586 miles via US 70, I-30, I-40, I-55, US 51, I-240, I-40 again, I-440 around Nashville, I-40 again, I-140 and US 129 with a refueling stop in Memphis, a brief bio break and a stop at the Buc-ees in Crossville TN to purchase a souvenir T-shirt. We also did a drive-by of Graceland, Elvis Presley’s mansion in Memphis. Cumulative route miles: 2014. Auto miles: 627. Cumulative auto miles: 2114. The extra auto miles were due to sightseeing in Hot Springs AR.
This was a very long, very tiring hop that was made difficult by the heavy truck traffic on I-40 and a “wide load” truck carrying some very large and very heavy electrical equipment that we had to pass four times. Every time we passed it we stopped for one reason or another and then had to overtake it again. There was also a truck accident on I-40 that delayed us by 30 minutes. All told, we were on the road nearly 12 hours.
Our two nights in Hot Springs were spent at the Rodeway Inn. This is a very decent hotel with clean rooms, a pool, free parking, a free breakfast and nice cable TV – I rate it a 6 out of 10. Very good for the price. It was also close enough to the Hot Springs National Park that we could walk to Bathhouse Row. Which is what we did. It was just over a mile. But we then walked Bathhouse Row and some of the trails above it – well over 8,000 steps. It was a nice day for a walk. We got some nice photos.
We also drove through the hills surrounding Bathhouse Row, but were unimpressed.