Day 8 -- Memphis

Today we hit our first tour snag. We woke up eager to walk to the National Civil Rights Museum at the site of the Lorraine Motel where MLK was assassinated. Before we left we pulled up the website to confirm that it opened at 9 and not 10 only to find out that the museum is closed on Tuesdays. Oops! Thankfully, we scheduled a bit of flexibility into our schedule. We will get to the museum when it opens on Wednesday morning and still make it to our last destination, Little Rock, in time to accomplish what we need to before our Thursday morning interview with Minnijean Brown-Trickey.

Our rescheduled day today started with a tour of the Burkle Home, otherwise known as SlaveHaven, which was a significant site on the Underground Railroad through Memphis helping slaves find their freedom north in Canada. Hearing the stories of that house and seeing the trapdoor and and then the tiny hole in the wall leading to the cellar room which held so many people and their dreams of freedom was a valuable way to spend the morning. By the time we were done it was hot enough that we took the trolley back to our hotel for lunch.

In the afternoon we took a chance on something we hoped would be somewhat connected to the southern experience and went to the Cotton Museum. We had no idea what we were going to get, but were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the small museum. There is no way you can honestly talk about the history of cotton here in the United States without addressing the role that slavery and then the abusive share cropping system played in harvesting that massive cash crop. Thankfully this museum didn't ignore that truth.

After a birthday dinner at B.B. King's Blues Club tonight we are soon going to turn in so we will be rested for the two big stops we have left -- The National Civil Rights Museum and then Little Rock High School.

After that there is just one more location left...home! We are getting along wonderfully in these close quarters, but we are certainly ready to see our families again. Thank you all for your prayers for our safety and for our families. We are blessed!