Miles today: 320
Miles to date: 2018
Where are we again? Just outside Memphis, Tennessee
Fun fact: Tennessee has more firework warehouses than anywhere else in the world. No, we can't fathom why either.
The Day’s Events: Today has mostly been about travel. Either because we were in a new time zone, or because we found that last night we were in a ‘dry’ county and so couldn’t get a drink; we woke up early and zipped up the I 24 towards Nashville, past their Parthenon (!?), and onto the I 40 West towards Memphis, which is where we are now at – in a Knights Inn motel, opposite the airport.
So, today, we have replicated much of the manifest destiny of the American people i.e. we struggled to climb up the mountains of the Appalachian chain, out of the original 13 colonies, but eventually, just like the early settlers, we found a gap (sadly not the Cumberland Gap, but quite close). This also meant that we were on the most sharply curving Interstate in the US, but also one of the most scenic – all wooded mountains and dammed sections of the Tennessee River. Once we had descended, we were in the start of the farming country and, now, we have temporarily stopped at the banks of the Mississippi, and are wondering whether to ‘light out for the territories’.
We were a bit tired when we got here so Vikki took a nap while Malcolm tried to look ahead for hotels in St Louis, where we abandon the car; Denver, where we have to catch an 08.05 train; and Salt lake City, where we arrive at 11.00 at night.
So, not the most eventful of days, but we are adding to our collection of American motel chains, and we finally ate lunch at an American KFC – which is much nicer than an English KFC: you get a quarter of chicken, a bowl of coleslaw, mashed potatoes and gravy, and what they call variously milk or butter biscuits, which turn out to be scones- all for $4.59. Needless to say, we couldn’t eat it all.
Tonight we popped out, looking for an eatery that served alcohol, and, after three or four false starts, we lucked upon a nearby Holiday Inn ‘Select’ where we had a few drinks (see photo, above) – Jack Daniels (Vikki), Southern Comfort (also Vikki), Heineken (Malcolm) and Bud (both) – and some classic southern nosh – a southwestern grilled chicken cobb salad (Malcolm), and a grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich (Vikki), that latter widely acknowledged to be a favourite of the King himself.
Speaking of the King, we’re excited to tell you that we’re booked on the 10.18am tour of Graceland tomorrow morning (all together now: Ah-huh-huh, hu, whoa yeah!), before we motor on to St Louis. Tell you all about it tomorrow.
Ted’s Photo Blog
A picture of me, Ted, a bit worse for wear after one too many Jack Daniels.
Miles to date: 2018
Where are we again? Just outside Memphis, Tennessee
Fun fact: Tennessee has more firework warehouses than anywhere else in the world. No, we can't fathom why either.
The Day’s Events: Today has mostly been about travel. Either because we were in a new time zone, or because we found that last night we were in a ‘dry’ county and so couldn’t get a drink; we woke up early and zipped up the I 24 towards Nashville, past their Parthenon (!?), and onto the I 40 West towards Memphis, which is where we are now at – in a Knights Inn motel, opposite the airport.
So, today, we have replicated much of the manifest destiny of the American people i.e. we struggled to climb up the mountains of the Appalachian chain, out of the original 13 colonies, but eventually, just like the early settlers, we found a gap (sadly not the Cumberland Gap, but quite close). This also meant that we were on the most sharply curving Interstate in the US, but also one of the most scenic – all wooded mountains and dammed sections of the Tennessee River. Once we had descended, we were in the start of the farming country and, now, we have temporarily stopped at the banks of the Mississippi, and are wondering whether to ‘light out for the territories’.
We were a bit tired when we got here so Vikki took a nap while Malcolm tried to look ahead for hotels in St Louis, where we abandon the car; Denver, where we have to catch an 08.05 train; and Salt lake City, where we arrive at 11.00 at night.
So, not the most eventful of days, but we are adding to our collection of American motel chains, and we finally ate lunch at an American KFC – which is much nicer than an English KFC: you get a quarter of chicken, a bowl of coleslaw, mashed potatoes and gravy, and what they call variously milk or butter biscuits, which turn out to be scones- all for $4.59. Needless to say, we couldn’t eat it all.
Tonight we popped out, looking for an eatery that served alcohol, and, after three or four false starts, we lucked upon a nearby Holiday Inn ‘Select’ where we had a few drinks (see photo, above) – Jack Daniels (Vikki), Southern Comfort (also Vikki), Heineken (Malcolm) and Bud (both) – and some classic southern nosh – a southwestern grilled chicken cobb salad (Malcolm), and a grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich (Vikki), that latter widely acknowledged to be a favourite of the King himself.
Speaking of the King, we’re excited to tell you that we’re booked on the 10.18am tour of Graceland tomorrow morning (all together now: Ah-huh-huh, hu, whoa yeah!), before we motor on to St Louis. Tell you all about it tomorrow.
Ted’s Photo Blog
A picture of me, Ted, a bit worse for wear after one too many Jack Daniels.
