Memphis road trip - part 3

Sunday morning Dan and I woke up at ungodly hour of 10:30 so we could make it to Al Green's church on time. We managed to shower, get packed up and checked out by 11 and 20 minutes later we were at the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in South Memphis to see and hear the Reverend Al Green. Unfortunately he wasn't there, but his replacement was very worthy. We thought we were late but fortunately people were still settling in and the reverend was welcoming all the guests (mostly fellow hungover Oblivians fans). Unfortunately we sat in a bad spot so we didn't get to shake his hand.

This wasn't any boring church service. There was a band, a choir and several parishioners sang. The preacher was great - he was dancing around, calling out "Praise the lord!", "God is good!", "Hallelujah!" and more all the time. He'd invite the parishioners up to the front and would pray to get rid of their problems and talk about how the Lord saved them or will save them. Several spiritual songs were sung throughout the service, and man can these people sing. There was one women who was incredibly intense - she really looked like God was inside her. She had an amazing voice as well. All in all it was an incredibly experience. The passion and spirituality in the room was amazing and you could really tell what it all meant to the people there. The band was really funky and soulful and the choir could really belt it out. It wasn't quite like that James Brown scene in The Blues Brothers, but it was close. I donated a few dollars and we left at about 2:00.

On the way out of town we stopped by Graceland, which was just up the road from the church. We didn't go in or even see the house because it was set so far back. Instead we parked the car in the taxi stand, ran around the parking lot a bit trying to get a look at the place and finally settled for taking pictures next to the sign by the road. Then we were off. We filled up with gas tank and proceeded to kick it a full five hours non-stop through Nashville, Louisvillle, Kentucky, and other small towns before we finally took a break for more gas and some food. Then we plowed on for another long while pretty much straight to the border with minimal stops. This took us through Cincinatti which has a skyline very reminiscent of Montreal, especially as you cross the Ohio River and see the it backed up by rolling hills around the city. But there was no time for stopping and we kept going through Dayton, Toledo and Detroit. It was like being in a James Brown song. At one point there was a terrible fog on the road and I couldn't see more than ten or so white-dashed lines in front. It made for some scary and eerie, yet invigorating driving.

Finally, at the border we payed the toll, stopped at the duty free for cheap liquor and then headed through customs. Contrary to what you'd expect from two low-twenty-somethings in a dirty, smelly car, who've been driving for 13 hours straight and must look like crap - well, we made it through with absolutely no problems. We kept on rolling down the 401, finally back in good ol' Canada where we're no longer known as the Canadians, as we were in Memphis. The sky opened up, the rain came down in torrents and finally, when we were within an hour Dan's place in Waterloo, we hit the wall. Both of us were exhausted from a lack of sleep and 15 hours straight driving. So we pulled over, slept for an hour and then finally got on the way to Waterloo. We showed up at 8:30 AM after 17 hours on the road. I slept on the couch for a few hours, woke up and made the final stretch to Toronto, finally getting home just after noon on Monday.

Overall, it was an amazing trip. As I said back in part one, I don't know how I survived, but I did and I have no regrets at all. Now I just need to start a band.