Road Trip 2025: Day 32

I was up early because of the heat. Once the sun comes up, it starts baking everything. While my family continued to sleep I took a walk along Arkansas River. It’s been a week since we last hiked so the exercise was very welcomed.

The Trail of Tears passed through what is now Willow Beach Campground. Arkansas was the ancestral home of the Quapaw tribe, while the Osage hunted and traded in Arkansas. In the 1830s, both tribes became victims of the forced removal from their homes. Often times, it’s just the Cherokee we remember, but there were several tribes who were pushed into Oklahoma.

Kati is still not well. The heat, humidity, and bugs are making her feel even worse. She is ready to be home. We were going to stop in Memphis today, but Kati nixed the idea. Instead, we are driving straight through to Nashville to see my brother.

We had a far more relaxing morning than we are accustomed to while traveling. Kati slept until the heat made it impossible. The campground had showers so we were able to shower and put on clean clothes, always a plus before seeing people while on the road. Then, before heading out, we let G3 take advantage of the quiet campground to practice driving.

As we crossed the Mississippi River—officially returning to the east—and entered Memphis, G3 saw the tip of a pyramid in the distance. He announced that it is the seventh largest pyramid in the world and he asked if we could stop. We did. It turned out to be the Bass Pro Shop. It is huge inside. There is even a pond in the floor that has fish and ducks lazily swimming around. G3 went off to explore the store, but I was happy to watch the fish.

To break up the drive a bit, we stopped at Century Farms Winery for a tasting. I guess we owe G3 a president’s house now. The wine in Tennessee, as we experienced our last time here, tends to be too sweet. There were a couple of reds that were okay, but nothing that made us say, “Wow, that was good.” The rest we didn’t care for, but the young won who worked there was very friendly. Her mom is a teacher and her aunt is a history teacher so we chatted for bit about the miserable state of education in this country. G3 drank a soda and read IT.

In Nashville, we went out to dinner with my brother and then spent some time with him and his cat and dog. Samson, his kitten, is an adorable terror. He is a ball of nonstop energy and he completely exasperates my brother. He is three months old and he gets into everything. When the kitten was a week old he wandered into my brother’s garage. My brother heard his cries and has been taking care of him ever since. Even though he completely frustrates my brother, my brother is very attached to him. It’s actually really cute.