Graceland

“California?” I asked

“No, too far.” She told me

“Yeah... How about, Colorado?”

“I think that's too far too babe.”

“Well then I don't know. Where do you want to go?”

“Don't know. Someplace fun.”

“Graceland?”

“We can't go there?”

“Why not?”

“Well, I don't know. We've only got a week. Can we get there and back? What would we do there for a whole week?”

“Let's look at the map.”

We sat there in the dim light of my girlfriends apartment in Saint Johnsbury. The blue glow of the Tv illuminated the map that was laid out on the floor. In silence we looked at the map as if it would tell us what to do. We sat hoping that a plan for our spring break would suddenly jump off the page and take us by the hand as and lead us away.

“The smokies! We could drive down and camp in the smokies for a couple nights, then drive west across Tennessee to Memphis. We can find some cheap hotel for a couple nights and then hit up Graceland!”

“You seriously want to do this?”

“Babe, Consider it my gift to you. I'll bring you down to visit the home of the King.”

The next week flew by and before we were prepared for the trip we were on the road. Two twenty-somethings, their tax returns, and fifteen-hundred miles of US interstate. We drove non stop for twenty six hours before we finally arrived at the Great Smokey National Park. We promptly bought a cheap $20 tent and took a nap.

It was beautiful. Sprawling valleys, Old mountains, and wildlife everywhere. We hiked to a waterfall. We rode horses. My horses name was Ted, a Percheron, he was larger and heavier than my car. He honestly scared the shit out of me. I had never in my life seen a horse as large as Ted. He loved it when I scratched his ears. I loved Ted.

It was eighty degrees that day I rode Ted through the woods of Tennessee. We went to bed that night shivering. By morning there was three inches of snow coating the ground. We both laughed as we crawled out of our tiny, cheap, soaking wet tent. We quickly packed the car and left one of the most beautiful parts of the country I had ever seen. Driving down the mountains we came across a park ranger. He was parked in the road blocking traffic.

“Roads closed due to heavy snow!” He told us.

“Look at my license plate. There's more than four feet of snow in my front yard back in Vermont. This small dusting isn't going to stop me.”

With a bit of hesitation he let us through.

Two hours later we were cruising down I-40. We pulled over at a rest stop to stretch our legs and find a Hotel saver booklet. It was here we ran into a woman. I never got her name. She noticed we were from Vermont.

“What are you two doing way down here? Ya lost?” She asked kindly.

“Nah, where on our way to Graceland.” We told her.

“Well I'll be! I live right down the road from there. Follow me, I'll get ya as far as the road Graceland is on, then it's up to you from there.”

“Thanks!”

We followed her and her son in their black Mercedes. At times keeping up with her was tough as southerners tend to travel very fast. Nonetheless about four hours later she waved goodbye to us at a stop light in the outskirts of Memphis. We had finally made it to Graceland. We'll, we did the next day. First we found a hotel across the Mississippi in West Memphis and got a good, warm, nights sleep. Then, we went to Graceland.

• K. DuBreuil