Tennessee Could Use Less Churches And More Starbucks

When I had originally planned this trip, I purposely chose local roads and avoiding interstates and major cities. I was hoping to see the real America.

After two full days meandering down the Blue Ridge Parkway, we saw amazing views, we drove many hours and many miles, but we really didn't cover so much distance. After these 2 days in the rain and the fog that followed us down in Virginia and North Carolina, we decided to jump on the Interstate and make our way west.

Over the last 2 days we completely made our way across the state of Tennessee. The east of the state is very hilly with a lot of trees, but as you moved west, it flattened out and the trees grew more scarce. After you cross into Arkansas, then there's really nothing, but flat empty land. To be honest we just entered Arkansas today and we're only 20 miles or so from the border with Tennessee, so we haven't really seen so much of it, but can't say I'm too impressed.

The RV campsite we are staying tonight is really the pits! My best guess is that this will be the ugliest site we'll be staying in during our stay. It's right off the interstate and there's a huge truck stop next door, so you can hear the trucks driving around all the time. We'll see if we can hear them during the night too. The campsite itself is on a little lake whose colour is a dark brown (guess we won't be swimming in it!). The campsite is also not well taken care of, so there's mud everywhere. On the bright side, there's a decent wi-fi internet connection, which is the reason we picked it. Plus, it's right on the interstate, so we'll save some time tomorrow when we have another 300 miles (490 km) to reach tomorrow's destination: my father's house in Rogers Arkansas!

The campsite we stayed at yesterday was probably the best one we had so far. It was on a huge lake (colour blue) in a beautiful state park right in the middle of Tennessee. We made some nice pictures and took a little video to show you how nice it was.

Before you leave Tennessee and enter Arkansas, you go through the city of Memphis. Now I knew that Memphis is the city where Graceland is located (Elvis's home and shrine). I had planned to pass this by as I had no interest in seeing it whatsoever. Margreet, much to my surprise, did. So we made the pilgrimage. I made it as far as the parking lot (which set us back $10), and took a very comfortable nap while Margreet ponied up the additional $32 and took Noa along in the stroller and visited the Mansion, the cars and the planes. Her comments were very touristy, not very pram friendly, but enjoyed it nonetheless.