BIG BEND trip
Oct. 14-21 2017
PART 8
We left off in Hot Springs, Ark. This is Fountain Street.
A beautiful road through Hot Springs National Park. It's my duty to remind you once again that our national parks belong to the people, so we have a right to enjoy them - feudalist whinings be darned.
I'm not sure what direction this is, but this is a view from the park. While Hot Springs is a credible city, it's largely canceled out by Hot Springs Village - the biggest gated community in the country, taking up over 50 square miles. All that land - locked behind a gate.
"Graffiti is a crime against nature!" But someone had written on the signpost, "This is manmade not nature."
Fountain Street again.
Biz US 70 in Hot Springs uses Grand Avenue.
It's...Little Rock! This is I-30.
A view of the Rock Island Bridge over the Arkansas River in Little Rock. This is the old bridge that emerges at the Bill Clinton Presidential Library.
A final candid shot of Little Rock. For my photo shoots, quantity means quality.
On I-40 in Lonoke, Ark., it's our obligatory Sesame Street reference.
Busted! I-40 continues, and you can see the popo with their lights going up ahead.
On I-40 in Arkansas, Memphis pops into view. Up ahead, I-40 uses the Hernando de Soto Bridge.
Getting closer to the bridge!
Looking down the Mississippi River, we see the Harahan Bridge, a 1916 rail span nearly a mile long. Old articles called it a "viaduct", because that's such a cool word. It has roadways on each side, but those were closed in 1949. Bikeways were proposed on the bridge in 1975. Finally, in 2016, one of the roadways was converted into a cycling and pedestrian path. What's the excuse for the delay? Immediately behind the Harahan Bridge is the Frisco Bridge, built for rail in 1892. The durable Frisco Bridge once allowed some automobile and other traffic on the rail deck, but it would close whenever a train crossed. Right behind that bridge is the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge, opened in 1949. It carries I-55, US 61, US 64, US 70, US 79, and TN 1. It once had US 63 too. The bridge has sidewalks, but using them is no longer recommended.
Another view of Memphis!
I-40 bips onto the north loop in Memphis.
Still I-40 in Memphis. That van uses the 1970s TANK color scheme!
On I-40 near Burns, Tenn., someone is busted again!
On the north of Nashville, TN 155 makes up a freeway bypass called Briley Parkway (like the "Salt In My Tears" guy).
A view of the Cumberland River from TN 155.
I-65 in Tennessee or Kentucky.
I-65 again, probably in southern Kentucky. What caught my eye here was the horse and buggy on the overpass: You can see the equine's head bobbing along, with the buggy in front of the semi going in the other direction.
It always gives me a warm, nostalgic feeling when Kentucky uses a circular shield for a 3-digit state route. This is on I-65. Best all, there appears to be a bird resting on the upper right corner of the BGS.
I-71 near Sparta, Ky. I have no idea how someone was able to install graffiti on the back of that BGS.