Say goodbye to Arkansas and cross the Mississippi River, the largest river in North America, to Tennessee's first major city, Memphis, which has been more than two hundred years old, where sixty or seventy percent are black, and it feels like you have returned to South Africa. In the future, there will be mountain roads to the east, crossing the Appalachian Mountains, why should I come to Memphis? Probably a lot of people don't travel here, but I'm probably just out of pure curiosity, if I have to find a reason, it's blues music.
Memphis is the home of Elvis Presley, and there is a small building in the city, which is not amazing, but it has a lot of potential, and many older singers such as Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan have recorded albums here, and this recording studio is one of the holy places in the hearts of many rock fans. The first floor is a coffee shop and some displays, the second floor is temporarily closed. Elvis Presley's former home was in the south of the city, a bit far away, and I didn't go there.
I lived at Charlie's house in Memphis, and I heard Charlie say that there are a lot of resident singers in bars here, and his neighbor is a singer, a bit like our Beijing Houhai, and I once saw a movie called "The Flow of Rivers." It was a street rap movie, the story took place in Memphis, whether it was rock or blues or rap, Memphis's status in the hearts of music fans is enough to reflect.
In Memphis, the most well-known street is beale street, there are several unique bars, the bars have singers in residence, Charlie and I came to the most famous b.b.king music bar, this bar is named after the famous blues master, the singers who sing in the bar are local famous singers, the whole atmosphere is very good. And this day marks the fourth anniversary of the death of b.b.king, the king of bruce.
I stopped in Memphis for two days, and when I left, Charlie and I rode ten miles east together, and then we parted. Charlie is a great friend, he is 36 years old, lives in Memphis on his own, never drives, only walks and rides a bicycle, does not use social software, and only calls and sends messages. He took the bus back to his hometown in Michigan today.
The clouds were ahead at noon, and when I arrived, the sky turned clear, and luckily, all the way to the small black villages, the crops were full of wheat and corn, Tennessee was not only the birthplace of blues and rock, but also the birthplace of country music, and the big city of Nashville ahead was the mecca of country music.
At noon the next day after leaving Memphis, in a small town called Milan, a white-bearded old man motioned for me to listen. Asking me where I came from and where I'm going is still this eternal philosophical question. Then he casually took a few dollars out of his ass pocket, drew a five dollar and handed it to me, telling me to buy lunch. I shook my head and refused his kindness, then said goodbye to him. This is the second time in the United States that a passerby has given me money.
It was very hot, about thirty degrees, and the sweat kept flowing, but fortunately, we were also people who had undergone the test of the namibian high temperature, and this temperature was not unbearable, but the sweat did not have to pee.
All day is a rural scenery, but the road is too narrow, the shoulder of the road has a speed bump, can not pass, most of the time can only drive on the highway, the more east, the more cars, every time there are cars behind the drivers are hiding in the opposite lane, far away from me, really sorry.
In the afternoon, a small car came from the opposite lane, and the lady in the back seat of the car saw me and waved at me, and the driver in the driving position slowed down the speed, and I guessed that they wanted to say hello to me or stop for a chat.
But they did not notice the muck truck behind, the distance was very close, the muck car was completely unprepared to brake, and it was about to crash, the muck truck driver quickly honked the horn, and hurriedly hit the left direction, avoiding the car. The horn of the American truck is very loud, like a train, at this time the muck car has run to the opposite lane, because the speed is too fast, the whole body feels like it is tilting, I look at the muck car like it is going to roll over and smash into me, instinctively bow down, the whole process is too fast, there is no time to be afraid, fortunately, the driver controlled the body, pasted me, and finally accelerated away, the car was frightened not lightly, did not slow down for a while, did not greet me, gray and slippery right turn home. Looking back on the whole process, it feels like passing by the god of death.
To Nashville, it was very hot at noon, all the way to the undulating mountain road, into the Appalachian Mountains, Nashville and other cities also have another name, called "Music City", the birthplace of famous country music, there are many people on the street, but there are almost no Chinese tourists here. It's ten thousand times livelier than Memphis, there are so many people, and each bar has a live band singing, which is very lively, afraid of noisy don't come.
In the evening, I inadvertently walked into a restaurant and went inside to see that this restaurant is quite famous, many singers have eaten here, asked for a steak, the taste is OK, the price is not expensive. There is a video store, which is also full of autographed photos of singers and some costumes worn, and visiting the store here is like visiting a museum.
Tennessee's climate is very similar to that of southern China, it is sweltering, but even so, day and night, there are still a group of people shopping and dancing, and the whole city is like a dance floor. Nashville may not be the first choice for many visitors to the United States, but it is definitely suitable for those who like music.
Many big cities in the United States have many parks, and there are also long and very green bicycle paths and trails in the park, and many wild mulberries have fallen to the ground, but unfortunately they have been trampled and no one has picked them. Followed the map to a small wooden bridge, the bridge was locked, I went to another path, but the more I walked, the more I deviated from the predetermined trajectory, then the two uncles took the initiative to talk to me, I just asked them how to go, they just turned around, temporarily made me a guide, we crossed a dirt road, they sent me to the right road and left.
Going east, more and more mountain roads, it was cloudy all day, it rained lightly in the evening, Judy sent a message saying that Oklahoma has a tornado again, watch the news Texas, Oklahoma parts of the area have different degrees of disaster, Tennessee terrain is not so flat, so here is quite calm.
While in Memphis, Charlie said that I would cross the Appalachian Mountains to the east, and if I went southeast to Atlanta and then northeast to Charlotte, I replied that I would challenge the Appalachian Mountains. I've seen a movie called "Walking in the Woods" that tells the story of two elderly people backpacking the famous Appalachian Trail. So I wanted to go into this mountain range and see what it was like.
It's a bit hard to walk this road in this season, because the high temperature plus the mountain will soon make people collapse, although the mountain road is not steep, but sometimes the high temperature can make people uncomfortable. The mountains are densely forested, the creeks are babbling, and occasionally there are small waterfalls that cascade down, and after turning over the mountains, they will follow the valley to the northeast.
Appalachian Trail: Is a mountain road in the eastern United States, along the peaks of the Appalachian Mountains from Mount Catatine in Maine to Mount Springer in Georgia, extending 3499 kilometers from northeast to southwest. Travel through 14 U.S. states, 8 national forests, and 6 parks in the national park system.
People mainly use this mountain trail for short hikes, but every year thousands of "full hikers" try to walk the full distance, and it takes 5 to 7 months to complete the hike.
One afternoon I was camping on a lake called Fort Mulls east, james was my neighbor, and we camped together. As soon as I arrived, he asked me if I had a gun, and I said no, and then he showed me his pistol. He and his friends finished their beers and drove their old pickup trucks with guns to buy food, filling up their magazines before leaving.
When he came back, he lectured his child Alex, who was only about 8 years old and was put in a motorhome and beaten up, and I didn't know what was going on, he gave me two hot dogs for me to roast and eat. The lake is still very lively, fishing, swimming, playing motorboats, lighting a campfire at night, playing rock and roll on the stereo, it feels really good, there are a lot of fireflies flashing in the woods, it feels like three years ago in Russia and Vladimir they camped in the river.
Leaving the lakeside camp, I rode to Kingsport, originally made an appointment with a new friend, but he temporarily adjusted and couldn't meet, but things were so interesting, at noon I wanted to take a lunch break at a McDonald's restaurant, blowing air conditioning, helpless too many people, I stumbled upon a restaurant opposite that didn't have many people, so I pushed the car over, I was locking the car, there was an Asian female face in the window next to me constantly looking at me, and then she waved to me and signaled me to come in.
She was Chinese and was having lunch with his American husband, and I was invited to sit with them, and later I was invited to their house. Their name is craig and liao yue, craig used to work in the chemical plant, and later retired at home, he has two rifles at home, one of which is from China, $3,000, the other $300, we were chatting, he suddenly pulled out a pistol from the belt on his back, which he used for personal defense, he said he could make bullets himself, and every day he went out with a pistol, he always said that Americans are stupid and crazy, many big cities are not safe, Qian Dingwan told me to be sure to pay attention to safety.
In the afternoon he drove my Corvette sports car for a ride around, and seriously, I was a little dizzy in the car because it started so fast, like the thrust of an airplane taking off. He likes China and has a good feeling for Chinese, saying that chinese wives are industrious and good at housework, and American wives are particularly lazy, and he likes Chinese long black hair. He has a son who broke off their relationship because of drug addiction and theft and haven't seen each other in 11 years, and he doesn't care where his son is, he says he doesn't want him at all.
Stayed at Craig's house for two days, in the morning Craig dropped me off on the road outside the city and then said goodbye, he was a very talkative friend, he would be 60 next week, he always said that his heart would always be young, he would always keep in touch with every friend, he would think of me every day after leaving to ask if it was going well, he was a particularly good friend. This day is American Memorial Day, a national holiday, and the flag can be seen at half-mast in many places. After staying in Tennessee for half a month, I am now in Virginia.
Next:Virginia