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After a couple of days in the sunshine, the big storms over Texas -- our original destination -- were finally starting to move east.  We therefore decided to get as far west as possible to wait out the frontal passage, and made plans to aim Atlas in the general direction of somewhere fun.

Our first thought was Pensacola, FL, with the Naval Museum and Florida sunshine.  However, the storms decided to slide south, so on Wednesday morning we headed due west instead, toward Memphis, TN.   We stopped in Huntsville, AL for lunch and a good stretch.  This was a gas stop the last time we were through Alabama, back in 2004, and we ended up eating at the same place -- Posey's.  Great buffet, great prices.  We are always happy to see Huntsville, and sorry to leave it.  Someday maybe we'll spend the night and take a look around!

Memphis turned out to be a fantastic destination, and we had a marvelous time there, visiting Beale Street (home of Memphis blues music) Wednesday night.    We spent Thursday visiting Sun Records (where Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash were "discovered"), the Lorraine Motel (where ML King, Jr. was killed, and the current site of the Civil Rights Museum), and we even drove past "Graceland", but balked at paying over $100 for the four of us to tour an old house.

We actually landed and stayed in Olive Branch, MS, under the Class Bravo veil of Memphis airspace, to save on landing fees and fuel prices. It was a great place to visit, and we will be back. 

Click here to see a movie of a Beale Street blues band...

Click here to see a movie taken in Sun Records recording studio.

Click here to see some more inside Sun Records...

Here are some pix from those few days:

Atlas in Huntsville, AL	Mary & the kids at the Huntsville airport	Posey's restaurant in Huntsville is great -- this was our 2nd visit	Kids with the Olive Branch, MS control tower
Bec with flowering tree in Memphis	The Arcade is the oldest restaurant in Memphis	And this proves it!	Trolley in front of Arcade
Beale Street had some fantastic live blues music everywhere!	Bec trying on hats on Beale Street	Bec & Mary enjoy malts in Dyers	Joe likes Dyers "100-year-old grease"
Mary & Kids at Lorraine Motel, where MLK was killed	The Lorraine Motel is now the Civil Rights Museum	Mary & kids with Memphis Trolley	A picture of the Memphis Airport terminal, circa 1950. It's the FBO now
Bec & Mary at Sun Records, where Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and others were discovered	Becca in the snack bar	The spot where Elvis recorded	The kids waiting for tour to start
Famous photos	Behind the snack bar in Sun Records	Our tour guide was excellent, and a musician himself	Lots of memorabilia
Bec with microphone where Elvis recorded	Joe tries to sleep in...	Two hard guys...

After the storms blew through Memphis, it was time to head for home on Friday.  Needing fuel and lunch somewhere along the way, we decided to stop in Jefferson City, Missouri, the capital of Missouri.  We did this for two reasons: First, the kids had never seen the capital of Missouri, and, second, there was a persistent layer of lower clouds along the direct route of flight from Memphis to Iowa City.  Since it was extremely windy (we were only making about 100 knots, with a 40+ knot headwind), it would have been bumpy and uncomfortable down beneath those clouds, so we opted to stay up high and go a bit west of course. 

Jeff City turned out to be a great place to stop, with interesting things to see.  With the help of the airport's courtesy car we managed to find a home-grown cafe right down by the capitol building, with great food and reasonable prices.   After a very pleasant visit -- we were off once again for an easy flight home.  By the time we arrived in Iowa City the clouds had blown off to the east, making our approach and easy.   

Here are some pix from Jeff City and Missouri:

The Jeff City Airport sign	Mary and the kids pose with the airport sign	Atlas looking good, despite a week outdoors...	He looked so good, I took another!
The Capitol Building in Jefferson City, MO	Bec coming across the ramp	Kids on the ramp, ready to go!	Gigantic canals snaking across Missouri

In the end we flew 2008 miles, in 17 hours of flight time.  Like the barnstormers of old, we flew where the sun was brightest and the beer was coldest, and added yet another wonderful journey to our logbooks...