Road Trip - Day 3

Yesterday's drive was mostly along the Appalachian Mountains, though we drove through a bit in the southern part of Virginia. The views were great, with rows of mountains in the haze. Yesterday we began to get into kudzu country. For those who don't know, kudzu is in invasive species in the SouthEast of the US. It spreads rapidly and chokes out anything it encounters. You can see trees, hillsides, and bushes all choked out with this vine. It has big leaves and seems to shade out anything else.

Today we spent all day driving through Tennessee. Kudzu continued and grew even thicker in parts of the state. Tennessee is a big state. On this third day we begin to understand how big this country is. This morning we made an abortive attempt to find a statue to the flying spaghetti monster (FSM). Apparently the relatively small town of Crossville, TN, has made a commitment to the FSM, along with those other commitments. We could not find the park, however.

Just before noon E & I stopped to visit my Aunt Lui. She is my Mom's sister, and is one of the few remaining Neills of that generation. She must be in her 80s now, and is fit, friendly, and funny. She told us some old Neill stories and gave us lunch in her beautiful brick home. She made me remember fondly what a good sense of humor my Mom had. Several of these pictures below show Aunt Louie and her home, along with E and I. Auntie has a working Victrola in her home!

Note the Neill family resemblance...

We continued on just past Memphis to West Memphis, Arkansas. This is just across the Missippii River. It is very wide here. The bridges have to continue far beyond the banks over the flood plain, too. After a bit of rest E and I got back in the car and traveled to Beale Street in Memphis. Along the way we stopped in a park along the banks of the Missippii in Memphis. The park itself is beautiful, but the view is even better. Enclosed are a few pictures of the river and the I-40 bridge, "Millionaire's Row" - the houses along the bluff just East of the park, and of Beale Street.

We had dinner in the Blues City Cafe. The ribs are great! Beale Street is a bit disappointing, with just two or three blocks barricaded for pedestrians. The music was in evidence, though. We could hear lovely blues the whole time we were there. We passed by B.B. King's Club, but did not go in.