We will, we will "Rock" you: Greetings from Alcatraz

This is the cell where an escape was perpetrated in 1962. Note the big hole in the wall.

This is the view of San Francisco from The Rock.

Clint...

...Burt...

...and many others have been to The Rock.

All aboard.

Say "clink!"

Every so often, it's nice to visit a place that makes you appreciate your lot in life a little bit more. Take Alcatraz, for instance. That notorious island a mile and a half off the shore of San Francisco gets this job done because, no matter how hard things might seem, they must have been much worse for the "guests" of this harshest of federal prisons from 1868 until it closed in 1963. The roster of convicts reads like a who's who of the worst of the worst of yesteryear: Machine Gun Kelly, Creepy Karpis, Doc Barker, Robert "Birdman of Alcatraz" Stroud. Even the au courant Whitey Bulger did time on The Rock. But Alcatraz's most notorious detainee was "Scarface" Al Capone, who served four years before being transferred to another prison due to his tertiary syphilis. Ouch.

Several escapes were attempted, and three prisoners actually made their way out in 1962 through an ingenious use of dummies, tunneling, air vents and accordion music. It's likely they drowned in San Francisco Bay, but their bodies were never found, so who knows? The 1979 movie starring Clint Eastwood leads you to believe they made it, and what Clint says goes. A few years after the government shut down the prison in 1963 (it was deemed too expensive to maintain), the island was seized by a group of Native Americans to protest U.S policies regarding Indian affairs. After 19 months of occupation, a new policy of self-determination was negotiated with the U.S. government. Now the island is run by the National Parks Service and tours are of the prison and island are given daily. We were there on an appropriately miserable, rainy day last spring and the boat was absolutely mobbed with tourists eager to see how bad bad can be. All in all, it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

Elvis left the building 34 years ago

The Three Kings in Tupelo, Mississippi, his hometown.

The front steps of Graceland in Memphis. Can't remember who took this picture...maybe Priscilla?

His grave at Graceland.

We stayed at the official Heartbreak Hotel across the street from Graceland. Here are the luxurious quarters.

Tupelo, Mississippi.

His boyhood church outhouse, Tupelo (handicapped accessible).

His birth home.

The magnificent Nina gives a tour of the interior.

Tupelo Hardware, where Elvis' Mama bought him his first guitar at age 10. That's Howard, pointing to the duct tape X where Elvis and Mrs. Presley stood.

This picture is probably the most requested photo from the National Archives in Washington, DC.

And finally, some items from the awesome Bonanza Gift Shop in Las Vegas.

Elvis Presley died on this day in 1977. I remember seeing the report on the 6:30 evening news in our cabin on our portable black and white Zenith TV that my family brought with us to Cape Cod on our summer vacation. I also remember Groucho Marx died on the same day and I was actually more "shook up" about his passing than Elvis's. We've seen quite a bit of Elvis on our road trips over the years, so here's a look back. Just our way of saying "thanka, thanka verra much".

Swami, how I love ya, how I love ya: Fairfield, Iowa's Maharishi University of Management

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1960s

Guru-ga-joob: The Beatles and the Maharishi in 1967

George Harrison remained a lifelong devotee of Transcendental Meditation, and as recently as 2009, Paul and Ringo did a benefit concert for David Lynch's TM foundation.

One of Maharishi University of Management's Om Domes (I made up that name...they don't really call it that).

You might not think a small, bucolic, great plains town would be the location of a college devoted to the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the swami the Beatles had as their spiritual advisor back in the '60s, but you'd be chanting the wrong mantra, my friend, because, sure enough, Fairfield, Iowa is the home of the Maharishi University of Management (MUM). Originally conceived by Transcendental Meditation teachers and located in California, the University expanded drastically in 1973 when they bought the 272-acre campus of the recently out-of-business Parsons College, going so far as to demolish some historically significant buildings and erecting new ones using the architectural principals of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda. The campus' most distinctive structures are its twin, gold-topped domes for meditation: the Maharishi Pantanjali Golden Dome of Pure Knowledge for men and the Bagambhrini Golden Dome for women, where students are required to meditate and also learn principles of Yogic Flying (and they don't mean how to get a cartoon bear into an airplane). Despite the exotic themes, this is still an accredited college offering majors in Business, Computer Science, Literature and Art, and they've got a heck of a golf team, too. The food sounds good, too, if all-organic vegetarian fare is what you like. Watch out for the dress code, though, guys, because beards are only allowed for medical or religious reasons.

Sure, there are lots of great colleges out there, but where else can you arrive without traveling, see all without looking and do all without doing while earning a Communications or Physiology degree? Maharishi U: your Om away from home.

Long, long on retro laughs: Lucy and Desi in "The Long, Long Trailer"

Lucille Ball would have turned 100 the other day and Turner Classic Movies, the best channel on TV, showed an absolute delight for eccentric roadside fans, "The Long, Long Trailer" in her honor. We'd seen it before, but this time marvelled and what a great, retro roadtrip of a flick it is. If you like the 1950s, "TLLT" has got it all: big cars (a gorgeous yellow 1953 Mercury Monterey convertible), great trailers (the 1953 40-foot yellow two-tone New Moon), great duds, fabulous scenery, and best of all, Desi Arnaz. For my money, Desi was always much funnier than Lucy, with his exaggerated expressions and reactions. Made on their hiatus from "I Love Lucy" in 1954 and directed by notable auteur Vincente Minelli, "TLLT" is basically Lucy and Ricky Ricardo (they're Tacy and Nicky Collini here) in a beautiful technicolor feature-length comedy. Newly married and at Tacy's insistence, a reluctant Nicky agrees to buy a trailer home that's too expensive, too big, too everything. They have to travel cross-country and encounter one disaster after another, including city traffic, nosy trailer park neighbors, getting stuck in the mud, and smashing up Tacy's relatives' house. Worst of all, Nicky has to drive the monstrosity up a treacherous winding Colorado mountain road. Lucy does her usual slapstick, but, really, it's all about Desi suffering. His eyes bulge, he mops his brow nervously, gets covered in muck and rain, and has post traumatic stress disorder-like flashbacks ("TRAILER BRAKE FIRST! TRAILER BREAK FIRST! AHHHHGGHH!!"). They did some gorgeous filming in Yosemite National Park and that nerve-racking mountain road scene was filmed on Mount Whitney in the Sierra Nevada mountains. And I think the movie is actually much funnier than "I Love Lucy" and it's in color!

So, if you're a fan of both Desilu and roadtrips like we are, watch out for "The Long, Long Trailer" on TCM or get it from Netflix. Otherwise, you'll have some splainin' to do.

How I met your Mother Road: Route 66 in Williams, Arizona

When we visited the Grand Canyon last May, we stayed in nearby Williams, Arizona on the road all other roads aspire to be, Route 66. You don't have to be an eccentric roadside attraction fan to appreciate how awesome Route 66 is, and Williams has some outstanding examples of Mother Road architecture. There was some glorious early evening sun when we were there, causing yesteryear's storefronts, motels and restaurants to look even more western and melancholy. I'd love to spend a year traveling up and down 66 (you listening, Powerball?). Won't you get hip to this timely tip: when you make that California trip, get your kicks on Route 66.

Spinning in their grave

RIP, Kenneth and Edith.