DAY 39 Memphis to Nashville

(photos: a tow truck helping us out; friends hanging out in the camper; in the morning, David climbed in bed with Nora)
Our goal was to get on the road between 9:30 and 10 a.m. We pulled out at 10:22 a.m. Not bad. To be fair, we did have to add in some time for David to complain to the management that a panhandler KNOCKED ON OUR SIDE DOOR last night around 9:30 p.m. Can you believe that? We were aware by now that Graceland is not in the nicest part of Memphis, if there is a nice part, but seriously. Can you imagine? Someone coming up and knocking on the door to ask for spare change? We tied Dalice outside for several hours, but we ended up bringing him in because he was barking too much and it was keeping us up. All our stuff was still there in the morning.
OK, to be completely honest, we didn’t lose any time complaining. David went to complain while he was waiting on me to finish the dishes in order to pull forward off the leveling blocks and put them away without having half the dishwater slosh out of the sink. He said the manager or owner had floated the theory that maybe it was a Memphis cop undercover as a panhandler, because in Memphis it is illegal to give money to panhandlers. David said, “Sir, this was not a cop.” And the guy said, “Well, I’m an ex-cop, and let me tell you…. (blah blah blah)” To which David replied, “Sir, I’m an ex-cop, and this was not the police.”
Anyway, we pulled out and headed for Nashville. Things were just going well when David pulled off because he was getting a weird bounce that didn’t seem to be caused by the road. Sure enough, we had a flat. It turned out it was caused by the valve stem going bad. We called AAA and they said it would be an hour. We called back after an hour and a half, and they said the guy would be there in an hour. Then the guy called and said he would there in about an hour. He did show, with his pregnant wife and kids in tow (he wasn’t supposed to be working today) and got us back on the road. While stopped, we met a guy who was going from Albuquerque, NM to Key West, Fla. in three days. With no atlas. David helped him out with his route. Apparently he had just enough money for his $900 camper and gas, but not enough to buy an atlas.
After a stop at the grocery store, when all the kids were finally settled again, we tried to pick up a conversation we had been having before the flat. I said, “OK, now what were we talking about three hours ago?” That’s when we realized it had actually been six hours since I was last sitting up front next to him, just talking. This was on a day when we had less than 3.5 hours of driving to do.
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As it was taking longer and longer to actually get to our site in Nashville, I was getting more and more skeptical a planned meeting I had arranged with some friends this evening would take place. I had envisioned us pulling in around the late afternoon, having dinner, and then my friends coming by the campground to sit outside in camp chairs and watch the sun go down. We didn’t end up getting in until nearly 8 p.m. after the sun was long gone and we could see our breath in the cold. I called at about 6:30 p.m. to make sure there were sites available (so far on the trip this has never been a problem except at the National Parks) and she said there was ONE site left. So I bought it for two nights, and gave her my credit card number over the phone to charge it. My friends did show up, but of course I had planned on sitting outside. There were 5 of them plus a newborn, and of course there are 4 of us. So we were sitting outside in the dark freezing, with some people sitting on the wood deck “patio” on our campsite, as I showed photos of our vacation on the laptop -- a modern day slideshow, probably not much more interesting than the ones people groaned about in the ‘80s. I apologized for the conditions, and David suggested that if he uninstalled the kids’ car seats, we could all fit inside. So we did that, which was MUCH better. I felt bad for not having thought of it first or sooner. It was still a tight squeeze, though, and it only worked because Nora was already in bed up top and Michael was sleeping back on our bed. About 10:30 p.m., after sharing the cheesecake one of the couples had brought, everyone left. We played a game of cards and went to bed.