Day 3: Roanoke, VA -- Little Rock, AR
Tennessee is MUCH longer than Connecticut
Paul in his super cool new gas station sunglasses.
We left Roanoke at sunrise, which was beautiful. The sun came up over the mountains and made me a little homesick for the days where mountains were a little more accessible. But, I traded mountains for palm trees (sorry, palmetto bushes I mean) and beaches, so I really can’t complain.
We drove through the rest of Virginia and then spent the next eight hours driving through Tennessee. During this time, Paulie and I learned two things about this very long state: (1) the people who live there are the most friendly people in the whole country or, dare I say it, the WORLD (2) Tennesseans serve up some darn good pancakes.
See, Paul and I stopped at a pancake house for lunch, which was delicious AND decorated with little wooden statues of bears. Also, the waitress was nice. Both lil Paul and I are confidant that this experience represents all of Tennessee and those residents within its boarders.
After lunch, two very significant things happened: (1) We stopped driving south and started driving west (this may have happened before lunch). (2) We drove through a time zone.
Pretty exciting stuff.
We didn’t really stop again in Tennessee until Memphis. I was really excited about visiting Graceland, but alas, Graceland closed at 4pm and we didn’t get into town until 6pm. It seems as if there is a pattern emerging here. We always arrive a little too late to any sight or landmark I am looking forward to seeing! We got to JMU too late at night to really explore, and again, Graceland was closed. I am not losing heart though! Our next big stop will be the Grand Canyon and we’re planning on leaving super early so we’ll get there by sunset.
Despite missing Graceland, we did still have a nice adventure in Memphis. We researched online where the best barbeque joint was in town. And we found it. It was called Central BBQ and it was delicious! But arriving there was an experience within itself. The city has public service billboards with messages such as:
He’s shot. You’re sorry. He’s still dead.
and
Hurt a baby once, you’re a punk for life.
All these with the slogan at the bottom “Chill, don’t kill.” What a pleasant city! Paul and I were wondering what kind of dangerous city this was where there had to be public service announcements asking people NOT to kill each other. We were happy to leave until we were right on the Arkansas border and noticed that there was more to the city—something much more populated and beautiful—than what we had experienced. I must come back and give it another chance!
When we crossed that bridge, we didn't just cross into Arkansas, we crossed over the Mississippi River. We are officially west of the Mississippi. Pretty cool!
Well, I must get some sleep. We have 15 hours of driving tomorrow (which will end up being 16 once you count gas and food breaks), so we must wake up early.
Paul scratches the belly of a bear outside the pancake house.
Bears = good luck. Those signs, not so much...
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