Where were you when Elvis died?

[trekgeezer]

I will always know the anniversary of The King's death because it was the day I got separated from the Navy.  I was at the Naval Support Activity in Bremerton, WA getting processed out and I had my 1974 Austin Marina shipped there from Adak, AK (an island in the Aleutians).  It was at a dealer in Seattle having some body work done  to repair damage sustained when my roommate misappropriated it, missed a curve and made a run through the tundra with it, but that's another story.

Anyway they gave me my paper work and I took a cab down to pick up my car.  I overheard the guys in the body shop talking about Elvis dying. 

I got on the road about  1:00pm and while I crossed Washington and part of Oregon that night  all I could get on the radio was Elvis tributes and  talk shows talking about him.  I passed by Boise, Idaho about dawn the next morning and kept going until about ten o'clock and got off the interstate. I found a little motel on the side of the road and got a room. It was a strange little place and they had to give me a gallon jug of drinking water because the tap water wasn't fit for consumption. The room had a full size bed and a set of stacked bunk beds.

Anyway, about five in the afternoon I got back on the road and that night I drove across Idaho, across the NW corner of Utah, then on across Wyoming to Cheyenne.  I slept for about an hour at a rest stop before heading south to Denver. I headed east through Kansas, arriving in Kansas City some time after dark. I got turned around and was heading back in to Kansas when I stopped on the side of the freeway to try and get my bearings. A cop stopped and gave me directions.

Okay at this point I had been up for over 24 hours and I was getting to the point of having hallucinations. I drove down US 71 into Missouri for a couple of hours and found a motel at about 1:00 am .   When I got into the room  and looked at myself in the mirror, I saw Two-Face from the Batman comics.  My car had no AC so I had been driving with windows down and my arm out the window. The left side of my face and my left arm were bright red.  I figured I had been on the road at least 30 hours straight.

I managed to get about six hours of sleep and hit the road again  and arrived at my parents home at about six that evening.

This was back when the speed limit was 55 and the front end of the car would start shimmying really bad if  I got much above that.

I've always thought it was such a shame I missed all that scenery crossing the Rockies at night, but I will always remember where I was and what I was doing the day Elvis died.

Do you remember where you were?

[Torgo]

I was 2 years old.   

[Shadow]

I was 8 years old, so I was probably running around in the street enjoying summer.

[Zapranoth]

Aug 16, 1977?

Bit of a troll there, Trek, though not intentionally.  :)  You know that some people here are young enough that they won't have meaningful answers to this.

I was six.  I was going to kindergarten and had no concept of Elvis, popular music, etc.

You used to live on Adak?  Wow.  I've been to some remote parts of Alaska, but not there...

[Susan]

i was in germany sucking on my thumb 

[trekgeezer]

Aug 16, 1977?

Bit of a troll there, Trek, though not intentionally.  :)  You know that some people here are young enough that they won't have meaningful answers to this.

I was six.  I was going to kindergarten and had no concept of Elvis, popular music, etc.

You used to live on Adak?  Wow.  I've been to some remote parts of Alaska, but not there...

The great thing about people commenting on your age is that you know you already have your revenge because getting older happens to everyone.

Yes, I was stationed on Adak for a year.  It's gone civilian now, the Navy moved out back in the 90's.

[Allhallowsday]

Green Island, Toms River, New Jersey: I was at my brother's house, and was staying with them that summer.  I was too young to have been of Elvis' first generation of fans (when I was very young, I grew up listening to The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Lou Christie...) and did not myself discover his many magnificent recordings until the 80s when I got into 50s rock... !  Though I don't care for the movies, I love ELVIS !!    

[Susan]

elvis costello died?

[Shadow]

elvis costello died?

Accidents Will Happen. 

[HappyGilmore]

I wasn't even alive when Elvis died.

It was like, 7 years before I was born.

[CheezeFlixz]

I was on a farm driving a tractor cutting hay, and Mr. Moore who was really old and I was cutting the hay for him, came out of the house and waved me down and said "Elvis died." I was stunned and it really bummed me out as I grew up listening the Elvis as my Dad was and still is a huge fan and I now have many of my Dad's original Elvis Sun records. So yeah I'm old enough to know where I was when Elvis died.

Tomorrow on  TMC there will be running a full day marathon of Elvis movies.

[JaseSF]

I was nearly 4. This was probably two years before I started humping things.

[indianasmith]

I was 13 years old that summer, but I don't remember what I was doing when I heard the news.  I remember that it happened and that a lot of people were upset, but I just never was into the whole Elvis/Beatles/early rock era.


But I will never forget what I was doing the day Reagan was shot . . .

[Eyesore]

 It was my 12th birthday, but the only thing that I remember was that a girl in my class missed a few days of school because her mom was too broken up to bring her in.

But I remember where I was when Randy Rhoads and Kurt Cobain died.

(Great board, by the way. I really enjoy the reviews and recommendations.)

[Shadow]

But I will never forget what I was doing the day Reagan was shot . . .

Neither will I, cuz I was watching it live as it happened!