MEMPHIS KINGS & CIVIL WAR GENERALS 

DAY 1
Night Time on the City of New Orleans. 
Home pickup brings you to Chicago Union Station for this evening’s departure of Amtrak’s southbound City on New Orleans.  This  Superliner train is two stories tall.  Relax for
the ten-hour ride in your spacious, reclining coach seat* with its leg rest, foot rest, fold down tray and individual reading light.  Or, head to the Sightseer Lounge for snacks, beverages and great views of the Illinois twilight.

DAY 2
Memphis, Graceland, General’s Inn Dinner. 
After arriving the restored Central Station we cross the street for a hearty breakfast at the Arcade Restaurant.  Elvis Presley ate here!  We visit “The King’s” home and final resting place, Graceland, on our guided tour of Memphis.  Our motorcoach tour also includes Beale St. and the Mississippi River Museum on Mud Island.  Learn what happened at the First Battle of Memphis, June 6, 1862, as we look to the Mississippi River “battleground.’’  From Memphis we travel 100 miles east to Corinth, MS, for a night at the Holiday Inn Express.  This evening, near “Bloody Shiloh,” General U. S. Grant joins us for dinner at the General’s Inn.(B,D)   

DAY 3
Corinth, Shiloh Battlefield, Tennessee River Museum.
Following a continental breakfast, we visit the sites of the Corinth and Shiloh battles.  At the Corinth Civil War Interpretative Center, see two films that explain the combat.  Then visit the historic Corinth railroad junction and the Corinth Contraband Camp.  Lunch is included at the Catfish Hotel.  At Shiloh National Military Park, a guide boards our coach to show us where the battles took place April 5 and 6, 1862.  Just upstream from Shiloh’s Pittsburg Landing is Savannah, TN, and the Tennessee River Museum.  From mound builders to steamboats to TVA, learn the history and geology of this largest tributary to the Ohio.  Tonight we stay at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Memphis with its many opportunities for dinner on your own.(CB,L) 

DAY 4
Holly Springs, Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, King’s Palace Cafe,  All Aboard. The morning is on your own to see the sights you choose.  Catch the historic Memphis Trolley to the National Civil Rights Museum, the marching Peabody Ducks, or the home of the “Father of the Blues,” W. C. Handy.  This afternoon visit “the antebellum capitol of the Mid-South,” Holly Springs, MS, to see homes that survived the Civil War.  A stop is made at the Strawberry Plains Audubon Center.  Back in Memphis, return to Beale St. and the Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum.  This Smithsonian Institute affiliate tells the stories of the American music pioneers who shook the world.  Also on Beale St., experience that music at King’s Palace Café.  The live jazz and blues music goes with a dinner of Southern specialties.  Mid-evening, board the northbound City of New Orleans for the overnight train ride back to Chicago.(D)

DAY 5
Transfers Home.  
Be up early for breakfast in the diner.  Following the mid-morning arrival at Chicago Union Station, transfer vehicles take you home.

 

*Sleeping car private rooms offered at additional cost and include meals on Amtrak.  Call     Mid-America for details.

 

Call with questions about this tour:
800-323-8383