Cape Girardeau, MO to Southaven, MS
After a relaxing morning, a full hour of pool time for the kids, some excellent Chinese food at Chan's in Cape Girardeau for lunch, and saying our goodbyes to family, we were on the road again.
Our first stop was at the Arkansas state line (state #3 of the trip); that is an exceptionally nice rest stop, I must say, though it was just a leg stretch and bathroom break for us.
Next we rolled into Memphis, TN, (state #4 of the trip) for a visit to Tom Lee Park where we took a gander at the Mississippi River from the Memphis perspective. We talked about how JB had traveled for 4 days on a steamboat to get from Shawneetown to Memphis and about how the measles broke out and spread to 250 of the men in the regiment, killing some.
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| Mississippi River at Memphis |
We had a minor break from the theme of following JBS through his Civil War journey and jumped about a 100 years forward to the time of the Civil Rights Movement. Since we were in Memphis, we wanted to at least see the Lorraine Motel. While we all admire Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of my daughters is very interested in his life story. We will be seeing a few other Civil Rights Movement sites later in the trip.
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| Lorraine Motel |
Our last quick stop in Memphis brought us back to Civil War times at the Burkle Estate.
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| Burkle Estate |
For dinner, we simply had to get some Memphis-style BBQ at Memphis Barbecue Co. We met up with some more family (We are getting lots of visits in on this trip!) and not one of us out of eleven had anything bad to say about the food. It was all delicious. I personally recommend the bacon-wrapped BBQ shrimp. Yum!
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| Award Winning Memphis-Style BBQ |
Our hotel for the night is just outside of Tennessee in Southaven, MS (state #5 of the trip). The excitement of the last few days (and lack of a good solid night's sleep) is catching up to us. Even though we had a mellow morning, the kids were actually asking to go to bed by 8p. Here's hoping we are past the adjustment to sleeping in hotels (and don't have a group of rowdy football players on our floor) so we can sleep soundly tonight.
More to come tomorrow!