pet connection

Well, I’m back home this beautiful morning after a 44-hour trip to Memphis, TN. It was a good trip with lots of great experiences. We drove the totally redesigned Chevrolet Malibu all over southern Tennessee and into Mississippi.

Then my friend LouAnn Hammond (carlist.com MSNBC and ABC Radio) and drove her childhood neighborhood where she was informed by one resident that “No caucasians live on this street.”

We then drove the Malibu to Graceland (Elvis’ old home) and shot some video from over the 7ft.-tall stone fence that is covered from top to bottom with graffiti-style comments from Elvis lovers from around the world who made the pilgrimage to the birthplace of the King of Rock ‘n Roll.

In our search to find the mansion (which is incredibly tiny and understated by today’s MTV cribs standards) we ventured into an apartment complex and stopped two young teenage girls to ask for directions to Graceland. After telling us how to get to Graceland High School, we explained that we were looking for Elvis’ house, and they pointed in the direction across the street to Graceland. Then they complemented us on our car — the new Chevy Malibu that was being introduced to the media on this trip. Lou Ann whipped out her ever-present video camera to record their praises of the new Malibu.

Back at the hotel, the Chevy folks were thrilled to hear this story, along with similar stories relayed by other writers.

Oh yeah, when I arrived at the Memphis Westin on Thursday, the place was full of activity because they were shooting a movie in the hotel’s restaurant. It’s called “Nothing But the Truth” and it’s the Valerie Plame CIA outing story. Stars include Alan Alda, David Schwimmer (Friends) and Becky Beckinsale, Matt Dillion and several other big names. I saw the first two, but not the others.

That evening Chevy treated us to a tour of the Gibson guitar factory and museum, where we saw all the craftsmanship that goes into the historic guitars. Then we walked over to BB King’s Blues Club for awesome ribs and a night of live jazz and blues at several of the clubs along Beale Street.

While it’s not a dog car per se, the new Chevrolet Malibu is definitely an eye-catcher. It appears that GM has finally broken out of the box of dull-looking vehicles and designed an inexpensive (starting at $19,995), full-efficient (up to 30 mpg) sedan that one can be proud to be seen driving. And the multi-layered interior dash is one of the most interesting I have ever seen on any car. And, it’s fun to drive. They’ve even included a hybrid version that is mild by fuel-consumption standards, but still shows a willingness from GM to get in step with this ever-changing automotive world and alternative fuel consumption.

For dog-carrying safety, harnesses can be easily hooked to the childseat anchors easily accessible in the backseats.