Brinkley, AR to Gatlinburg, TN

Touched down in the pouring rain...

We're heading out from Brinkley, Arkansas towards Graceland and of course it's pouring rain. We already listened to "Walking In Memphis" and noted the comment about pouring rain. Now we're listening to Paul Simon's "Graceland", although I'm thinking more and more I may not even be getting out of the car because damn it's raining hard. We don't really have time to go in anyway, I just wanted to see the gates - but I hope I can get some kind of decent photo. At least maybe the rain is washing the dead bugs off my car.

-- So apparently Graceland does not open until 9. It's 8:15. We were going to just park and take a photo of the gates except the gates are open and there are a bunch of cops around - there was a tent out and it looked like there was something going on. The biggest problem for me is the rain. It's absolutely pouring and in combination with everything else it just seemed ridiculous. So we saw the gates, snagged a couple postcards at a gas station and took a photo of the more official looking sign across the street. And now we're driving through the rain to Gatlinburg. I really hope it stops raining by the time we get there because I'd really like to see the town. Memphis I could give or take - it seemed silly to not try since we were passing through - but we're staying in Gatlinburg and I've heard so much about it from Matt I've been kind of excited for this all week.

We missed the Tennesse State Line because it was in the middle of the Mississippi River and I wasn't paying attention. We've missed other state lines so I guess it's okay, but I was on a role this half of the trip so it's a little sad. Ah well. Maybe we can get it on the way out or something.

-- drove through a crazy rainstorm in Tennessee... but it cleared up almost as soon as we entered town... and boy what a town.

I describe Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge as Las Vegas, the New York State fair and a Renaissance Faire all rolled into one. Bright flashy signs and lights, tiny little shopping villages and mini golf/arcades/haunted houses etc etc etc galore. Tons of Old Tyme Photo stands, fried dough and corn dogs for sale and a Ripley's museum or two. Thankfully the rain ended as we checked in so we had a wonderfully perfect evening walking around town and looking in shops and playing mini-golf with a wonderful view of the mountains. The weather was perfect, I wore jeans but didn't need a coat. Here's hoping we get good weather for tomorrow too... maybe the storm is done.

There are also - we counted - 9 Pancake houses within a 3 minute driving distance on a main road through Pigeon Forge. There are more we missed, we're pretty sure. But try to go to these pancake houses and you discover that they are only open until 2pm. Had to go to this fantabulous 50's diner for some pancakes as it was after 9pm. They were aaaamazing though.

signing out for the night - back home soon, :(

Tucumcari to Brinkley from Lindsey

Day 10 - Technology Rebels

Yesterday we had continuing problems with Jareth (the laptop) who refused to turn on because the battery was dying and we kept turning off his power source. Today I ran out of battery for both my cameras and ran out of room on my camera cards. I need a CVS and we're in the middle of nowhere - having just entered northern Texas from New Mexico. I also noticed this morning that the "F" key on my keyboard is missing. I'm not sure if it ran away in the hotel or in the car, so we'll have to do a quick search for it later, or when we get home.

We stayed in Tucumcari New Mexico which was supposed to have like 5 Route 66 roadside attractions to photograph, but we only saw two. Route 66 is running parallel with the interstate 40 that we're traveling on, so occasionally we see signs for things like Meteor Craters and Native American Travel Plazas and Dinosaur Museums. We haven't seen anything that sparks our interest enough yet, but we're also kind of on a tight schedule. It's sad. Someday I think I'd like to just drive Route 66 and see everything I want to on it. Take the time to stop etc. We're seeing a few things, but not as much as I think I'd like to.

It's really bright out and we're driving East again - so right into the sun. Thankfully we're past the snow and hopefully past rain for a little while. Our next stop is supposed to be 70 and beautiful, but we're not getting there till after dark so we'll see how the day goes.

-- Didn't really type much today as we were constantly on the move - only stopped for gas and postcards today and it worked in our favor because we got in early for us. It'll be good to get a little more sleep.