Here we are in Memphis. Again like everywhere it is hot. We are staying at the Holiday Inn and we just had breakfast of granola and coffee at the Blue Plate cafe. When we set off it was hot but there was a little breeze but now at 8.30 it is baking.
America is in the midst of a severe drought which explains some of the barren countryside we have driven though.
When we arrived last night from Checota in Arkansas we immediately set out for Beale Street to see some music and get some food. Major party time - the street was cordoned off and there were police everywhere. We bought a beer and strolled down the street, plastic cup in hand. Black kids did handstands up and down the street, music poured out of every shop front, park or corner.
We had dinner: ribs, gumbo, pulled pork and crab while we listened to the jazz band.
From time to time music would erupt from the kitchen and conflict with front of house. Nobody noticed.
The night before was our cheapest night. We stayed in Checota, on the outskirts of nowhere. The Budget Hotel cost us $40 a night and dinner at the Chinese was all of $13 and they let us bring in our own brown paper bag in which we stashed our bottle of wine.
The gremlins got to us a little during the night. A huge storm raged and trains roared in and out of the nearby train station. None of the windows had locks. Tom jammed sticks in the jams to prevent too much mayhem.
After a mainly sleepless night we motored off to Little Rock and toured Bill Clinton's shrine to himself -  the William L Clinton Presidential Centre. It was actually quite interesting with replicas of the oval office and the cabinet room in the West Wing. There was also a film of the Clinton years.