T3 Day 2

Today felt like more of a serious driving day as we set out to conquer Tennessee and make a big dent in Arkansas. We dropped out of the mountains and things got flatter as we headed into the Memphis area. We stopped in Music City with high hopes of doing some really sightseeing but the place was pretty much shut down. What did we expect on Christmas Eve? We had hoped to take in the great Mississippi by visiting Mud Island Park which includes a concrete relief of the whole river basin, but it was closed for the season. We rode on a street car along a back street of old industrial buildings some of which had been transformed into office space for software firms, others still lay in disrepair. Alighting in Beale Street, it was possible to imagine hoards of revelers staggering beer in hand down the road in the evening Memphis sun before enjoying some live blues. But the place was deserted, the blues bars closed. We headed round the corner to a Flying Saucer for a local brew from Ghost River. On the way out of town we stopped by Sun Studios but it wasn't much to look at.

After crossing the mighty Mississippi the drive got even flatter. We've made it to Hot Springs. There's not much between us and our destination except about 300 miles of tarmac, so we'll try to make short work of it in the morning. Signing off...