Date:         Fri, 01 Sep 95 13:19:43 CDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      Re: Big Trip Report [part 7, long]

in view of the fact that my name and character are banded about quite
callously in this week's episode of Monty Python and the Holy Grail,
i feel compelled to make a few clarifications and comments about the matter.
(and besides, it's a boring day and i don't have a lot else to do ...)

On Fri, 1 Sep 95 12:04:33 CDT Tobin T. Copley said:
>         Part VII: Graceland, Tupelo, and Joel Walker
>This week: Tobin and Christa check out Graceland, visit Elvis'
>birthplace, and share possum BBQ with Joel Walker.  And we see

i must admit, i am surprised. most out-of-towners never noticed that taste
... they almost always think it's pork or chicken. :)

>...   House: now THAT'S classy!), and the "Jungle Room," which
>utterly defies description.

yes, friends, you, too, MUST see the Jungle Room at Graceland. If you can
imagine a mobile home, decorated by the reigning red-neck who was voted
Least Able to Dress Him/Herself, then you have SOME small idea of the quaint
decor of this room. it alone is worth the price of admission.

>All in all, Graceland was... interesting.  Definitely worth the
>trip, even worth the bucks for the tour.  It's so bad it's good.

one thing that amazed me was the Trophy Hall ... i had no idea that Elvis had
made THAT many songs and that so many of them were Gold and Platinum. the
sheer number of Gold and Platinum albums and records, not just from the U.S.,
is really staggering.

but in a very real sense, Graceland is a rip-off ... but then, what isn't?

>and called Joel in Tuscaloosa to confirm we'd be getting to his
>place the next day, and to get instructions to his house.  Joel
>gave us detailed instructions on how to get to his place all the
>way from Mississippi.  Now THOSE were instructions!

now, look ... either you want to get to my house, or you don't. :)

>Albany, and we cruised in to Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis
>Presley, and new growing centre of the White Supremacy movement.

White Supremacy? in Tupelo?? you must have misunderstood ... they probably
said there was a new singing group, The White Supremes. :)  while i do
realize that there do tend to be a bunch of extremists in the small towns
of the south, i just can't imagine anybody in Tupelo getting organized in
any way. must be my arrogant alabama attitude. ;)

>We stopped off to visit the two-room house where Elvis was born,
>paid a buck each for the 2 minute tour of the house, given by a
>very nice older woman, and then went out on the porch and swung in
>Elvis' porch swing in the sun for a while.

this is somewhat akin to visiting the "reconstructed" log cabin of Abe Lincoln
and places like that.

>Well, if any of you have been entertaining fantasies of Joel not
>being one crazy wild 'possum, you can just dispel them now.  It

my solicitor will be contacting you shortly, regarding a Libel and
Defamation lawsuit. sic 'em, Ric!!! :)

>seemed that every table, shelf, and horizontal surface in his
>dining room and living room was piled high with Volkswagen bus
>manuals, books, sales literature, parts catalogs, photographs, and

well, i only have ONE house, and it only has so many rooms ... the stuff has
to go somewhere.

>imaginable.  We spent one night watching Joel's slides of his past

now, i do believe that i warned you before you arrived!!! :)

>Joel took took us out for some "Bah-bee-kew" at the Potter's
>Grill, a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant where everybody knows
>Joel by name.  He introduced everyone to his friends from Canada,
>and they were all much impressed that we'd driven all the way from
>"up there."  Joel warned us that the portions were small, so we

again, a classic misunderstanding  ... what i said was that YOU were so
small ... :)

>in food.  We tried to get Joel to help us out with it, but he just
>chuckled and ate his pie.  We ate what we could and waddled out.

both of them skinny Canadians looking like a python that just swallowed a
horse. :)

>It was dark outside by then, so Joel had a chance to show off the
>amazing lighting system on his bus.  The large halogen reverse

oh, it's nuthing much ... just some stuff left over from my army days ...
just some landing lights and spotlights from some old helicopters. ;)

>When we got back to Joel's house, he showed us his kitchen.  The
>kitchen looked normal enough at first glance, until I realized I
>didn't see any dishes or glasses anywhere.  Joel opened up his

dishes? glasses? what the hell do you need those for?? :) you can drink
out of bottles and eat out of the cans!!!

>packed absolutely full of oil filters, fuel filters, spark plugs,
>grease cartridges, air filters, WD-40 cans, assorted 3M products,
>replacement halogen light bulbs, distributor caps and rotors,
>fuses, wiper blades...  we just couldn't believe it.

you mean EVERYBODY doesn't keep their "stuff" in the kitchen???

>auxiliary gas heater.  Joel particularly enjoyed drilling a big 2"
>hole in our camper with his electric drill.  I let him do it--I

oh, sure!! it was ME being the Bad Old Bastard!!! while Tobin was over on
the side, crying "Not my Baby!!!!!" :)

all in all, i think the Copleys were somewhat still in "shock" when they
reached my house ... the full effect of the South and America and Elvis
had not yet begun to wear off. about the only thing that would have been
really neat around that time was if my sometimes-eat-the-garbage possums
had shown up. :)

joel