Memphis

I was pretty motivated this morning, and had a shower in before the sun was up.  Thank you, Montgomery Bell State Park people, for trusting me with a real shower faucet which turns on, and stays on the whole time.  Nothing worse than having to push a button every 15 seconds to keep the water going, except the ones where you actually have to hold the button down the whole time.  This was an excellent start to my day, and it only got better from there.

We were rolling by 7:40c, 29 degrees. Stopped just down the road for a quick car wash to knock all the salt off.  Joe was well prepared with his rubber boots. Drove through Dickson TN and back to 40W.

Had to get off the highway for a fuel stop, and picked Jackson for the cheapest diesel.  Took the long way and went through town, stopping at Rusty's TV and Movie Car Museum.  The guy running the place (probably Rusty himself, I didn't ask) gave us a quick rundown of 20 or so cars and then let us walk around on our own.  Most of the cars were the real deal from the movies, but some were replicas.  My favorite was the actual car from Wayne's World (licorice dispenser wasn't hooked up, but was sitting in the backseat), and Joe liked the TMNT van (replica of a toy).  Seriously worth the $5 admission.

Back to the highway for maybe 10 miles or so, and headed north to Brownsville.  Rusty (the car guy) suggested we check out The Mindfield, some pretty neat folk art in town.  This artist welded all these water towers and fire towers and augers together.

I decided we were done with the interstate, and we stayed on state highways for the rest of the way.  I made us sandwiches while cruising down the road.  Very efficient, maybe not so safe.  We ended up driving through a pretty dicey part of northern Memphis, but made it in without a problem.

We parked at the Pyramid, which is this gigantic pyramid (obviously) Bass Pro Shop.  Inside is pretty crazy, with fake life-sized trees, live fish and alligators, and taxidermied everything.  There is also a glass elevator in the center that will take you to the top where you can walk out on a glass floor overlook.  We both passed on the elevator ride.

We left the van at the pyramid (so it would be easy to find) and headed towards downtown.  Along the way we came to a pedestrian bridge that takes you to Mud Island.  I'm not the biggest fan of bridges or heights, and told myself I need to get over it, so we walked across.  I didn't die, so that was a plus. 

Back heading towards downtown, we were thinking about taking the trolley, but the sun was shining and it was so nice outside we walked the whole way to Beale Street.  Even though it was Sunday afternoon, there were tons of people out and about.  Beale is barricaded off from traffic, and all of the bars had their doors open, and open containers are encouraged.  We went to Wet Willies and got some daiquiris, and walked the rest of the street and listened to some live tunes.  It was great.  I can only imagine how crazy this can get on a Saturday night during the summer.

Went back for our wheels and drove to Big River Crossing, a pedestrian bridge which crosses the whole Mississippi River, from Tennessee to Arkansas.  I was still pretty proud of myself for walking across the one to Mud Island and wanted to keep the momentum going.  This was one of the least scary bridges I have been on, and we made it to the other side with no casualties.  Took us about an hour to go across and back.  Arkansas looked just like Tennessee.

I was getting hungry from all the bridge-fear facing we did today, so on our way to the campground we stopped at Central BBQ.  Got some grub to-go, drove about another 10 miles south of town through some major industrial areas and ended at our spot for the night, TO Fuller State Park.  Ate our dinner at the site while the sun went down.  Joe had a pulled pork sandwich, I had ribs, and we shared the sides, potato salad and pork rinds.  We both agreed the pork rinds were the best part of the meal.

Today was awesome, we couldn't have asked for nicer weather.

207 miles

$130.36 spent
55.99 Fuel
10.00 Car museum
12.50 Drinks
23.77 Central BBQ
28.00 Campsite