Memphis, Tennessee
Day 109 September 26, 2014
West Memphis, Arkansas to Little Rock, Arkansas
As soon as the sun rose, we got out of bed to watch the barges navigate up and down the Mississippi River. It was a classic American scene, and amused us for over an hour. But we couldn’t just sit there all day, ‘cause we were going to Memphis. The real Memphis. Memphis, Tennessee. Not the fake Memphis, West Memphis, Arkansas, where the RV park was.
Sunrise, as seen through the condensation on the Space Shuttle windshield
River barges!
Morning on the river
And…here comes another barge
Such a great location for an RV park!
Graphic detail of concrete
Memphis, well, especially the Beale Street area, was touristy, but fun! And the people there were so nice. Trixie and Dax were especially popular with the peeps in Memphis, and were lavished with attention everywhere we went.
Beale Street
Beale Street
Photo excursion on Beale Street
Just like the sign says, it’s “World Famous”
Fun streetscape and signage
Fun streetscape and signage
Colorful buildings and signs
Tribute to W.C. Handy
Just like the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but different
We walked around and took lots of photos, bought a couple more t-shirts, and had lunch at the Majestic Grille. Yet another awesome meal. We were gonna be so spoiled by all the great food we’d been eating.
More fun with neon signs
The colors and architecture of Beale Street
Beale Street
Always look up….the ceiling in the Majestic Grille restaurant
Amazing ahi salad!!
Streetscape detail
Love these flags!
Things we did NOT do in Memphis: We didn’t go to Graceland ‘cause we’ve been there before. And we didn’t go on a tour of the Gibson Guitar factory ‘cause we didn’t have time to stick around town. If I owned a Gibson, we’d have made the time, but, I own a Martin, so we skipped it.
Tempting….the Gibson guitar factory
Our next stop would be Little Rock, Arkansas, where we checked into the Downtown Riverside RV Park. The place was full, but they gave us a spot in the overflow section. Perfect! You couldn’t beat the location of this place. It really pretty much was “downtown.”
Hello again, Arkansas
As soon as we were settled into our spot, we leashed up the dogs and went on a big outing. We walked across the pedestrian bridge, which was right next to the RV park, and which landed us right at the Clinton Library. The library was even more beautiful and cool looking in person!
Pedestrian bridge by our RV park
Not just any old pedestrian bridge….the Clinton Presidential Park Bridge!
Downtown Little Rock in the distance
Our first look at the Clinton Presidential Library!
Clinton Presidential Library
Weird red things in the fountain…??? Chihuly’s??
Clinton Presidential Library
Clinton Presidential Library
Clinton Presidential Library
So many graphic angles to shoot!
Clinton Presidential Library
Clinton Presidential Library
Clinton Presidential Library
Mark and Dax, sniffing around the Clinton Presidential Library
Clinton Presidential Library
Clinton Presidential Library
Near the Clinton Presidential Library, beautiful public art
We continued our walk into town, and settled on having dinner at Cache, where we filled up on delicious tuna tacos and topped that off with whiskey bread pudding. The pups weren’t allowed on the outdoor patio, so we had to tie them to the railing next to us and keep our eyes on them to keep ‘em from getting into scuffles with other doggies walking by.
Part of our dinner discussion surrounded one topic. We’d found out that there was a big charity cycling tour the next day, The Big Dam Bridge ride. And even though we were still on deadline to get to Albuquerque, it was just so tempting to stay in Little Rock and do this ride in the morning.
After dinner, we walked all the way down to the convention center, where the cycling tour registration and registration packet pick-up was being held…just to check it out. And, of course, we ended up signing up for the ride! Our timing was just too perfect to pass up the opportunity!
By time we walked all the way back to the Space Shuttle, it was late and dark out. We were tired too, but instead of going to sleep, we spent the next hour scrambling to find where we’d packed our cycling clothes and helmets. Couldn’t find the helmets, and finally gave up looking and just went to bed. We’d have to wait until the morning to continue our search.
Airstream Moho-A-Go-Go 