Here's the group: Norm, Russ, Chris, Wes, Gary, Freddy, Kelly, Bruce, Phil, Paul and Gary. The Lady at the Car Rental called us the "Canadian Blues Boys".

First day: We were starving after our flight and watching the riveting duck show in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel, so we had a Memphis-style rib dinner at Rendezvous. Oh yeah...and a couple of beers. Paid the waiter $50 to find the hockey game on TV.

Found the Crossroads of Highways 61 & 49 in the centre of Clarkesdale Mississippi. Blues legend states that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil (at the Crossroads) in exchange for his talent. This day, we actually stood on the plantation where Robert Johnson grew up, Robinsonville Mississippi.

While in Robinsonville, we got hungry and stopped in to the Hollywood cafe, made famous by author, John Grisholm and songwriter, Marc Cohn. We dug into some tasty burgers and ordered seconds of the deep fried pickles. Oh yeah...and a couple of beers.

You don't go to Memphis for the scenery. You go for the BLUES! Each night, we ended up on Beale Street. The group would split up, then meet 2 hours later in the same bar by accident. Pictured above is BB King's bar. The band was smokin!!

While our evenings were spent partying to the blues, our days were spent learning about them. Slavery and racism are a part of the history that make up the blues. We spent 5 hours touring the Nation Civil Rights Museum, which is built onto the back of the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was killed.

We toured the Gibson guitar factory on downtown Memphis. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the factory, so here's a shot of the "gift shop". Guitars, guitars, guitars.

The 3-day Beale Street Music Festival was on while we were there, so we all had passes. We saw Earth Wind & Fire, Jeff Beck, Booker T & the MG's, The B-52s, Bobby Blue Bland, Kenny Neale, Leon Russell, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ruthie Foster, Vince Neil and others.

OK. We might have had a couple of beers on Beale Street.

We visited the famous Sun Studios, where Elvis recorded his first song (for his mother's birthday). The tour guide said "Don't touch the instruments" and made the mistake of leaving the room for 5 minutes.