Between Memphis and the Grand Canyon there is...

Imagine being in Egypt around the time of Moses, around the time he had a plague of locusts attack the Pharaoh and his kingdom. That was pretty much what our stay at Willow Beach campground near Little Rock was like!

Never before have I been attacked by such a swarm of insects. No amount of 100% DEET or swatting would keep the pesky buggers from pestering us. Simply walking across the grass would awaken hundreds of midges and mosquitoes, which would then rise up like a cloud of dust following you around!

The only thing that kept us from going insane were our friendly campsite neighbours, Joyce and Rich Williams. Both Joyce and Rich were in their mid seventies, yet neither looked a day over 50! They plied us with Margaritas, baked us chocolate chip cookies and provided a welcome distraction from the swarm they lay in wait near our tent.

The next day we gladly moved on to our next location, windy Oklahoma City. This would mark the start of our driving half-week of hell, where would be travelling three hundred miles each day for 4 days or so.

We decided that this part of the trip required something to ease the pain, so we took the Williams’s advice and got ourselves a cooler. This has proved to be a valuable investment allowing us to store a variety of condiments, cooked meats, vegetables and beer for our consumption!

Oklahoma itself turned out to be not that windy and thankfully tornado free. We stayed at another KOA campground that was well laid out and had clean showers. It did however have wireless internet speeds not seen since the time of Moses! But any day that you can have any sort of wireless internet in a tent can’t be too bad.

The next day we questioned whether we were on our way to Amarillo (or Armadillo as Mar would say) or on our way into another one of the 10 plagues of Egypt!

A monstrous black cloud rose from the horizon before us. As we drove closer, God threw down bolt after bolt of fork lightning. Coming from a country where you really only ever see sheet lightning, this was a wonderful sight.

Not so wonderful were the expressions on our faces when we arrived at the thunderstorm Mecca that was Amarillo. Running dangerously low on fuel and caught in rain that looked like only Noah’s Ark could provide escape from, we somehow managed to navigate an interstate highway that resembled a canal more than a road to find a petrol station.

These were the worst road conditions I've seen in daylight hours, where you could only see 20 feet in front of you and it was impossible to see where the road markings where.

Luckily for us we were staying at another KOA and when we arrived like a pair of drowned rats we wisely chose to forego tenting pitching and upgrade to a cabin.


Comforted by this respite from tent camping and once the rain had stopped we chose to watch the distant thunderstorm light up the sky. There’s something satisfying about watching flashes of lightning in the distance and knowing you’re not going to get wet.



The next day brought Cochiti Lake, 50 miles north of Albuquerque. A dammed lake in the New Mexico desert, Cochiti Lake gave us our first real idea of what the wild west was like. It was a quiet and spacious campground with only the very basic of facilities but it also provided some amazing desert views.


Our next 300 miles stint would bring us to Flagstaff, the last stop off before we journeyed to the Grand Canyon.


First we had a stop off at Petrified Forest National Park, famous for its petrified trees. I’m not sure what made these trees so scared but we didn’t stay around long enough to find out!


Flagstaff has mountain town feel and looks like it would be more comfortable placed in the Canadian Rockies. We stayed in Pineflat campground south of Flagstaff, which is positioned in a well sheltered valley with shear cliff sides. This was also the site of our first camp fire, constructed with some dead wood found nearby.


After Flagstaff we made our way to a big hole in the ground known as the Grand Canyon…

Walking in Memphis

What a place! I would gladly come back here for a few days. We visited Graceland, Elvis Presley’s mansion. I think we were the youngest couple there. It was decorated with typical 1970’s furniture, splashes of blue and green and carpet everywhere, even on the ceiling! He was the ‘King’.




Then we went to the home of another king, to Beale Street where BB King has his club and where big stars like Elvis and Johnny Cash got their big breaks. There were live bands on every corner, beers flowing and the street was pedestrianised for three blocks. Who could ask for more?



We could! Because after our little adventure there we left and went to our first baseball game. It was a minor league game between the Memphis Redbirds and the Iowa Cubs. It was not what I had imagined let me tell you. It was sooooo slow – after each half inning there was a pause where the other team would warm up or something. Definitely not the game for me! I realised I’m more of a rugby girl where there is more action. Having said that I couldn’t stop checking out the Cubs right outfielder’s firm arse - I was mesmerised! Tom on the other hand was mesmerised by the actually sporting element of the game!


Check this out and listen to the lyrics, I never noticed it included Graceland :)

Navigating New York to Nashville

Let’s start with a personal safety tip. If you’re going to travel from a hotel to an airport car rental site using public transport all while carrying a 25kg rucksack on your back you need to do three things. They are:

1. Prepare with at least 6 months of high intensity weight training, focussing on the legs and lower back and combine that with thorough a cardiovascular workout programme.
2. Treat escalators with the same contempt you would a rabid dog or a rattle snake and avoid.
3. DO NOT take the bag off your back for any reason until you reach your destination.

Unfortunately while waiting for a New York subway transfer to JFK airport, Mar chose to throw caution to the wind, took off her rucksack, and then promptly tore a muscle in her neck while trying to lift the bag back onto her back.

What did this mean for me…? Three days of providing massage therapy and taking on board all of the driving.

One thing that jumps out at you when you drive in America is that absolutely no one keeps to the speed limit! The only thing to keep us company below 65mph on the interstate highway was an overweight truck and a couple of other driving tourists.



Our first stop after New York was our KOA (Kamping Organization of America) campsite in West Chester Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia.

This was a good introduction to our camping experience – good facilities, a spacious campsite and free wifi internet in our tent! Adjacent to our campsite we discovered a little used railroad. For the two days we were there, the local diesel engine only drove up the tracks once.



After West Chester, we spent two night in Greenbelt National Park, a small park surrounded by suburbia ten miles north of Washington DC. We used this as our base to visit the capitol, driving only a couple of miles to get a metro train into the Smithsonian station, halfway between the Washington Monument and Capitol Hill.



This was the first day we experienced real heat, well real heat for someone Irish at least. The temperature was in the high 20s Celsius/low 80s Fahrenheit.

In DC we met my friend Jen and went for a few drinks in the Capitol City Brewing Company, which is a micro-brewery restaurant and bar. It was an alcohol free night for me as I was designated driver for the night, but Mar gave Jen a good run for her money in the drinking stakes and we all had a great time.

The next day we journeyed to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia where we camped for one night. Although we didn’t really get a chance to fully appreciate the park, I did get my first brief glimpse of a black bear. Sadly I was driving and we had no time to stop and take photos.



However Mar told me the next morning that she awoke in the middle of the night to the vicious growl of a snarling bear. This was however followed by what she believed was a ranger telling people to be quiet, so it was more likely to be the midnight groans of some camping college students nearby.

The next stop on our trip was Horseshoe Point campground near Henry, Virginia, halfway between Shenandoah and Knoxville. This was the first US Army Corps of Engineers campground we stayed in. Compared to the National Park campsites we had stayed in up to this point, the facilities available were a significant improvement.

As with most Army Corps of Engineer campgrounds Horseshoe Point is located beside a lake. This means you get to hear the sound of speedboats rushing up and down the lake and children playing in the man-made beach at the lakeshore.



The next day, on our way to Cades Cove campground in the Great Smoky Mountains we passed through the town of Sevier. It was like a mini Las Vegas without the casinos, with plenty of themed hotels including one built to appear as if it were upside down.



After a night in Cades Cove we bypassed Knoxville and headed straight to Nashville. With neither of us having much interest in country music however the highlight of our two days there was the campsite situated right on the J Percy Priest lakeshore.

The lake was shallow enough that you could in the first few yards and there was a conveniently placed three stump to sit on where you could admire the view.



Surprisingly, the campsite was relatively insect free, possibly thanks to the family of ducklings that would come into to the campsite each morning with their mother to rummage for insects on the ground.

Next up was Memphis….