Nashville to Memphis
You couldn't see Nashville for dust. We'd learned enough about the roads last night to get straight onto the Interstate to Memphis. Before long we got bored of the Interstate -- at about the same time as we got hungry, so we pulled off for brunch at a Cracker Barrel.
Cracker Barrel specialises in "down home cookin'" and "Southern hospitality". This translates to very friendly staff, and a lot of grease. Traditional Southern cooking is the kind of thing that would seem very hearty and welcome on a bitterly cold day, or perhaps if you were picking cotton all day -- but thinking of the grease makes me feel a little queasy even now.
My meal was:
- Chicken: nice
- Broccoli: nice
- Cheese: nice
- Crackers: odd, but potentially nice
- ... fried in grease: worrying
Cracker Barrel also has an entertaining wooden solitaire game at every table.
Rather than return to the Interstate, we got on State Highway 70 for a couple of hours, and saw some more of Tennessee.
It's right on the end of Lonely Street! Really! There are Elvis films available on the TV 24 hours a day (which we're not watching), and pictures of Elvis on the wall.
Tomorrow we want to find the Elvis graffiti wall, and scrawl some faint praise on it. "I quite like Suspicious Minds", or "When Elvis comes on the radio, I don't always turn over".
It's nearly 4 years since we last went to a Steak'n'Shake. In 2002 Debbie made us waste most of a day looking for one in Minnesota, so when we saw a billboard for one a mere 6 miles up the Interstate from our hotel we had to go. It did not disappoint.
On our return we stopped for a beer in the hotel's tiny tiki "Jungle Lounge". Back in our room,we found the TV on the blink: it was cycling through all the channels, and we couldn't stop it. Between us calling reception and someone coming to fix it, it fixed itself.