Day One; Black Mountain to Jackson MS

5/22/11  Today's travel was good.  All-in-all, fairly uneventful on a good day for travel.

We got up, got dressed and had breakfast at the hotel.  Breakfast was below-par; the selection of items was pretty skimpy, and the items they had were cheap.  My cereal wore out in about two hours!

Before actually leaving, I took a few minutes to do some troubleshooting of a GPS that I had planned to use for the trip.  It is a Streetpilot 2720, now out of production, but a model that I like very much.  It was one of the first to speak street names, and it has a lot of features and customizations that most of the newer models lack.  I had not used it in over a year (it was a spare), but because I have lifetime maps associated with the unit, I downloaded the most recent maps the day before we left town so we'd have the most current maps.  Unfortunately, I didn't check out the unit to make sure everything was okay before leaving town.

When I turned on the unit once we got underway the day before, none of the detail maps nor any of the points of interest were loaded.  The menus showed they were there, but the unit would not find them!  While I knew where we were going, I like using it to find places to get gas, to stay, and to eat.  None of that information was present!  So, last night I did some research on possible fixes and tried to apply the fixes this morning before we left the hotel.  Well, the unit would not respond to the touchscreen at all!  It went from being very functional to non-functioning in a matter of a day!  Fortunately, I had packed another GPS "just in case...", and so we used it today.  They don't call me Gizmo for nothing!

About an hour west of the hotel, I remembered that I left my pillow in the hotel room!  A friend had told me, when I had told him that I was taking a pillow so I would sleep better, "You'll leave your pillow at the hotel".  Well, they were right, damnit!  I am so forgetful anymore.  So, now, I'll have to do with hotel pillows, choosing between one of the fourteen they now put on the beds.  I don't understand why hotels now use so many small pillows, none of which actually support your head.  But I'll have to do with what they give me due to my forgetfulness.

We rode on to Nashville, one of the places Bar wanted to visit.  One of the things I wanted her to see was the Opreyland Hotel, especially the large glassed-in room with the birds and trees and plants.  She would have liked it.  However, they now charge $18 just to park, and there is no parking other than that anywhere we could find. And I didn't feel that it was worth that much money just to see the room, so we passed on it.

Rode downtown and found a parking place a little way from the main tourist area.  Walked downtown to see the area from the sidewalks.  Decided to get a drink (beer for me; Sangria for her) at the Big River Brewing Company located across the street from the Hard Rock Cafe.  We sat outside and watched the people as they walked by.  It was a pleasant stop.

We then walked back to the car and got back on I-40 headed towards Memphis.

Riding west, we went through a couple of showers and gusting wind.  Nothing serious, but the winds were pretty strong in places.

When we got to Jackson, TN, it was time to stop for the day, so we found a hotel and stopped.  Checked in, freshened up a bit and went to the Catfish Cabin restaurant for dinner.  It was a mom and pop type of place, with very good seafood.  A nice surprise and a good way to end the day.  Ate dinner, drove back to the hotel, and are in for the night.

I guess this is enough for tonight.  I do have pics in this post!