Fayetteville, AR -> Bartlett, TN

Man plans God laughs.

The plan for today was that I would leave Fayetteville at around nine, get into Memphis by five, explore the city, and sleep at a reasonable hour in the nearby suburb of Bartlett. This morning it still looked like that would be the case, complete with the prediction of good weather. An easy 311 miles was in store for me. The main bridge crossing the Mississippi into Memphis has a crack in it and is closed. This has redirected traffic to the smaller surrounding bridges. I stuck to the interstate until about Little Rock. By then the traffic from the bridge closure had gotten so bad that it was going to take the same amount of time to just stick to the highways. I cursed this country's fear of lane splitting and made my way east the old-fashioned way.

Not a whole lot to report today. I stopped in the town of Brinkley to rest for a while. I really did not enjoy today. Maybe it was the overbearing heat. Maybe it was the knowledge that our country's crumbling infrastructure was going to stop me from seeing Memphis. Maybe it was the detour through Mississippi which made me further regret not visiting the south on this trip. Regardless, it was 406 crappy miles. In a journey across the country, not all the days will be winners.

I hope this is the worst day of my trip. There was no rain. I got to where I needed to be without getting hurt. Even on days like this there are things to be thankful for.

One of today's many rest stops

Today's Distance: 406 miles

Total Distance: 2163 miles