Day 1

So today we drove about 8 1/2 hours from the burg, SC to Memphis, TN. I drove for about 7 of those hours and I was so drained afterwards. That night we went to downtown Memphis and ate some quality mustard based barbeque at a place called Central Barbeque. This had to be one of the shadiest places I've eaten at in awhile. It was surrounded by Central Avenue Liquor stores and near a ghetto, but nonetheless, some of the best BBQ I've eaten at. I've come to realize, the more shady the area, the better the food. Anyways, when we were leaving the restaurant, there was a broken down shack behind it, and this rough looking guy came out of the shed with a bloody apron and walked back to the restaurant with a noticeable limp. Whether he slaughtered pigs or whatever, I'm not sure, but funny nonetheless. Then at nighttime, we went further downtown in the main area where blues and jazz music was alive and well, and so were the homeless, and they weren't shy one bit. We were walking down the street and some guy approached us and did a magic trick, and he said his name was Magic; a living pun, go figure. After the trick, he asked for us to buy his dinner because that was the way he earned his living; trust me, many diverse and interesting people in this city. Later, Matthew and Luke went somewhere down the street, and I went my own separate way to take some pictures, and then I was approached by someone with a massive underbite, missing teeth, and he asked, "Hey kid, do you do drugs?" I just laughed and said no, he must've wanted the business, but then asked for a drink and that was the end of it (don't worry mom, I know you're reading this, I was fine). Afterwards, I met back up with Matthew and Luke, we took a riverwalk along the Mississippi. Anyways, that was day 1; we hadn't really planned much for Memphis; it was just our personal gateway to the west. Tomorrow we start a 970 mile drive to Roswell, NM to the land of conspiracies. It is going to be a long drive...