Pop and Meemee on the road: Hello From Arkansas

Hello from Arkansas! Well just barely, we are in West Memphis, just across the state line from Tennessee and are at Tom Sawyer RV Park on the banks of the Big Muddy! We left home a week ago today, and have had a great trip so far. Our granddaughter, Bailey, has been traveling with us this past week but had to go home yesterday to start getting ready for college next month. We really enjoyed her company and was sad to see her leave.

Our first night was spent in Sevierville, Tn. where we stayed at Riverside RV Park. We showed Bailey around the Pigeon Forge area, where the crowds and traffic were as crazy as ever. We had a nice dinner at Cracker Barrell and turned in early to get ready for the second leg of our trip . We left the next morning headed to Nashville, where we stayed at Seven Points Corp of Engineers campground located on Lake Piercy. We booked our site for 2 nights and enjoyed using our America the Beautiful pass (Geezer Pass) to get the senior rate of $11/night. We decided the best way to show Bailey around was to book a tour of Nashville. I checked Trip Advisor and found a tour highly recommended with good reviews. The tour was Really Entertaining Tours and lucky for us, they had a slot open for us the next day. The tour was on an electric vehicle similar to a souped up golf cart. Our guide, Ryan, went the extra mile to give us an excellent overview of the legacy and history of Music City and showed us a great time with his entertaining wit and knowledge. If you know anyone going to Nashville, and looking for a tour, have them hook up with Ryan for a good time. Early Wednesday morning we hit I-40 headed west to Memphis, where we are now. I haven't mentioned the hot weather, but it's been so oppressively hot that we didn't want to be out of the AC for very long and has affected our outdoor activities. We did book another tour in Memphis with Backbeat Tours. Our tour was a group of about 35 and was on a bus with marginal air conditioning. The tour was called the Mojo tour and traveled to areas where the blues genre of music was born, as well as other historical points of interest.. We had a professional musician on the bus who entertained us with songs of the era and spoke to significant events that occurred in areas we traveled. The tour was OK, but not as good as Ryan in Nashville. We also visited the Peabody Hotel to check out the March of the Ducks, which happens every day at 11Am and 5PM. If you're not familiar with them, click on the link for the scoop on the ducks. One of our favorite stops was the Bass Pro Shop adjacent to the I-40 bridge in Memphis. This Bass pro Shop is housed in a huge pyramid and is the 4th largest in the world. It has a 300 ft freestanding elevator that goes to the top where there is a restaurant and observation decks on 2 sides of the pyramid. The inside is constructed to a swamp theme with spanish moss, cypress trees, several streams and ponds with fish, ducks, alligators and many aquariums. Needless to say, the gators are confined in a glassed in area. The structure includes a hotel, 2 restaurants, archery range and a bowling alley. Pretty cool place.

We plan to hit the road again in the morning (Monday) and plan to travel to Ozark, Arkansas where we plan to stay at Aux Arc Corp of Engineers park for a couple of days. Stay tuned for more updates and whisper a prayer for our safe travels.