July 28 – Susannah was reluctant to leave all the music in Mountain View (even the RV park had a pickin’ shed for musicians!) but we continued our journey east in the morning. We travelled out of the hills and forest of the Ozarks and into the flat delta of the Mississippi River. We saw a number of armadillo road kills and also soybeans, rice, corn, and cotton crops growing along the road.

In Memphis, we stopped at the visitor center where Ben met a larger-than-life statue of Elvis, and we all enjoyed a scenic walk along the riverside park. Then it was off to the airport to pick up Susannah’s mom Dianne who flew in to join us for a leg of the trip. The timing couldn’t have been smoother – we pulled up to the doors just as she was coming out to the curb.

Our additional passenger safely inside, we continued on to our campground for the night at Chickasaw State Park. This should have been an easy jaunt from Memphis but we hit multiple snags on the way including searching several towns for a decent grocery store (pork rinds, anyone?), taking a wrong turn into the park (thanks, Google), then having to navigate several miles of gravel road in the wrong (and uninteresting) part of the park, and missing the main entrance due to poor signage. But we finally arrived at the campground that was quiet, clean, and blessed with horses in a nearby meadow for Rowan and hiking/running trails for Susannah. We had a tasty meal of Frito pie and salad for dinner with s’mores for dessert.

Day 30: Mountain View AR to Chickasaw State Park TN, via Memphis – 240 miles, plus another dozen or so from wrong turns and and snags!