fadetoblack

I know I'm behind on the end of my road trip. Here is the first part. With pictures coming later.

November 26 Friday - Josh's family sent me away with a large goodie-bag filled with muffins, cookies, granola bars, apples and oranges. I snacked life a king while I made my way through Nashville and on to Memphis. Mike V met up with me near his house accompanied by his rommmate (and girlfriend). We walked to a local sushi bar where I ate a very tasty chicken pho bowl. After that we all made our way to a bar that I can't remember the name of (something about lonely...) We all split a pitcher and hung out before they all went back to Carlos' girlfriend's house and I found a nice parking spot next to a school to spend the night.

Saturday - Having the entire day to myself, I decided to go to downtown Memphis to check out the National Civil Rights Museum as well as all of the blues cafes. Touring the museum was a thrill: they did a good job of recreating the time line of the numerous protests and moments in history which shaped this country. The Martin Luther King jr exhibit was especially insightful into the assassination and recreation of the way it all went down. It was quite moving and I'm glad I stopped by. I toured the blues cafes and many shops filled with Elvis memorabilia (his house was too fucking expensive to visit) and jazz music. After stopping by a piggly wiggly to buy some beer I went back to my favorite parking spot to go to sleep.

Sunday - I woke up early due to the 40* weather and decided to go onto Arkansas without further notice. I crossed the Mississippi and stopped by a welcome center to find the nearest disc golf course. As luck would have it there was a fine 36-hole course in North Little Rock which just happened to be on the way to my next stop. I met these 3 cool guys (one of whom was having a birthday that night) at the first tee and we played both courses together. They were all locals and traded stories about the perils of college life. After leaving Burns Park, I made my way to Fort Smith in order to spend the night.

Monday / Thursday - As has been my custom, I had a wonderful Hampton Inn continental breakfast to start my day. James called me back that morning and I was off to Fayetteville to meet up with my friend I hadn't seen in ages. I played the local disc gold course in town while I waited for him to get off work. That night (and for the next 3 days) we played magic and video games together. It had been ages since I was able to play with him and we made the most of the couple days. I visited the Arkansas Razorbacks campus while I was there and enjoyed the scenery. Damn, there were lots of pretty girls, I mean, total babes. Very nice. It was nice to relax for a couple days at his house since it would be the last place I would be able to use a bed for a week. On the last night James and I rode our bikes around a park in the freezing weather but it was still enjoyable as it reminded me of what we used to do in high school before we drove. And for a brief second while hanging out in his room, I forgot that I was in Arkansas, I was just in my buddy's room.

thanks to everyone for being so awesome