Heading Back to VA to Rest Up for Next Trip

Today we left Nashville about 9:00 a.m. and headed southeast to Rt. 40 to drive across TN and then up I81 in VA. We spent the night at a relatively new Wal-Mart in Dublin, VA and had a tractor trailer park beside us that ran his generator ALL NIGHT! Not good for sleeping, but what do you want for FREE! Tomorrow we will drive the rest of the way home and begin the unpacking process.

So long until the next trip.

Nashville Tour & General Jackson Dinner and Show

Tommy's Tours

This afternoon the four of us, Janice & Ralph and Chuck & I, took a 3-hr tour of Nashville with Tommy Garmon, who is also a comedian. With just a day and a half to see Nashville, we opted for this tour that covered downtown, Ryman, Hall of Fame, Charlie Daniels Museum, the Wild Horse Saloon, Coyote Ugly and homes of Brooks & Dunn, Dolly Parton, Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, Lea Ann Rimes, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. There were 27 of us on his van and it was a quick tour of all of the things I listed above with just two 2 15-minute stops downtown to see the old Train Station and the street with all of the Saloons on it. It made for a good over view of Nashville and we know what we'd like to go back and see more of.

Passing Glimpse of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

A Passing Glance of the Ryman Auditorium (the Mother Church of Country Music) in Downtown Nashville

Old Customs House Downtown Nashville

Nashville Downtown Saloons

AT&T "Batman" and US Bank "Star Wars R2-D2" Bldgs Downtown Nashville

Inside Wildhorse Saloon

Downtown "Nashville Cowboy" Boot Store--with a 15-minute stop, there was no time for serious buying--just looking!

Beautiful Union Station Hotel Downtown Nashville (Beautiful Stained Glass & Decor)

Alan Jackson's 500 Acres and House at Sweetbriar--Roof being Retiled

Dolly Parton's Nasville Home

General Jackson Dinner and NashVegas on the River Show

This evening we boarded the General Jackson Showboat, a 300-ft paddlewheel riverboat, for a 3-hr cruise down the Cumberland River along with dinner and a show. We enjoyed drinks and jazz band music up on the top deck before heading down below for dinner and the show--NashVegas. Dinner was very good with salad, char-grilled skinless chicken breasts with roasted red bell pepper cream, boneless short ribs of beef served in a forest mushroom sauce, mashed potatoes and all the fixings. Desert was strawberry shortcake and very good. We were seated at table 8 which was very close to the left side of the stage. So we had no problem seeing the show, but the music seemed pretty loud! My favorite impersonator was "Elton John". He sang and acted just like him. "Tina Turner" sure had some beautiful legs and could move! "Elvis" was okay.

General Jackson Show Boat

Chuck, Donna, Janice & Ralph Enjoying Happy Hour and Listening to Jazz Band

Tina (Vivian Ross-Scott), Elvis (Michael Conti) & Elton John (Mitch Adams) Impersonators

Jazz Band Performing on Deck

Fort Campbell & Nashville, TN

Fort Campbell, Clarksville, TN

This morning--a nice sunny warm day, Ralph unhooked his car and the 4 of us headed out to Fort Campbell. We drove all around the Post where Janice and Ralph reminisced about the time that they were stationed there. We even found the house Drennan Park that they had lived in and where Ralph's office was located. We were glad that they got to see all of the Post and "remember when" and check out what was new.

Then we headed out to our next destination--Nashville, TN.

Two Rivers Campground, Nashville

It was a nice short drive into Nashville and the sun was shining brightly and the weather was perfect for sightseeing. After we got settled in (Site 414 Tolsons and Site 413 Parsons), we drove a short distance over to the Grand Ole Opry to pick up our tickets for the show tonight. Well, the show is subject to change and we found out that the Del McCoury Band would not be there--bummer! They are one of our favorite bluegrass bands. Next we drove over to the Opryland Hotel--what a place. (The folks at the campground told us that if you park in section 6C of the Opry Mills Mall, you can walk across the street by the BIG rock and walk into the back of the hotel and not have to pay for parking!) You could spend days in there walking around and going to all of the shops and restaurants! They had maps posted everywhere so you could figure out where you were. After the hotel, we decided to head over to the General Jackson Showboat to see about getting show and dinner tickets for the next evening.

Gaylord Opryland Hotel

Wow, what a place! After walking around just part of the hotel, we decided to have an early dinner at Findley's Irish Pub. It was a good choice as their fish (deep sea cod) and chips was really good and we got to try a new beer - Shock Top. It is an Anheuser-Busch Belgian White ale. After lunch, we stopped in an Italian ice cream store and tried Gelato--different, but good. We walked thru the atrium areas of the hotel--all under glass--until our legs and feet were sore and it was time to go to the Grand Ole Opry show. Here's a few pictures of the many that I took:

Map of Hotel

There are 4 major areas of the hotel that are "under" glass: Delta, Cascades, Magnolia & Garden Conservatory.

Bird of Paradise Plant in Garden Conservatory--

just one of many, many plants and flowers that I took pictures of!

Garden Conservatory

Janice & Ralph Parsons at just one of the many fountains in the hotel

Jack Daniel's Restaurant inside Garden Conservatory Area

Canal in the Delta Area

Here's the Boat that you could take a ride on thru the Delta

Wasabi Restaurant in the Cascades Area

Grand Ole Opry & Museum

Next it was off to spend an hour in the Museum and then go to the Opry for tonights show. It was a great show with 8 diffferent performers: John Conlee - Rose Colored Glasses; Richie McDonald - he was a member of Lonestar, but is out on his own now; Charlie Louvin, Raul Malo - we really enjoyed this group with its sax and horn!; Jesse McReynolds & The Virginia Boys (of past Jim & Jesse Bluegrass Group), Point of Grace - 3 very lively women singing gospel; The Time Jumpers - a western swing band; and a mystery gentleman cowboy that I don't rember his name who wasn't on the program (see pic of him below).

Donna in Audience of Display Depicting Old Ryman Theater in Museum

Donna - Time for the Grand Ole Opry Show!

Grand Ole Opry

JCI (where Chuck retired from) was One of Five Sponsors of Tonite's Show - Can You Believe it!!

Mystery Cowboy Singer

What a full day we had and we will have no trouble sleeping tonight! Tomorrow it will be another full day of sightseeing in Nashville!

On the Road Again - Clarksville, TN

We left the campground in Branson along with the Parsons about 8:30 this morning. We were headed for a Wal-Mart in Clarksville, TN. Clarksville is the home of Fort Campbell. This is where Ralph and Janice were stationed a little over 30 years ago and they are hoping to get to drive on base to see their old stomping grounds. We took Rt. 60 east thru southern MO and drove over the Mississippi and then over the Ohio River into KY. Boy the bridges were NARROW. We hoped for no other truck traffic heading the other way, but were not so lucky. We had one truck pass us! I don't know how we kept our mirrors! The trucker seemed to be used to the bridge as he barreled by. I'd have to think twice about going across this bridge again. We saw lots of trees down in all of the small towns that we passed thru in eastern MO and then in KY and TN--Ike had been there the day before.

NARROW "Hold Your Breath" Bridge Over the Mississippi River

The Wal-Mart parking lot was very busy when we got there, but Chuck found a clear spot on the other side of the lot where we could "camp" for the night. There was also an Applebee's Restaurant that we could walk to for supper. We lucked out - two for the price of one beer on tap! Of course, we had our usual Blue Moon with a slice of orange in it. After, we did our usual Wal-Mart shopping and then retired for the night.

Sunday After Ike!

Oh did Ike blow thru last night! We were woken up by big gusts of wind and heavy rain about 2:30 a.m. The eye came right over us. But by dawn, the sun was out and the campground folks were out with chain saws cutting up all the trees and limbs that Ike blew over. Linda and Jim headed out early to get back to VA so they could get ready to head up to NY for a wedding and then to Myrtle Beach for a month! Larry and Mem also headed out shortly after and were going to their daughters in Indianapolis, IN to visit grandchildren on their way back to VA.

I spent hours on the computer getting bills paid and working on this blog. Chuck puttered around the coach and then watched the NASCAR race in the afternoon.

It was nice to have a free day to catch up.