem to be working more and more as time passes. They told us the day of the injections that the peak improvement comes at about 3 months. We're enjoying Steve's walking with no pain and no braces these days!

Holy Spirit Catholic Church - Hernando Mississippi - 23 May 2026

Holy Spirit Catholic Church - Hernando Mississippi - 23 May 2026

From the back parking lot...

Holy Spirit Catholic Church - Hernando Mississippi - 23 May 2026

Holy Spirit Catholic Church - Hernando Mississippi - 23 May 2026

From the front of the church...

Holy Spirit Catholic Church - Hernando Mississippi - 23 May 2026

Chapel next to the church...

Tomorrow, 24 May 2026, we're driving to Elberfeld Indiana to see our friends Jeff and Grace. Anita worked at the Presbyterian Church in Easton before we hit the road and Jeff was the pastor. Now Grace is a pastor at a Presbyterian church in Mt. Vernon Indiana. We're meeting them for lunch at their cafe in Evansville Indiana (where they actually live) Monday and then they'll show us around their new digs and the area.