Day 28. Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Today has been characterised by very straight and very flat roads - for 230 miles through Arkansas!

We started the day with a quick walk around Memphis, firstly to try (and fail again) to cash our travellers cheques; and secondly, to have a look at the American Queen, a luxury paddle steamer which had docked in Memphis for the day.

We then headed across the Mississippi and into the state of Arkansas; and onto the flat, straight roads. We had been hoping to get the first one hundred miles done before stopping for lunch, but saw a rain storm approaching. Fortunately we had just got to the small town of Marianna, so dived into Subway (the restaurant chain, rather than an underground tunnel) to shelter for an hour or so and watch the rain.

Arkansas is one of the poorest states in America, and we definitely saw signs of that as we continued along the flat, straight roads. Mid-afternoon we stopped at Pine Bluff - probably our most southerly point on the trip. We found a nice little cafe on the edge of the Downtown area, but the rest of the centre had clearly hit very hard times. Sadly, almost the whole of the area was derelict and deserted.

Our accommodation tonight is the Rodeway Motel, a 1960s style establishment on the edge of Hot Springs. Just about to head off into the centre to look at the old bathhouses and get something to eat.

Storm Harvey is due to head this way on Thursday, but we should by out of the area by then.