Walking in Memphis

Prelude:
I know I haven't posted for a couple days.  Some very long days of riding (700-800km days), and well... I just didn't want to.  Here's some catch up...


June 18.

We stayed in a very un-scenic Super 8 motel at the side of the Interstate 40 in Henryetta, with very few amenities available.  We decided to head into town in search of a family diner for a good home cooked breakfast, and we found it.  Bacon and eggs and Mike managed to get sunny-side up eggs cooked just perfectly without any extra egg-white goo on top.

We had decided the night before that Interstates really suck.  Heading through Texas and Oklahoma was pretty boring and we didn't want to add much more interstate to the equation today.  We chose to run south of Henryetta and cut across country to Little Rock, and there we'd pick up the interstate into Memphis.  At least we could avoid some of the interstate.

After a nice breakfast and a chat with a local older guy, we were on our way.   Or so we thought.  A GPS snafu had us going in circles but we finally escaped the clutches of Henryetta and made our way south.

A diner breakfast

Rode by this hillbilly restaurant in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma.
Definitely picture-worthy.

We stopped for our first break in this small town.  Went in for a coffee
and found they had fresh-baked coconut cream pie.  Still hot!  Really nice
and friendly people inside, all of whom were quite interested in our trip.

It was a great decision to backroad bomb it from Henryetta to
Little Rock AK.  Found some nice scenic roads, with
long twisty sections that I don't have photos of!

When we stopped for an afternoon break and Powerade in Arkansas, we talked with several people about our trip about how we were headed to Memphis today.  We chatted about the merits of secondary highways and how we weren't looking forward to the interstate after Little Rock.  A couple local guys pulled out a map and showed us another good route to Memphis that would avoid the interstate and then gave us the map!  Really, really nice people in Arkansas!

The new plan routed us through this town.  Nice name.

The back-road bomb took us to Memphis as promised and we arrived late evening.  We checked in at Graceland's "Heartbreak Hotel".

Heartbreak Hotel.  Fro-mage.

Mike has been to Memphis before and had a huge hankerin' for some Memphis "barbecue" (ribs, pulled pork, brisket etc).  He was adamant that we needed to ride downtown to Beale Street to get it.  I had never been to Memphis and didn't at all understand the significance of going to Beale Street.  If you are as uninformed as me, I would characterize it as Memphis' version of New Orleans' Bourbon Street. It's loaded with restaurants/bars with live Blues bands.

BB King's

Looking down Beale Street

My dinner at the Rum Boogie Cafe.
Full rack, beans and fried okra.  Mmmm.

Mike is so happy - he has his Memphis BBQ!

After dinner the Patrick Dodd Blues Band took the stage.  It was awesome. 

We have an audio clip taken by the blackberry (that sounds sounds surprisingly good), but can't figure out how to attach it to the blog.

We got back to the hotel late, and combined with a 798km day, there was no way I was blogging.  So that's what happened!