Mississippi Road Trip Day 11: Sikeston to Memphis

The Rundown

Photo of the day: Stuck behind a tractor on the way to Memphis, Tenn.

Sound bite of the day: The American Indians who lived in the lower Mississippi Valley, known as the Mississippians, around 1000 AD left their mark on the landscape with the elaborate complexes of mounds they constructed along the river. They piled rock and soil to create burial grounds and platforms for ceremonies and important structures such as the chief's home. We visit one of these at Wickliffe Mounds in Kentucky, and park manager Carla Hildebrand tells us about the state historic site.

Low point of the day: The film we watch about the 1811 earthquake at the Historical Museum in New Madrid, Mo. (pictured above) is riveting--yet it leaves me feeling unsettled. This town that sits right on the Mississippi was the epicenter and its inhabitants supposedly saw the river switch directions and flow upstream for a moment. At a magnitude over 8.0, the earthquake was the largest in recorded American history, and more than 2,000 tremors, some as strong as the first, were felt through 1812. The earthquakes were felt strongly over 50,000 square miles; the historic 1906 San Francisco earthquake was felt over 6,000 square miles.

Quote of the day: "I want to be in an earthquake," says my 4-year-old son who has yet to fully experience the earth shaking. "Can the guy in the museum make an earthquake for us?"

High point of the day: Our evening in Memphis begins at the Rendezvous, where my husband and I share a pitcher of beer and a full-rack of dry-rub ribs. My kids split a salami and cheese sandwich, which my daughter deems the best thing she has ever eaten. Later on Beale Street, we catch Gary Hardy and Memphis2, a Johnny Cash cover band, at Blues City Cafe. Hardy belts out Cash's ballads about prisons, trains, and heartaches with the same deep groaning voice as the man in black. When he covers "Big River" and mentions many of the places we have visited on our trip--St. Paul, St. Louis, Davenport--we feel as if he has created a song for us but the lyrics are actually about chasing a woman down the Mississippi.

Miles: 180 miles

Total miles: 1939

Hours in car: 4 hours

Total hours: 40 hours

Expenses

• Hotel: $80.95 (Best Western Coach House Inn; two-room suites are comfortable for families)
  
• Breakfast: free at hotel
• Lunch: none (we snack on apples)
• Admission: $7 (Wickliffe Mounds)
• Admission: $5 (New Madrid Historical Museum)
• Dinner: $50 (Rendezvous)

  Total for the day: $142.95

  Total for the trip: $1569.09