Day 1

Saturday March 26, 2011

We were thankful to have one last dinner Friday night with Jeff, Michelle, Lincoln, Abby, Ryan, Whitney, Tu, Lillian and Ethan. It was great to see them all one last time before leaving Charleston. Thank you so much Jeff and Michelle for letting us stay at your place last night. 

Today our day started off right with wonderful chocolate chip waffles at the Neidlinger’s before hitting the road. I slept for the beginning of the drive while Joe drove. It is a good thing Chance does really well in the car. I’m not quite sure why she thinks it’s comfortable contorting her neck to place her head on the car door arm rest, but she does. 

Soon after we hit the Georgia border it started to rain. The rest of the day was a mix of sunny, showers and downpours for a few minutes. 

Our first stop was for lunch in Atlanta at The Varsity. We had chili hot dogs, chili burgers, French fries, onion rings  and of course Coca-Cola. 

We stopped for gas outside Atlanta to switch to Jackie driving and let Joe have a nap. We drove through Alabama, via Birmingham and through upper Mississippi. Neither of us had realized Tallageda was in Alabama. Shows how much we follow Nascar huh? 

We arrived at the La Quinta hotel in Memphis around 6:30pm central time. 5 states in 11 hours was a long day, but we made it.

We drove by a few beautiful Victorian homes on Adams before going to dinner at Renvedous, which has some of the best ribs, pork shoulder and brisket in Memphis. 

We made sure the hour long wait was worth it. An free extra half pitcher of local beer made for a good time. 

We had a great chat with a couple from Nebraska making their way to Florida. They had some great tips for the California coast drive we’ll be sure to look up. After dinner we took Chance for a quick walk around the blues bars and neon lights on 2^nd Street & Beale Street . It was very windy and cold and we were exhausted.

Tomorrow will be another long day to Amarillo, Texas. The funniest thing is Joe can never seem to remember the right name of the city. It’s either Armadillo or Amaretto. You’d think the years of Spanish in high school paid off to remember the word for yellow, but I guess not.