Holiday to Tennessee in Mar 2024: Day 4 – Clinton to Southaven

After the excitement of the tornado warning last night, we were keen to have a very boring day today!

I drove over the road to pick up Starbucks from the local store. I would have walked, but there were no side walks and no easy way to cross the highway!

That might be one reason why Americans are not as slim as they might be – the government needs to encourage Americans to walk a bit more!

We enjoyed our coffees in our room. There was no evidence of any fall out from the tornado last night, so it obviously came to nothing in the end.

We headed down to breakfast in the hotel. The breakfast buffet was only $12.99 as opposed to $18.99 in Atlanta, but there was no oatmeal available and no yoghurt from the menu. Not a great start for the Vickster.

The chef offered to make some oatmeal, but when it came, it was full of salt, so was inedible.

A complaint was made to the Front Desk. A call was promised, but of course that didn’t happen.

After a disastrous breakfast, we packed up and headed over to Starbucks where Vick was able to enjoy some egg bites.

In terms of the Hilton breakfast calamity, we would not be paying for breakfast, and we would not pay for the room either due to the mess it was in when we arrived.

If it wasn’t for the issues with breakfast we wouldn’t have bothered with the room issues. So Hilton brought this on themselves for not doing the simple things right.

We sorted out our route for the day up to the edge of Memphis. After all of the rain overnight, it was nicely warm and relatively dry, so driving wasn’t going to be too challenging.

The first stop on our way up to Memphis was the Civil Rights Museum in Jackson.

It was located in the centre of Jackson alongside the Museum of Mississippi History.

They shared a free parking garage, and there was a $15 fee (per person) to get in.

I’m not one for spending a lot of time in museums. I’m interested in getting a feel for a place and then moving on, but this museum was very impressive.

The story from the mid-1800s to the 1970s was very well told, with separate eras separated into their own sections of the museum.

• Mississippi’s Freedom Struggle: 1865–1910
• Mississippi in Black and White, 1865–1941
• This Little Light of Mine
• A Closed Society, 1941–1959
• A Tremor In the Iceberg: 1959–1963
• I Question America: 1963–1964
• Black Empowerment: 1965–1970
• Where Do We Go From Here?

There was an audio tour available too, but neither of us were interested in adding more into the mix.

The number of incidents described in immense detail was very impressive. It was almost overwhelming.

There were also films available explaining key moments in the struggle.

It’s no wonder it’s the number one tourist attraction in Jackson.

We got on the road and set the sat nav to Grenada for the only Tesla supercharging station between Jackson and Memphis.

Another 110 odd miles later, and we joined 3 other Teslas in charging up. Within 20 mins, we were the only one left still charging.

After eating our bananas as lunch, we headed on to Memphis/Southaven towards our next hotel – another 80 miles away.

The roads had been easy to navigate all day, so although it’s been a long way, it hasn’t been too stressful.

By the time we had reached Southaven, our room wasn’t ready, so we headed to charge the car instead.

When we finally reached the Hilton Garden Inn, Memphis/Southaven, room 319 was ready for us to check in.

Vick hit the sack as soon as the room door was open to grab some highly-valued shut-eye.

The plan for late afternoon was for us to drive to The Cheesecake Factory (TCF), about 30 miles away, to indulge in something not salad-related!

The drive to TCF was like being on a racetrack. There were cars everywhere all aiming at going as fast as they could, mostly driving far to close together.

If one crashed, it would be curtains for everyone. Crazy, crazy, crazy. But great fun at the same time.

TCF was located in Wolfchase Galleria Mall, and we got there safely in the end.

It was another example of a out-of-town shopping mall that couldn’t possibly be making any money – it was dead.

TCF was pretty empty as well, although it might also have been down to the poor level of service that was in evidence.

We ordered two dishes to share: a nacho starter and a spicy cashew main course dish. Although they were tasty in their own right, the cashew main wasn’t quite the dish that Vick had in mind.

We ordered lemon raspberry cheesecakes to go.

Our server didn’t smile once and was unbelievably slow. That poor service translated into a very small tip.

Tomorrow was going to be a big day: it was going to be Graceland Day!

Follow the whole story here: Holiday to Tennessee in Mar 2024