Going to Tennessee twice in one day (07.27.08)

So we've been in Tennessee the past two days. Not really my choice of stopover points, but this is where my mom lives now, so I'll deal with spending time in this crazy state. But it really wasn't that bad.

Before we get to that, there's a lot of catch-up to be done as we started off in Franklin, KY yesterday morning. I am not sure if this town actually exists beyond the odd gas stations, lodging options and fast food joints. If it weren't for the trucking industry, this town would be dead. But the $50 Days Inn was nice.



Anyway, our drive yesterday was to start just over the border in Kentucky from where we would head south into Tennessee, through the Nashville area, south into Alabama (a new state for me, #39), west into Mississippi and then north into the Memphis area. But of course we made a few stops and luckily stayed on schedule.



Apparently cigarettes are really expensive in Kentucky. Gas was cheap though.



The first drive through Tennessee was rather uneventful -- just some traffic and the countdown to a new state. The first thing that stood out about Alabama were the rockets, as Huntsville has a very strong tie to the space program.



There were also a lot of churches, like a ridiculous amount of them, most of which were Baptist and Pentecostal. These southerners are a church going folk, which was pretty clear on a Sunday morning as almost no cars were on the road. Except in Muscle Shoals, which is home to the famous FAME recording studios, which is where some of the greatest musicians in history recorded, like Aretha Franklin and the Rolling Stones.



Plus, the studio had some cats that Beth was into. I had to convince her not to steal them.



Lastly, I will always associate Muscle Shoals with the payday advance establishment. Where the rest of the state had a lot of churches, this city had more payday advance locations than you could shake a stick at. I guess it's a poor town.



Mississippi was boring. I had first visited the state in '00 on cross country roadtrip #1, staying in Biloxi and then driving up the state through the middle, so I've seen way more than I really need to. It's not much different than Alabama.





Just across the border, we were reminded that we were going to hell, which really upset Beth, so she bought a tractor. It didn't fit in the car and we couldn't tow it, so we sold it back. I think we're still going to hell though.