The roadmaps are starting to get complicated, so let’s just get to it:

We next set out for Birmingham, planning to arrive in the evening and see the Civil Rights Museum the next day. When we woke up and checked the museum’s website, however, we saw that it was closed due to winter weather. Incredulous, we checked out of the hotel. We were at least able to visit the 16th Street Baptist Church and pay our respects.

As we began our drive to Memphis via Muscle Shoals, however, we began to understand why the city had decided to shut down.

It doesn’t take much ice on the road to shut down a region that isn’t used to driving on it.

We took backroads to Muscle Shoals.

Finally, we reached the legendary Muscle Shoals recording studio, which also was closed because of the weather.

Abby saw a sign for Tuscumbia, the town where Helen Keller was born, so we drove past the house, which is now a museum.

And with that, we drove back into Tennessee, to Memphis.

Next: Blues and barbecue