Day 2: Nashville, Tennessee

Hoy pasamos casi todo el dia en la carretera. Paramos por un ratito in Cincinnati (muy lindo lugar, por lo menos lo que vimos mientras pasabamos) para comprar un poco de comida para el viaje en Trader Joe’s – un lugar donde venden comidas organicas muy ricas, pasamos por todo Kentucky y seguimos hasta Nashville, Tennessee. Ahora estamos en un hotelito de mala muerte, y maniana vamos a Graceland (Memphis) a saludar a Elvis! Despues queremos ver si podemos llegar hasta New Orleans….pero vamos despacito asi que no sabemos a donde vamos a llegar.

Ah, the simple pleasures of a cozy, warm bed! We even managed to sleep in a little this morning. After our complimentary breakfast at the Comfort Inn (they even had a waffle-maker) we set out toward Cincinnati. Ever since we were first introduced to Trader Joe’s during our visit to Pedro and Kris in Maryland on our way back from North Carolina, we have been dreaming of the day when we would be able to go once again. Luckily there was one just off the I-71, so we didn’t have to go out of our way at all to get to it. We love Trader Joe’s! We stocked up on some dark chocolate covered edamame (I know, sounds weird –but we’ll let you know once we’ve tried it) nice black licorice, pastas, rice, pesto, curry sauce, sesame oil, olive oil, almonds, wine, even maple syrup, etc – almost all organic and cheap (at least by Canadian standards). Then we sat in the parking lot, stuffing our faces with sandwiches made from roasted red pepper hummus, port salut cheese, baby greens, and smoked salmon on whole grain bread, washed down with pomegranate iced green tea. Yum! And the best part was that it was warm enough to at least start peeling some layers off, at least while the sun was shining.

The rest of the day was spent driving, driving and more driving. We crossed Kentucky entirely and ended up just on the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee. Tomorrow, we’re going to Graceland! (just kidding, but we do want to check out Memphis - and maybe we'll drive by for a glimpse). We have to decide whether to go to Texas via New Orleans or via Arkansas – it is a tiny bit further via New Orleans, but much more interesting….We do go pretty slowly, no more than 55 mph (come on, it's a 30 year old vehicle!) but the great thing is that we are getting really good gas mileage with this thing….

Mateo wants to let Ben know that, yes, he loves the Star Wars figures. In fact, he and Ari have been playing with them in the back seat the whole time. Right now they are watching Star Wars: Phantom Menance on TV in our (somewhat sketchy) hotel room. We just made quesadillas in the microwave and ate them with some salsa and the leftover organic greens and grape tomatoes from lunch.

Tomorrow, Elvis is in the house!