Day 3 - we're not in Kansas any more ..

Woke up in Kansas City to a rainy morning ... funny how one can enjoy the rain after not seeing it for so long. It has not really rained back home for some time, the rain was a nice change.

In the rain we drove into Kansas City to the Grinders restaurant as featured on the Food Networks television show Diners, Drive-Inns and Dives, I had the grinder and Lu had the 'Le Hog' pizza, both were very tasty.

After a good meal we were on our way again, in need of some caffeine I stopped at a little coffee shop on the way out of town, a mere 20 minutes later we got our coffees and were once again heading south.

A few hours later and we rolled into Branson, Missouri .. little did we grasp the true nature of this tourist mecca ... what a surprise to see all the mini golf, go-carts, restaurants, tourist traps and the like all in a windy strip. We drove to the Tangers Factory Outlet mall and scored a few good deals .. nothing like picking up an 85$ shirt for $6.99 ... that was my best find.

After a few hours at the mall we typed in the address of our hotel in West Memphis and Nuvi advised us we would roll in at 2 am!! Oh oh, that was a lack of planning ... and after a few curse words to Nuvi we were back on the Interstate and making some ground. As we drove through the Ozarks (in the dark) we could only read about how beautiful a site we were missing.

Finally made it to Little Rock at around midnight and then a mini tour of the city and right back on the road again to Memphis. Lu took over for an hour while I caught some shut-eye, what a long day of driving .. had we not booked our hotel room before leaving Kansas City we would have been staying in Little Rock .. but on we went, rolling into West Memphis at 2:30 am after a little fight with Nuvi, who was feeling a little sensitive I am sure to my name calling as he continued to tell me "turn right at service road south" but it was a one way ... he was so stubborn after that too, wanting me to 'make u-turn' ... what a battle, but in the end I won.

We were checked in pretty quick, not a lot of people checking in at 2:30, got to the room, it was nice .. hit the sack as quickly as we could ... time to catch some zzz's.

Next stop, Graceland ... That's right mama, uh huh ..