Day 10 – Memphis Farewell, Roadside Barbecue and Nashville Nights
- Alan Tainton
- Jun 10
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 10
Day 10 of the Barbecue Road Trip began with an early departure from Memphis.
Well, almost.
First, there was coffee.
We wandered around the corner to a relatively new café called Ritual, which had only recently opened. Thankfully, they knew exactly what they were doing. Carefully measuring each portion of beans and creating awsome milk art. Excellent coffee, friendly staff and a much-needed caffeine hit before another day on the road.
Before leaving town, we stopped by the National Civil Rights Museum gift shop to pick up the hat Lidia had spotted and decided she absolutely had to have. Mission accomplished, we then headed to Sunrise Memphis for breakfast.
Sunrise turned out to be one of the better breakfasts of the trip. Bacon, eggs, toast, potatoes and all the usual American breakfast favourites arrived in generous portions and at prices that continue to make Australians question their understanding of economics.
About thirteen dollars bought a breakfast that would easily cost twice that at home.
After breakfast, we made one more stop at Nordstrom Rack so the girls could enjoy a little shopping before we finally hit the road.
While shopping occurred, Mikey and I patiently performed our duties as pack mules and occasional fashion consultants.
Suitably fed and with the shopping complete, we finally pointed the Smoke Wagon towards Nashville.
A couple of hours down the road we stopped for lunch at Exit 87 BBQ, a classic roadside barbecue joint catering to truck drivers, travellers and anyone who appreciates smoked meat without unnecessary fuss.
This wasn’t destination barbecue.
This was proper roadside barbecue.
The sort of place where the smokers are working hard all day, the portions are generous and nobody is trying to win awards for presentation.
Mikey, having somehow skipped breakfast, attacked three-quarters of a rack of ribs with remarkable efficiency. The rest of us sampled brisket, ribs and a selection of sides. Everything was good, honest barbecue and exactly what you hope to find when pulling off a highway in rural Tennessee.
After lunch we continued east and eventually rolled into Nashville at around 4pm.
After checking into the hotel, we changed into our walking shoes and headed straight for Lower Broadway, the heart of Nashville’s entertainment district.
The city was still buzzing following CMA Fest, Nashville’s massive annual country music festival, which had wrapped up only the day before and had drawn tens of thousands of country music fans from around the world. Crews were still dismantling stages and event infrastructure, but the crowds certainly hadn’t disappeared. Downtown remained packed with tourists, musicians, cowboys, cowgirls and aspiring country stars.
Like sensible tourists, we spent the first hour wandering from bar to bar conducting important research.
By research, I mean checking out the bands.
All the bars and I mean all of them face the street with open windows and the drummer sits in the open window, bashing away at their drums. It reminds me of the red light District of Holland with the wares in the windows. All you could really hear as you walked up the street was the crash of symbols and the beating of the base drum.
One of our first stops was Category 10, Luke Combs' enormous entertainment venue. Calling it a bar doesn't really do it justice. The place is huge, spread across three floors and topped with a rooftop bar overlooking the city.
While exploring, we ended up spending about an hour watching Liddy take part in one of the line dancing training sessions. These lessons are held every hour and were drawing plenty of enthusiastic participants, from complete beginners to people who looked like they'd been doing it for years.
It was great fun to watch. Liddy threw herself into it while the instructors patiently guided everyone through the steps. A very Nashville experience.
Eventually we settled into one venue called Ledgends Corner and stayed there for the rest of the evening.
The band featured a young singer who introduced herself as a “little country girl,” but what really impressed us was the sheer breadth of songs they could play. Requests came flying in from every corner of the bar and somehow they knew nearly all of them.
Country songs. Rock songs. Classic songs.
We even got a couple of requests in at $20 a pop including AC/DC “You shook me all night long”
Mikey and I spent a good portion of the evening trying to work out how a group of musicians could possibly know that many songs off the top of their heads.
The beers were cold, the music was excellent and the atmosphere was exactly what we’d hoped to find in Nashville.
By around 10pm Ro and I had headed back to the hotel, while Mikey and Liddy decided to stay out a little longer and check out a couple of other bars on the way home since we hadn’t really had a proper dinner.
Ro and I eventually grabbed a delicious
streetside hot dog before making our way back to the hotel.
Another day done.
Another city conquered.
Tomorrow we’ll explore Nashville properly and see whether Music City can live up to the hype.
So far, it’s off to a pretty good start.
See Y’all tomorrow 👋
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