Unplanned Stop!

Alabama had a lot to live up to after Mississippi. My hope was to maybe not stop in Alabama. The scenery was still beautiful but it wasn't exactly the same.

After a while, we stopped at a Love's for a quick break and I think some of us grabbed lunch. I was wearing a Piff shirt and the cashier was very excited to see that because she LOVED Piff. Of course, who doesn't, though?

In Birmingham, I needed to change from I-22 to I-20. Of course, I exited one exit too soon and we got to go through a slight tour of the city itself. It's really quite pretty and frankly, it wasn't that hard to find our way back onto the interstate.

At this point, we've now driven I-20, I-40, I-70 and I-80. My mom lives just off of I-10 in Arizona, so of the major east-west interstates, the only one I haven't been on this year is I-90. We'll have to remedy that.

As we left Birmingham, I think Jason and Linda were dozing in the backseat. Their eyes were closed, anyway. Then I saw a billboard I did not think we would see this trip. A cartoon beaver let us know that nine miles ahead at exit 140 was Buc-ee's. I let everyone know that there would be an unplanned stop. There was some confusion as I declared that we HAD to stop at this gas station. We didn't need gas. We didn't really need snacks. We probably could have gone a bit longer before relief. But stop we must.

I really recommend checking out a YouTube video on Texas based Buc-ee's but I'll try to describe it. First, it really is a gas station of enormous proportions. This particular location has 120 gas pumps! The store is the size of a small Walmart (53,525 square feet). Inside, it is the perfect stop on a road trip. Every kind of souvenir/gift you can think of. Clothing, stickers, beach gear, kitchen decor, everything. Every kind of snack is represented: a full bakery counter, a deli counter that is nothing but different kinds of beef jerky. There was fudge, made right on the store, all kinds of roasted nuts, and all kinds of hot deli items featuring Texas barbecue. There was probably 50 different kinds of fountain pop.

The restrooms in a Buc-ee's are second to none. Huge, private stalls that are always being cleaned. Sanitizer everywhere. Go once when you get there and once as you are getting ready to leave.

I called home to ask Garrett what kind of souvenir he would like. He wanted beef jerky. So I got him some garlic variety, souvenirs, some treats and tried to make the most of the experience. Of course, I had to get the photo with Buc-ee outside. All in all, a memorable pit stop. And we didn't even get gas.

Before leaving the state, we encountered the first reason to actually use the wipers. Possibly remnants of tropical depression Fred, we drove through a little rain shower but it was pretty light and only lasted a few miles.

Onward and eastward!

TCB

The breakfast at the hotel Tuesday morning had a few options but it was kind of hard to tell because the kitchen was blocked off with a table and you had to ask for what you wanted. I did get a pretty good cinnamon roll but since I was up before everyone else, I went to Waffle House to get hash browns for everyone. They were pretty good. I hadn't even been to one before but they were cheap and good.

After breakfast, a local P3er (friend of Puddles), Shannon, met up with us before she headed to work. It's always fun to catch up with others that love that clown. She didn't have much time before she had to run (and we needed to head out, too).

We left Southaven on I-69 (nice) until we could head east on I-22. An hour or so into the day's drive, we stopped in Tupelo, Mississippi. I expected that Elvis's birthplace would be a plaque next to a house with maybe a place to park. What we found was a rather large park, museum, exhibits, and frankly, impressive stop. Tupelo more than made up for missing Graceland. I highly recommend it to anyone passing near the area.

To be completely honest, I've only ever had a negative perception of Mississippi. Much of that is justified by history but as a traveler, it was the nicest roads by far. It wasn't when close. It was also beautiful, lush and green scenery. The few people I encountered were warm and friendly. The one knock I have is that the weather was warm and humid. Yuck.

I really hoped to see America in a new light on this trip. I now know what a beautiful state Mississippi is, and I only saw the corridor that cut across the northern part of the state. I hear it has beaches, too.

Wild Chicken and Barbecue Pork

Monday morning, we picked up Linda, got some gas and got on I-70 heading east. I should note that the breakfast at Drury Inn was excellent. An hour or so into the day's drive, we stopped at a Casey's General Store for a break and a chicken greeted us in the parking lot.

We took a bypass route that took us south of St. Louis. You could get a sense of how big the St. Louis metropolitan area is by how long the bypass was, going through a lot of the suburban towns. It was interesting to still see signs indicating that we were on the Lewis and Clark Trail, despite being so far from home.

I-59 took us south, just west of the Mississippi River. This continued into Arkansas. I think it's safe to say the flattest land we've seen so far wasn't in Wyoming out even Nebraska, but in northeast Arkansas. You can see for MILES. I guess that doesn't sound impressive but it was flat.

The interstate through Arkansas was okay. Better than Iowa but that's about it. I was driving at this point and hit I-40 East.

It wasn't long before we were finally crossing the Mississippi River into Memphis, Tennessee. To the left of the bridge was a giant glass pyramid that said Bass Pro Shops. I don't know much about it and couldn't really look more than that. I drove right through the city to check into our hotel in Southaven, Mississippi.

After check-in, we headed to Graceland, hoping there would be some late activity related to Elvis Week. Since it was August 16, it was the 44th anniversary of Elvis's death. When we got there, though, everything was closed. We were able to kind of see the buildings and planes but not able to visit the Meditation Garden or exhibits.

For dinner, we went to Marlowe's, one of the many famous barbecue joints around Memphis. The smoke smelt amazing. I think Jason got a full order of proper barbecue but I had an amazing black bean burger. It was fun, fast, good, super friendly. I'm pretty sure Elvis ate there. Slightly touristy but well worth it.

After dinner, everyone wanted treats. So, we walked from our hotel to an Aldi. Like the German grocery chain. I'm not sure why it was there in Mississippi but it was. I had some lower cal ice cream.

As has become tradition on this trip, I went to bed long before everyone else. I need my beauty sleep.

Missouri Loves Company

Missouri has really nice roads and it took no time before the scenery was much more interesting than anything we had seen in a while. Waze told us we were better off going directly into the heart of Kansas City, so we did. It's pretty fortunate that we had good navigation because it would be easy to get lost in the maze. Think Portland but much worse. And because many highways start there, the exit numbers are all low and need letters to keep the clear. Like Exit 2L. We did not dip into Kansas, as far as I could tell, so that's another state saved for a future trip. We must have been pretty close, though.

We checked into the Drury Inn and Suites in Blue Springs. I had never heard of the chain but it was really nice. When I checked in, they let me know there was still twenty minutes we could grab dinner and drinks. We ended up not getting anything but that was partly because Bryan didn't hear me say that you could get a beer. Honestly, I think I'm future trips, I would lean toward this chain. It's not Sheraton or Hilton but in many ways, it was pretty close. And the rate was reasonable, right on the average for this trip.

Then we headed over to Linda and Darwin's. Darwin knew we were coming. Linda did not. She was a little late getting out of work. I had messaged her to let her know some kid sized KISS masks would be delivered soon. She asked what I was up to. I said that I was hanging out with Jason and Bryan, which turned out to be a mistake. If I wasn't busy, she would have called and chatted on the way home. It worked out, though.

We went to the Walmart and passed a few minutes. I should note that EVERYONE in the store was wearing masks. Pretty impressive and not what I was being told about Missouri. We decided to just head over to their house and wait. We visited Darwin and their son. He's a pretty cool, smart, athletic, energetic and kind six year old. He liked the masks, as that is his favorite band.

When Linda got home from work, I kind of hid around the corner in the living room. I could hear her react as she noticed that the same Bryan and Jason that I was hanging out with were sitting in her kitchen. She quickly found me and there was a long and tight hug as she started crying. Bryan and Jason were also treated to very nice hugs. I think she was crying because she was happy but I'm not entirely sure how these things work.

She did ask how long we were in town and we had to detail what was up and that we were only there for the night. A plan was quickly hatched, a flight was booked, kitty medicines were organized and Linda would be to join us in the morning, at least for a few days.

With that figured out, we set to order dinner. This is when we realized their quiet little suburb closes shop early on Sunday evening. We ended up going to a drive through Italian chain called Fazoli's. It was okay, had vegetarian choices, was inexpensive, fast, but most importantly, available.

After a few hours of celebration and catching up, we returned to our room. Barely 48 hours into our road trip and it was already epic.