Chattanooga to Nashville

October 28

We woke up at the KOA near Lookout Mountain and took some cute little highways to Birmingham.  We stopped at the all-important Cracker Barrel for Karen’s token Southern experience.  Then we stopped at a coffee shop for some homework time and went to a cute little bakery for some pie.  We hung out with Mike, Aileen, and Judy McElwain for a good long while. 156 miles

October 29

We spent some quality time with O’Henry’s Coffee, first at the roaster where Mike works, then at the coffee shop where Karen got some quality homework time in.  Then we drove through Alabama to Tuscaloosa for some of Alabama’s great BBQ.  It was indeed fine.  We continued on through Jackson and spent the night in a Vicksburg, MS Walmart parking lot.

October 30

We awoke to a dewy car after a cold night (29 degrees) to the sun shining and a gorgeous day to go through the Vicksburg National Military Park.  The Civil War nerd in me came out some, but not too much and we were out of there in about 2.5 hours.  It probably helped that I drank a ton of liquid and had to pee through pretty much the whole thing.  Then we headed up the famous “Blues Highway” to Memphis.  We had some shakes at Hard Rock and then had some amazing BBQ chicken nachos at Rendezvous.  We briefly met up with Ingrid, but due to her sick little girl, we slept at her place and she stayed at her Granny’s.

Vicksburg National Military Park

October 31

We lazed around Ingrid’s apartment for a long time then headed out to Memphis to go to the Civil Rights Museum.  I decided it wasn’t worth $13, so we took pictures of the outside then left.  Then we went to Arkansas to get a scratch ticket and look for some pie.  We totally struck out on pie though.  Then we went to get some BBQ and ended up back at Ingrid’s killing more time.

Hotel where MLK was shot

November 1

We again lazed a bit at Ingrid’s and then headed down the road to Nashville.  We stopped at Chipotle, REI, and Starbucks before heading to more regional things.  We went to Belle Meade plantation (and saw as much as we could without paying for the tour) and then went into downtown Nashville to go to the Hard Rock.  It was the night of the CMA Awards, so it was a little nuts down there.  Then we headed to Ashley’s house in Clarksville, where Karen went to her first O’Charley’s.