Maryville, TN and onto Memphis, TN

With just the whir of the four wheels I ask my wife, "what town was that we stayed in?"  She replied "I don't know".  I had to rely on the history of the GPS to remind me that we stayed in Forest City, NC.  Nice Quality Inn on the tail end of a remodeling project.  I sure hope they fix the outlets behind the headboard issue.  The light on my side of the enormous bed (I kept looking for Betsey all night - not used to king bed) was useless and I kind of like to have my alarm on my phone close to me when I hear it so I can throw it across the room if I need to. 

Breakfast was your standard waffle in a cup and biscuits and gravy, toast, non exciting cereals...

North Carolina is a W I D E   S T A T E  - I thought we would never get out alive.  Found a nice organic coffee house in a city that is to remain nameless at this point.  And a beautiful off of the highway stretch of highway about 20 miles long (Betsey probably thought it was 100 miles long).  I don't understand she will ride roller coasters all day long but get me behind the wheel on a mountain road and ... well I better shut up.  Actually she was a very good passenger during this trip and especially in the mountains.  But I will go on record that if she wasn't with me I might have tried to get up to the speed limit.  I did tell her at one point that it would be nice if I could do the speed limit and I felt like a wimp.  Maybe I am just out of practice with mountain driving.

Headed to see Betey's aunt and uncle in Maryville, TN for the next stop.  Had lunch in a little berg nearby, again city will follow.  I had a hamburger, and it was a GREAT hamburger ground chuck (I had to ask) and it really was one of the best hamburgers that I have had in awhile.  Just enough fat to make it juicy but enough lean to give it great consistency.



Left Maryville headed to Memphis.  Kind of disappointed that the GPS said arrival 9pm, I was trying to get there for a bbq dinner.   BUT  as we are rolling down the highway I ask my navigator to find us a place to eat catfish and came across a couple in Jackson, TN.  So we decide to stop at the Catfish Galley and it was about that time that the check engine light came on.  So when we stopped in Jackson I found an O'Reilly's Auto Parts store to get that checked.  Exhaust Camshaft Positioner needs adjusting (I didn't know my exhaust had a camshaft).



But back to the food - the Catfish Galley was great.  Hometown Missouri atmosphere with great hush puppies and the Catfish had a bit more breading than I like but the catfish was flaky and perfectly done.

Betsey was doing a little online research on what to do in Memphis and we decided to do the zoo in the morning and a riverboat tour in the afternoon.  So we got to downtown Memphis and the hunt for a motel.  The place we picked (for only $56 bucks) only had one room left and it was a smoking room (welcome back to Missouri).  So I found us a Holiday Inn around the corner and just two blocks from Beale Street.  So after we got settled in the room we wandered down to Beale Street to take in the scenery.  This might have been the first hotel we have ever stayed in that provided ear plugs for the guests.

 WOW - what a party neighborhood.  Everybody walking around in the party spirit.  Some guy turning flips down the street.  Free concert (which we got there just as the band was packing up).

Memphis might just be someplace that we have to come back to - not that we lost anything but there were things that we didn't get to see...





Chow and Chow Down
Blessings to Ya'll
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Kevin