Day four
Itinerary: Little Rock, Arkansas to Jefferson City, Tennessee in 8 hours.
Weather Condition: Cold and windy with sunny skies throughout Tennessee
Miles Driven: 520 miles
Stops: Clinton Memorial and Park in Little Rock AK, Memphis TN, Nashville TN and Jefferson City TN.
We got up at 730AM this morning and got ready to head out again on our final day of driving before reaching Tennessee. Skipping breakfast, we headed south into downtown Little Rock and crossed the Arkansas River to visit the Clinton Presidential Center and Park for a little walk. It’s real pretty down there with a beautiful modern building overlooking the river, autumn leaves on the ground, and the old historical bridge. After a stroll and snaps with curious george, we hopped on the road Tennessee bound!
The journey to Tennessee now felt like real autumn with yellow, red, and orange leafy trees all lined up along the Interstate. Feels almost like England in Autumn. The drive from Little Rock to Memphis was only 2.5 hours and soon we were driving over the Memphis Bridge across the Mississippi River. For lunch my buddy Robert had suggested a BBQ Ribs place in Memphis called Rendezvous however after googling it we found out it wasn’t open on Mondays. Another fail in my quest for good BBQ ribs. My other buddy Jen had suggested another place in historic downtown Memphis called Arcade which is the oldest Cafe in town (apparently) so we headed there for a bite to eat. I love the vibe of Memphis with all the brick buildings and trolley’s along the streets. There was also a burger joint on the corner by Arcade called Ernest’s that was apparently a brothel back in the day. I noticed there were a LOT of police around and a lot of the areas seemed a little sketchy so we didn’t spend too long walking around. We still had another 6 hours of driving ahead so we got back on the I-40 Eastbound.
I’d wanted to stop in Nashville, however with the time change and winter days it was getting dark so we drove right though and only stopped in Cookville, TN for dinner. We dined at a place called Cheddars which they call a casual cafe. I was finally able to order some bbq baby back ribs for dinner, and while it’s not from an authentic BBQ smokehouse like I’d hoped, it was still delicious. Overall, the food was great, the host was really friendly, portions were huge and the price was good. Why don’t we have Cheddars in LA?
Back on the road for another 1.5 hour drive and we finally got off I-40 at exit 394 and took route 11E all the way into Jefferson City. They call this a city, but its more like a little college town. It was already after dark when we arrived and I got a little lost looking for my Aunt’s house in the dark (GPS didn’t know where we were either – useless!). After 15 minutes of driving in almost darkness we found the place!
Driving six states in over 2200+ miles in 4 days/3 nights is fun and exhausting! Would I do it again? I think if I tried this again, I’d definitely to spend little more time in some of the towns, detour to some national parks, and drive less at night. It was a good trip though and I spent some quality time with my aunt. Benny was also so well behaved for a dog who hadn’t been in a car long distance before. He is now in his new home in Tennessee, I’m going to miss my little fluffy white ball of a dog.
Now I’m ready to get back to Los Angeles, thankfully I get to fly home now 🙂
click thumbnails to view larger photos below.
