(Ed. note: As described below, this is posted out of order because it was originally "published" by e-mail installment on the date it was written. If you don't like it, well, you get what you pay for, and I don't remember you sponsoring this blog. But I'm open to offers...)
Hello, all, Clark Griswold here with installment #2 of the Hutton's July 2008 cross country trip. We're in lovely Crossville, TN tonight at the Hampton Inn. Very nice place, damp spongy carpets notwithstanding.
We didn't make it as far as we'd wanted today--one of our fellow travelers was not so lucky (see http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/13/i-40-closed-sunday-afternoon-cleanup-continued/ for details) and that shut down I-40 for us. Short version: tanker spill in Crab Orchard TN that created a cloud of hydrochloric gas closed the interstate. Apparently that's not good for growing bodies. Not wanting to detour to Chattanooga tonight, we just decided to stay put here. But how did we get here, you ask? Excellent question...
Had a slow start this morning. We had three different shifts hit the breakfast bar at the La Quinta in Memphis (technically, Germantown TN but who's counting?) and we still didn't get filled up. Hardboiled eggs were on the menu for the Bigs and the Littles chowed on Froot Loops. FINALLY got out of the hotel and headed to Graceland. On the way, we stopped at Sun Records (cool but not as much for the kids as for us) and then on to Graceland. Got out, walked around the fence and took pics at the gate (awesome pic of Will hitting a mighty lick on his air guitar) and passed up on the $27 per head entry fee. 
Instead, headed back to Beale St. for a little lunch with a plan to go over to Mud Island afterward. Big mistake. We chose poorly on lunch (Pig on Beale does not, in contrast to the advertising, have good bbq nor are they very service-oriented; also, Jack didn't believe us when we told him he wouldn't like the bologna sandwich, but I ate it up) and the kids hit the wall there. We trashed the original plan, headed back to the car and started heading east again. In the car the kids had a picnic lunch out of the cooler on I-40 while watching a movie.We made pretty good time once we headed out of Memphis--at 1:30--and didn't stop in Nashville. On the east side of N'ville, we saw highway signs that alerted us to the highway troubles ahead. We checked it out best we could with the highway radio info station and calling our resident traffic guru in Asheville, and finally hit traffic just outside Crossville, where we'd planned to stop for dinner. We took the atlas inside Chili's and got lots of suggestions from the waitstaff and Sambo on the phone. Ultimately, we decided to head south out of town and cut east again in Sparta, TN. That was not to be, as the local Red Cross chapter was redirecting traffic and that's where we got the news that we would be heading to Chattanooga. Everything eastbound was shut down for about 60 miles. At that news, we made a 180 and headed back to Crossville, found a room at the Hampton Inn (thanks, desk clerk Gretchen!) about 6 blocks from the Chili's we'd left an hour before,managed to get our reservation cancelled in Knoxville with no penalty (thanks, LQ Rewards person!), and got into our spongy hotel. The kiddos got baths while I ran out and got a 6 pack of beer, and again at 10:30 with 5 sleepers, that's the rest of the story.
It looks like they're going to re-open some of the east bound roads by the morning, so we'll probably try to press on in the direction of Knoxville. If not, we'll head south toward C-nooga and then east and north through the Great Smoky Mountains Nat'l Park. Either way, it will be an adventure. Good thing we packed our gas masks.
Some funny things from today: Sam got his camera at Graceland. Took a picture or two of the gate and fence, but really enjoyed taking pics inside Barbara's car. At one point in the car, Will said "Daddy, smell!" We finally figured out that he'd tooted and was very proud of it. He's truly Cathy's boy. Annie didn't feel so great most of the day and had a rough day. She seemed to be bouncing back at the very end, however. Jack really enjoyed having his camera but there's no telling what he took pictures of today. He really wanted drumsticks from Sun Records but we decided that between drums and his current fascination with kung fu, not to mention the close confines of the car, we were not going to buy them at that time.
So far I've done all the driving, and my constant checking of the soft-sided luggage bag on the top of the car, I truly feel like Clark Griswold checking to see if Aunt Edna is still up there. I'm still waiting to see Christie Brinkley drive by, however...I do hear that she's single again.
Until Asheville...
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