Advertisement
Published: September 14th 2011
Edit Blog Post
Another long Greyhound journey sat in front of “The Twits” (overweight and smelling a little on the pungent side) a mother and son duo with a girlfriend, sister, daughter or cousin (we couldn’t tell; very in-bred) in tow who didn’t say a word but the other 2 sure made up for it, talking about the same things over and over for 10 hours – GREAT!
We were relieved to reach Memphis where we had a couch-surf set up with Chris, who lived about 20 miles from the city so we caught a cab and nearly had heart attacks when it cost $40!!! Chris was very welcoming and he lived with 4 other house mates (Vance, Baker, Tom and Bret who were all nice blokes) and his dog Cooper who’s nature and mannerisms reminded us so much of Ben (aw we miss our dog!!). We drove to the supermarket, bought the essentials – food and beer - and chilled out for the night talking and getting to know our hosts.
The following day we had planned to go to a free festival in the city, however it was raining and there was limited public transport, so instead we decided to
Cooper
Chris's dog. His nature reminded us so much of Ben go to a bar with Chris and Vance to watch Tennis and chill. We only had one beer but we stayed for a couple of hours then headed back to the house and all had afternoon naps!! We were going to go to a giant fair, but as the day went on, the rain kept going, so we decided against it. That night we chilled and watched TV and were introduced to Curb Your Enthusiasm – a very funny American comedy.
The following day Chris had made his own Bacon Vodka (interesting!) and made us Bloody Mary’s for breakfast! I thought they were quite nice but they weren’t for Mary and I couldn’t handle too much first thing. The South is famous for its Pulled Pork (BBQ) so we went to try it out at a place called Corky’s and it was really, really nice. The rest of the day we spent planning and Chris’s friend Hannah came around in the evening; an interesting character and she made some tea and Chris and Mary concocted some cocktails; a pretty nice day.
In the morning it was time to collect another rental car this time for 2 weeks. We
Chris experimenting
One morning he made bacon Vodka...and it didn't taste too bad...just not 1st thing in a morning!! drove into the centre of Memphis where we spent a few hours looking around the sights. Sun records where Elvis, Johnny Cash, Howling Wolf and others all recorded their songs…this was good to see. Next we went over to the Martin Luther King Jr memorial where he was shot; this was really interesting to see it was just a shame that the museum was closed on Tuesdays!!
Eventually we started our journey to Nashville but were delayed after some idiot drove into the back of us – great! The guy sped off and I jumped out to assess the damage; some small scratches and paint removed, so Mares put her foot down and we followed him. Traffic lights halted our pursuit so I got out and tried talking to him – he denied all knowledge then took off while I was still half in his car. I ran back and we continued to tail him. Luckily we had our mobile phone from home with a UK sim card which we could still use in emergencies so I rummaged around in the boot whilst Mary continued to drive, found the phone and called 911. We kept on his tail, forcing
Flying Saucer
This bar had 200 beers and once you drank all of them your name was added to a saucer and displayed on the wall Mary to jump lights etc, but we weren’t letting it go. He lead us into a ghetto, but luckily the police were on their way; Mary gave him a piece of her mind and he said that he didn’t stop due to a family emergency; delivering flowers to a sick relative – WHAT!!! Two police cars arrived (not like the American’s to go a bit over the top!!) and things were eventually resolved; he admitted it was his fault but unfortunately there is no way of claiming off is insurance, luckily we have bought our own cover so we shall see how this pans out. 3 hours into the car rental and we crash – this must be a new record!
We finally arrived in Nashville later than planned at Dan’s house, another couch-surfer. Dan was a relaxed guy and made us feel instantly welcome. As it was late we did not do much but have a chat then slept.
The following day we had a full day of sight-seeing. We ambled around the city talking in the various historic sites and The Country Music Hall of Fame was one on our list, although we did not go
Gun Shop
Sadly it was closed in as it was too expensive. The replica of the Parthenon was nice, set in a lovely park, but America staying true to form, had to build it slightly bigger than the original but as we have both been lucky enough to see the original this was nothing in comparison!! The evening came and we cooked dinner for Dan. He had a dance class to go to, which we considered but $15 each for 1 hr was a bit too much, instead we hit the town and went to the infamous Tootsie’s. The club was small so the crowded atmosphere was great. The front-man of the band was a character and they played some great country music. We stayed around town for a few hours before driving back to Dan’s and getting some rest.
We said our farewells to Dan who we really liked, we spent the morning looking at jobs back home and sorting Mary’s CV out and after went on a relaxing walk at Percy’s Dam before heading towards Knoxville; the gateway to Smoky Mountain National Park.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.143s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 9; qc: 46; dbt: 0.0665s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb