Day 02 – Knoxville to Jonesboro, AR

Destination Arkansas! Weather was again on our side today, starting at 55 degrees upon our departure from Knoxville. We ended up keeping our heated jackets on for half the day. Our route took us southwest to Chattanooga on I75 for a quiet and smooth 84 miles. 

Past Chattanooga we turned west on I-24 and moved into the central time zone. Around 9:40am EST (8:40am CST) we entered Georgia—for a whopping 4 miles! 

Then back in to Tennessee. Our route took us over a few lakes, one interestingly named Nickajack Lake. 

We shifted south, heading on US-72 into Alabama towards Huntsville. 

Not much was going on in northern Alabama, roads were uncongested and we watched the scenery begin to change to more open farmland.  Near Huntsville, AL, we took I-565 to navigate through the city. Not soon after we had a sudden traffic jam. We tuned into the CB channel 19 to see if there was any chatter about the issue. Apparently a car was on fire up ahead, “all burnt up” as one trucker described it. 

Our delay was brief and we got a good look at the firemen working on the charred vehicle. We were back up to speed after about 10 minutes. As we traveled through Huntsville, we caught sight of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center’s various air and space craft.

We stopped for lunch at a Subway before Noon just on the eastern edge of the TN-MS border. After lunch, we crossed over into Mississippi. 

We stayed on US-72 just parallel to the Tennessee border in extreme northern Mississippi. A few hours later we headed North back into TN towards Memphis. Traffic really picked up and it seemed like we were back on Northern VA with the usual hustle and bustle. We crossed the Mississippi River into Arkansas. 

Rob recalled the last time he crossed this bridge was during the flooding of 2011. Most of the surrounding grass and farms were “completely under water” as he put it.

In Arkansas we headed north on I55 towards Jonesboro. We saw cotton crops and big combines working the fields. 

So far we haven’t seen much livestock, mostly dried cornfields and other crops waiting for harvesting. Our route took a northwest turn late in the afternoon on Hwy 63 towards our evening stay in Jonesboro.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for slightly warmer temps into the 90s. We’ll ride through northern Arkansas for Enid Oklahoma.