Up early as we are off on our final part of our American Adventure. Taxi took us to train station and we checked in. It was not as laid back as last time and my case was over weight so we had to do a bit of sorting but got there ok in the end. We boarded the train feeling like experienced Amtrak travellers after our previous 40 hour stint! We had roomettes again but this time we are not sleeping overnight the journey should only be 8 hours(fingers crossed). We settled our stuff in and made our way to the observation coach. The passing countryside was fascinating as it went through swamp lands and we saw alligators,turtles,egrits,herons and we think we may have seen an eagle(not sure about this). The other passengers were friendly and the time passed quickly. We had dinner and then spent the rest of the trip in our rooms. The train had to wait for a couple of freight trains so we were about an hour late so not too bad....
The station at Memphis was an uninviting place and there were no taxis waiting because the train was late they had all left! There were several people waiting and one of the station porters phoned up for us. We waited for an hour before a taxi came. Two left and a third appeared and a family of three from Memphis offered to share with us so 7 of us squeezed into this taxi and made our way to the hotel. The family warned us not to go out late at night as it was not safe there is a lot of crime in Memphis apparently. We were beginning to wish we hadn't come....