road trip : day four

It was cold (45F ?) and rainy here in Grenada MS, so it's good there's no outdoor service today. The weather probably kept quite a few people at home, although mom spent the last two years in a nursing home and didn't know many people other than neighbors and relatives. I spotted several of my cousins, whom I see every few years at other funerals. It seems like that's the only consistent time that families gather. The last family reunion here was probably 20 years ago.

The "default route" from Memphis to Louisville goes through Nashville (I-40), but since I left Mississippi at noon, that would have put me in Nashville at 5pm. To avoid that, I took I-55 north of Memphis TN, which parallels the Mississippi River in eastern Arkansas and Missouri. I then took I-155 into western Tennessee and caught up with the Purchase Parkway in western Kentucky, passing through Fulton and Eddyville (state prison) for the first time. This led to I-24 and then the Western Kentucky Parkway.



Weird roadsign of the day: Eddyville Fun Park. Where better to put a Fun Park, than in the same city as the state's maximum security prison?

Even though it was The Dead Of Winter, the drive along the Kentucky parkways was picturesque (until after dark, when the only light is provided by oncoming cars). A bit more planning's required on this route; there aren't gas stations every five miles, like on the interstates.

I haven't done a detailed mileage calculation, but it doesn't appear to be a lot further than the I-40 to I-65 route (Memphis-Nashville-Louisville). It was certainly a much less strenuous drive, through lots of rolling Kentucky farmland.


I guess I should get out more. Or pay more attention to the signs imprinted on the 18-wheelers that prowl the interstate highways. This one ("MOLTEN SULFUR") caught my eye, somewhere on my recent roadtrip. Needless to say, I didn't follow it very long.