Somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Arkansas on day 2. We spent the first day just getting to the border of Texas (yup, just getting from central Texas to the border takes the best part of a day - it's a big-ass state!). We took the back roads from Austin to the border through some really nice parts of the state, and did the same again through Arkansas.

Little Rock, Arkansas is the former home of former U.S. President Bill Clinton (and Hillary), and his name is everywhere. Right behind me is the Clinton Presidential Library and Museum for example. We stopped here for lunch before hitting the road again, bound for Memphis, Tennessee!

Day 3 was spent in Memphis, starting with a visit to the home and resting place of Elvis Presley: Graceland, because it's what you do in Memphis. Elvis spent most of life in Memphis, and purchased this 13.8-acre estate at just 22 years old in 1957 for $102,500 (a little under $1 million in today's money). Following his death in 1977, Graceland was opened to the public as a museum in 1982, and has been left largely unchanged to this day. Coincidently, we happened to be here two days after the 40th anniversary of Elvis's death, so Graceland was in the midst of celebrating its annual Elvis week. This basically means there were more tourists here than usual, most of them old ladies who likely once threw their underwear at Elvis back in the day.

While much of the house is on display, the upstairs is not open to visitors. Elvis's bedroom and adjoining bathroom are up there, the latter of which was the site of his death. The floor has been untouched since the day he died, and is rarely seen by non-family members.

Elvis spent a lot of money remodeling Graceland, so I guess this was the height of luxury back in the 1960s and 1970s. Carpet in the kitchen is a new one on me!

The TV room in the basement, complete with wet bar, is where Elvis often watched three television sets at once hahaha!

The so-called "Jungle Room", complete with waterfall on the wall. Note the shag carpet on the floor, and on the ceiling - nice touch. A year before his death, the Jungle Room was converted into a recording studio where Elvis recorded the bulk of his final two albums.

And finally, outside next to the swimming pool, is Elvis's grave, alongside those of his parents and grandmother. Spot his middle name - nice.

Across the street from Graceland is a new exhibit complex featuring museums dedicated to Elvis's life and possessions. Exhibits includes his numerous cars (such as his iconic 1955 pink Cadillac), his various jumpsuits worn during stage performances, and an almost-endless myriad of other stuff. Oh, and no less than about four gift shops.

Later that afternoon we headed into downtown Memphis to check it out. While wandering around I heard some commotion behind me, and turned just in time to spot a beat-up old van tearing the front off this Honda after pulling out of the adjacent parking spot. The van driver stopped for a second to survey the damage, and then took off hahaha! I managed to get a couple photos of his license plate however, and left a note on the Honda with my details. This is why I always park in farthest, remotest part possible of any parking lot - people are bastards!

This is the famous Beale Street in downtown Memphis, lined with blue clubs, bars, and restaurants. Cool though it is, I think I prefer Austin's 6th Street, which looks and contains much of the same, but there's more of it.

We left Memphis the following day and followed the Tennessee back roads through to our final destination of Nashville.

Nashville is known as the "Country music capital of the world" and "Music City, U.S.A.", so that night we attended a concert at the infamous Grand Ole Opry. The Opry has been around since 1925, and hosts stages concerts showcasing a mix of famous singers and contemporary chart-toppers performing country, bluegrass, folk, and gospel performances. Good stuff!

After a week of wet and miserable whether (which made me very nervous about the eclipse), Nashville turned it on for us, and we spent the next day wandering through it. The downtown area is a mix of old and new and, similar to Austin, the city has been experiencing a growth spurt. Many large companies (including my own) have moved some operations to or near the city over the last several years. Not to be outdone by Beale Street in Memphis, Nashville has its own focal point of entertainment in the heart of downtown on Broadway. All in all, I was pretty impressed with the place!

The next day was August 21st - eclipse day! While Nashville was in the path of totality, it was not in the center of it. With the help of Google Street View, I picked out a couple of isolated rural spots that were bang in the middle of the eclipse's path, and would therefore give us the maximum length of totality (about 2.5 minutes in this case). This spot right here was my first choice, just outside of a little city called Cross Plains, about 30 minutes north of Nashville. Given that millions of people had travelled from all across the country and beyond to see the eclipse (many of them to Nashville), I wanted to find somewhere as devoid of people as possible, and this spot was perfect!

The folk who own this property were kind enough to let us set up on their yard since there's nowhere to park up on these narrow country roads. While I got busy with setting up my camera gear, Kristina had a nap, and my car stalked her.

The moon started its gradual path across the sun right on schedule at 11:58am local time. Not until the moon had obscured about 50% of the sun (45 minutes later) did it really start to become apparent that the sun was losing its intensity, to the point where anyone not aware of the eclipse would probably notice that something was amiss. I took the shot on the right about ten minutes before totality, at which point the scene was a complete mind-fuck. The sun was now 90% obscured, and its intensity (or lack thereof) was as though it was obscured by light cloud, but the shadows on the ground were still clearly defined. The best I way I can describe it is like wearing very dark sunglasses, but still somehow different; it was weird. The air temperature was also noticeably cooler, which was welcome relief given it was 93 degrees (34 C) today. Anyone still not aware of the eclipse now would think they're having an episode, because without eclipse glasses the sun looked no different to the naked eye.

An hour and 28 minutes after the moon started to cross the sun, it now covered it completely. The transition from (weak) daylight to what could now be best described as 30 minutes after sunset was sudden; just a matter of seconds in fact. We could now remove our dorky eclipse glasses and view the sun's corona with naked eyes. If you're not aware, the corona (as seen in the shot on the left) is an aura of plasma that surrounds the sun (and other stars), extending millions of miles into space. At this point the temperature dropped further, birds and insects started to go quiet, and for the next 2.5 minutes the eclipsed sun was this majestic object in the sky. It really was one of the most amazing and surreal things I've ever experienced! God only knows what anyone still somehow not aware of the eclipse must have been thinking now hehe.

Just as quickly as it began, the sun started to peak around the moon again, weak daylight suddenly retuned, and we donned our glasses again to watch the whole thing in reverse (including glasses for our unborn child hehe). From there we started the long two-day drive back home again.

A composite of some of my photos, showing the moon's path across the sun. Having waited 99 years for this one, the U.S. now need only wait just seven years until the next solar eclipse, and it just so happens the path of totality will literally pass right over our house in Texas :)