Wednesday, May 11, 2022. Brentwood TN to Stuttgart AR

Wednesday, May 11, 2022. Brentwood TN to Stuttgart AR

Unseasonably warm temperatures have moved into the central states and locals are complaining about the heat.  We departed Randy and Ann’s place around 9am and the temperature was already 80˚F.  

We intended to make a beeline to the Museum of the Grand Arkansas Praire in Stuttgart AR, but had to stop for fuel in Lakeland TN with 23185mi on the odometer.  We took on 18.96gal @$5.099/gal (13.2mpg). Our routine fill ups are about $100.  We ran into the adjacent Kroger to look for Goo-Goo Clusters because we wanted to give some to Janet’s Aunt Ruby, who really likes those.  They, and Moon Pies, are a Tennessee regional treat.  But alas, no Goo-Goo Clusters there.  We used the restrooms and resumed out journey. 

We found a Tractor Supply Company store in Arlington TN where we filled up the propane tank with 4 gal @ $3.99/gal.  This took the tank gauge to 3/4 full.  

But to my chagrin, when I opened the tank valve, we could smell a propane leak and I could hear some strange noises in the propane line.  It seems likely that the regulator has gone bad and needs to be replaced.  Unfortunately, it is much too warm outside to think about a repair like that on the road.  We will limit our propane usage by turning off the hot water heater and using the induction cooktop or microwave for cooking.  If we need to run the generator, we can probably do that with the auxiliary propane tank and hose because it has its own two stage regulator.  

We tried to get fast food, but discovered that most of the fast food places had their dining rooms closed and were serving only through the drive throughs.  We ended up stopping at the next Cracker Barrel, which was just on the eastern outskirts of Memphis.  We had the advertised $6.99 lunch specials, but our inexperienced and poorly trained waitress bungled the ticket, and it took nearly 20 minutes to get that straightened out.  The food was good, but the waitress disappeared after delivering our food and never came back to see how we were doing.  We needed ketchup for Janet’s fries and refills on Ben’s drink which never showed up.  Ben ended up hunting down someone else to refill his glass.  It was undoubtedly the worst service we had encountered in a restaurant on our trip to date.  But we did find Goo-Goo Clusters in the Cracker Barrel gift shop, so the stop was not a total loss. 

We didn’t have time to tour Graceland, but did make a brief stop at the Memphis Tourist Information center situated on the Mississippi River where there are larger than life statues of Elvis and B.B. King.  

The cottonwood trees were discharging downy seeds so heavily that it looked like it was snowing.

Downtown Memphis also has a huge pyramid shaped building emblazoned with the Bass Pro Corporate Logo.  There is a huge double span bridge across the Mississippi River, which really lives up to its nickname “the Big Muddy”. 

We drove I-40 west through most of western Tennessee, and into Eastern Arkansas.  Then we dipped to the south of I-40 to Stuttgart, which is situated about 35 miles to the southwest of Brinkley AR, driving past lots of flooded land around the White River and vast fields of rice.  There are lots of grain elevators on the outskirts of town.  We arrived at the Museum of the Arkansas Grand Praire about 4:40pm.  There was still some museum staff in the lobby who greeted us and said we could park our rig anywhere in their parking lot.  The museum is across the street from a city park with bathrooms which Ben discovered had flushing toilets but no running water at the sinks.  There is a hose nearby with fresh water though.  

The museum has wifi, but the connection speed is really terrible (<3Mbps), and the wifi doesn’t reach into the parking lot effectively.  Be tried to set up the Netgear Trek, but that was not successful in extending the wifi network to where we were parked.  Ben did discover a panel with 4 GFCI protected 120v outdoor outlets on the end of the building, so we parked the RV there and were able to plug in our shore power cord and run the air conditioning.  The outside temperature was reading 99˚F from the ladder on the back of the RV and 90˚F inside before we got the air conditioner on.  Thank goodness for that power hook up.  It would have been really tough to get through the night without air conditioning.