GoElvis.com,

The small town of Holly Springs (pop. 8,000) is midway between Tupelo and Memphis, and any pilgrimage to either Elvis destination must include a stop to visit the Biggest Elvis Fan in the Universe.

His name is Paul McLeod, and he lives in an antebellum home called Graceland Too, at 200 East Ghoulson Avenue.

McLeod collects and catalogs Elvisiana, and his cramped home is packed to the rafters; a shrine to not only the King of Rock and Roll, but to his lifelong obsession. Those who have visited him know that “eccentric” is the best word to describe McLeod.

Graceland Too is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; indeed, it’s the requisite 3 a.m. drunk stop for sorority girls rushing at Ole Miss. But you, too, can visit at that hour. Just knock a little louder at night.

McLeod drinks a case of Coca-Cola every day, which probably contributes to his insomnia. For $5 (refundable, if you’re unimpressed), he’ll lead you on a manic tour through his home. None of the items actually belonged to Elvis, but nearly everything is Elvis related: bags of dried flowers that came from his grave, magazines that featured Elvis, every album Elvis ever recorded, and a gold-lame suit that McLeod says he’ll be buried in and, with any luck, his ghost will return to haunt his ex-wife by whispering Elvis’ lyrics into her ears. (No joke.)

332,000 people have passed through his door since 1991, and if you don’t believe the attendance figure you can count ‘em. He takes a photo of every visitor for posterity. Numerous celebrities have visited. What else is there to to in North Mississippi at 3 a.m. besides gamble?

We took the tour last Friday, so keep an eye out for the story in the paper this week.

After our visit to Graceland Too, we lunched at a very cool old burger joint that is a destination in itself. Phillips Grocery is just across from the Victorian-looking train station if you take Van Dorn Street east and make sure to follow the left fork in the road.

A ramshackle two-story building, the former brothel-turned-grocery-turned-burger joint is filled with the detritus of bygone days. I noticed this calendar on the wall, yellowed pages fluttering in the breeze of the ceiling fans: January — 1962. Let’s see: Wikipedia tells us that was the same month that Cuba and the Soviet Union signed their trade pact that would lead to the embargo in February. Oh, and it was also the same month the Beatles released their first album.

As for Elvis in January 1962, he:

a) Got a car from the Colonel for his 27th birthday, which he celebrated at the Sahara Casino in Vegas…
b) received his 29th gold record for “Can’t Help Falling in Love” …
c) was congratuated by RCA for the soundtrack album “Blue Hawaii,” which would stay at the top of the charts for 20 weeks — longer than any other.

The burgers are thick, juicy and very tasty, and that’s good because the menu is all about stuff from the grill. We fed three people for $12, though we passed on the Moon Pies.