Tennessee
We picked up our final new state the first night, camping at Meeman-Shelby State Park just outside of Memphis. Of course we had to swing through Memphis to see Graceland.
We were only there one afternoon (on Wednesday, Martini Night!). We set up camp and did a quick hike. The park is near the Mississippi but we couldn’t see it from the campground.
And there was no cell coverage anywhere in the park but they leave the wifi on at the Ranger Station after hours so we took our camp chairs, martinis and laptop and set up outside to zoom for Martini Night. Resourceful!
Arkansas
For out last night before the final push back to Houston we stopped at a campground just west of Little Rock, where the Ouachita Trail starts (or ends). It was a lot warmer than when we were here last – close to 90 degrees.
After setting up our camp we decided to climb Pinnacle Peak, which we thought would be an easy hike. It wasn’t.
We started at the visitor center and hiked the first mile of the Ouachita Trail to get to the Pinnacle East trail. The last 500′ of elevation of the climb was a steep, steep rock scramble. When we got to the top we talked to some people who had come up the west side and said it was not bad so, even though it meant circling the base of the mountain, we went down the west side. It was a good call, even though it added three miles or so, it was much nicer.
The campground was nice but we are definitely back in the south. It was still 80 degrees when the sun went down and it was well after midnight before it was cool enough (low 70’s) to sleep comfortably. But we were right on the Arkansas river and it was very pretty.
Our Adventures 