![](\"https:\/\/www.simonsdiary.co.uk\/written%20work\/Traveldiaries\/us%20tour%202003\/ustour2003day5\/road%20block1.jpg\")
\nAfter a half hour wait in traffic we managed to get off the motorway
\nonly to find a far slower jam.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
This morning I managed to post a few diary pages and check my emails. I also managed to rearrange the end part of this tour. Now if all goes to plan i shall be leaving Larry 4 days earlier than we’d arranged which means no Grand Canyon, and no Las Vegas, even though Larry had informed me that Las Vegas wasn’t likely to happen anyway. Instead I shall be staying with an Internet buddy in South Carolina. I felt that as much as the Grand Canyon is a fantastic wonder I wanted to change the pace of this trip so that it was less of a “Simon and Larry drive around America and drive each other up the wall” scenario.<\/p>\n
Today started well but shortly after lunch we hit a traffic jam near Louisville, we didn’t get out of it for 2 hours. The day was just driving and given the time we put in to it we didn’t cover enough miles. We finally got to our destination, Memphis, tired and frustrated so I didn’t get to write any of the diary nor get to the Internet. But behind the frustration lay a quiet excitement because tomorrow I should be realising one of my life time’s ambitions, this being to visit Elvis Presley’s home Graceland.<\/p>\n
\n
\nAfter a half hour wait in traffic we managed to get off the motorway
\nonly to find a far slower jam.<\/p>\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.simonsdiary.co.uk\/written%20work\/Traveldiaries\/us%20tour%202003\/ustour2003day5\/back%20of%20truck.jpg\")
\nStill the view was interesting for a short while<\/p>\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.simonsdiary.co.uk\/written%20work\/Traveldiaries\/us%20tour%202003\/ustour2003day5\/WOMAN%20ON%20MOTOR%20BIKE.jpg\")
\nNow I could pretend that the reason I took this
\nwas to point out the disabled sign on the number plate
\nbut I think you probably know me a bit better than that.<\/p>\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.simonsdiary.co.uk\/written%20work\/Traveldiaries\/us%20tour%202003\/ustour2003day5\/approach%20to%20nashville.jpg\")
Entering Nashville home of the “Grand Ole Opry”<\/p>\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.simonsdiary.co.uk\/written%20work\/Traveldiaries\/us%20tour%202003\/ustour2003day5\/bible%20belt%201.jpg\")
We now enter the Bible Belt and immediately it becomes apparent, from
\nreligious radio and TV stations, to the kind of names local companies use.<\/p>\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.simonsdiary.co.uk\/written%20work\/Traveldiaries\/us%20tour%202003\/ustour2003day5\/cat%20walk%20time.jpg\")
\nLarry decides the cats need to have a walk (euphemism for toilet), but outside of
\nfearfully checking the picnic area out things don’t happen the way Larry hoped.
\nIf the cicadas at Larry’s sisters house had been loud they did not compare to
\nthe sound the tree frogs made at this car park. They were louder than the lorries.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.simonsdiary.co.uk\/written%20work\/Traveldiaries\/us%20tour%202003\/ustour2003day5\/bad%20place%20to%20eat.jpg\")
The only food available at this service station was from
\nthe caravan on the left. So we went hungry.<\/p>\n