March 17-20, 2018
I pick up my car from the mechanic in Berryville, Arkansas and drive toward Memphis, hardly stopping at all in between. There are pretty, rolling hills of farmland and a few towns in this part of the Ozarks, but no places as interesting as Eureka Springs. There were hopes to find crystals around Hot Springs, but there’s no time for that now. At Little Rock, the land flattens and it’s slow floodplain all the way to the Mississippi river, where I-40 crosses on a dramatic bridge. Here in Memphis, it is warm and folks walk in the park on the riverside next to downtown. It’s a beautiful sunset on the river and the town lights up on this ‘St. Patrick’s day’ evening. 
But as night comes it’s onward to Nashville, then to Newport, Tennessee (the Wal-Mart is a good place to boondock), and across the Appalachian mountains, which we will revisit later.
At the riverpark, the visitor center plays BB King, then “Shady Grove” (a favorite song for my brother in Nashville) which i again play in the car crossing into North Carolina.
-Arianna
arianna's creative travels 