I left Charlie & Mary Kay’s at about 9 am and then gassed at a Kroger in Mount Juliet. I followed US 70 into Nashville. It was a nice ride, the traffic flowed smoothly. Nashville is one of those towns that has a mixture of both the old and the new. I could see a lot of history here and need to come back sometime with I can spend a day or too. There is one building that is being built in downtown Nashville that I became fascinated with. I’m not sure what the building is going to be but it is close to the ATT building. At about 1045 I’ve gotten to the west side of Nashville and was on a beautiful parkway heading west with a stream and wooded hills on the south side with some apartments on the north side that weren’t too tacky.
At about 11:15 I stopped at a White Bluff, TN, local grocery store. I wanted to get some crackers to finish up the spinach dip I bought yesterday in Gadsden, AL. I almost passed the store because it was kind of hidden, behind a McDonald. One of those, “Well, the local knows where it is.” thing.
In my notes of traveling I made the notation of Waverly TN at about noon but nothing else, so I must not have been too impressed with that little town but I do believe that is where I stopped to use the bathroom at a convenience store.
Around “2ish” I passed into the Delta land. It is a flat, swampy, boggy land. Interesting contrast from coming out of the hills. Passed thru Stanton, TN, and the majority of the homes there seemed to be double wide trailers. In Madison, TN, I passed a Texaco selling gas for $1.49 while all the others were selling near two bucks. They must be fixin’ to be having a gas war.
Around “3ish” I turned on TN 385 which is a by-pass to Millington, TN. I was wanting to swing by the old NAS Memphis base. Well, it is now NSA Millington TN, and I’m not sure what the NSA stands for. TN 385 ended on US 51 just south of Millington. After a few trials and errors, I found the base. It looks like the old airbase is now the Millington TN airport, the training center side of the is the NSA side now. I thought I could pick out a few things here and there but there has been some changes. I would have liked to have taken some pictures but with Homeland Security I wasn’t going to risk running afoul of an MP.
It wasn’t until the trip back into town that things started to look more familiar. I couldn’t recognize the Plaza shopping center and those apartments across from it when I came towards the base, but I could when I was coming back from it. It’s strange how memory works.
One thing I would like to remark on is how much the First Tennessee Bank sign logo looks like the old Greyhound Bus logo. Everytime I see one I think I’m coming upon a bus station.
I then followed US 51 south into Memphis and made it there at a little after 4 pm, and went by Beal St.
Beal looks like it’s picked back up again from when I passed through Memphis back in 95 returning from that fiasco with USA Truck. Found US 70 and, yes, it crosses that same bridge the I-55 uses to cross the Mississippi. I saw that place where I almost slammed into that low clearance bridge because I wasn’t thinking that I - 55 took an exit ramp. And US 70 would have been the road I would have been going down when returning from West Memphis and missed the I-55 turn off again. That was the time I was wondering what are red-lights doing on an Interstate at about the same time I realized that I wasn’t on an interstate any more.
That whole story is something I need to tell at a later time.
It always amazes' me about the changes in the terrain when the Mississippi is crossed, it's like you are stepping into another world. Went through West Memphis AR, and it had that small western town feel about it.
Around 5 pm between Maddison and West Memphis TN I took a picture of a truck that was trying to drop his load but when the truck slid out from under the trailer the landing gears just sunk about two feet into the ground.
I stopped outside of Wheatley AR, under some pine trees to have myself a little picnic of tomato sandwiches.
At 715 I was in North Little Rock with daylight still, but I don’t believe I’ll have enough to make it to Oklahoma tonight. I discover that US 70 merged with I-30, I say discovered because there sure weren’t any signs that announced that fact, and followed it till the Hot Springs AR, turn off.
While following US 70 into Hot Springs AR, I notice that for the most part it was one lane going into Hot Springs and two lanes leaving. I thought to myself, “Oh, this is one of them types of places”.
Soon US 70 turned into a limited accessed parkway with access roads on either side. I saw the entrances to parks, theme parks, a few churches, and even a nudie bar. I’m still thinking, “ uh oh, this is one of them types of places.“
Stopped right into Hot Spring as the parkway ended and got gas. This was as it was getting dark and I was the last customer. As soon as I finished pumping and got my receipt the clerk locked the door.
Farther into Hot Spring, and it started looking more like a bigger town but it kind of reminded me of Newnan. I made the decision to try and make it into Duncan OK, tonight. I figured that it would still be about 200 miles but and I’d be one tired lil’ puppy when I got there but I’d make it.
At a little before 9 pm in Glenwood AR, Stopped at a family restaurant that advertise catfish. The sign was still on and the open sign was still on and as soon as I got out and walked up to the door, the sign's light went out and the open sign turned off and some little dumpy frog looking woman ran up and locked the door as I was reaching for it and walked off. Excellent customer service. I recommend this establishment to anyone. NOT!
I crossed into Oklahoma around 11 pm and could tell the difference right away from the conditions of the road. Oklahoma has a much smoother road.
Believe it, Broken Bow, OK The same one mention in Star Trek: Enterprise, does not have a Super Wal-Mart. I was beginning to think that all Wal-Marts were super. Even to the point of Wal-Mart having changed its name to Super Wal-Mart.
I finally gave in and stopped in Hugo OK, for the night.
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