Our Road Trips

10/12/2015

9/24-10/1/2015

We are off again for a short time, probably less than a month. First stop is Blue Ridge, Ga and the 19^th annual Orlando Firefighters Reunion at Pete Thomas’ pavilion. We haven’t been there since 2013, since we were on our way home from Alaska in 2014. We left home planning to take 2 days to get there, so we stopped the first night in Cordele, Ga at a park close to I-75. It was raining when we stopped, so our hook-up was quick. We did have cable, so we were able to get the Thursday night game to watch while we ate dinner. We got some sleep and started out again about 9 am. The ride through Atlanta was slow, as usual, LOTS of traffic for the middle of the day. We arrived in Blue Ridge about 130 and got parked at Pete’s place. He had built 3 RV spaces since we were there last, so we had 30 amps and a quiet place to sleep. Another friend is camped next to us with a rented trailer, nice to have people you know around. We spend the next 48 hours re-acquainting with longtime friends and enjoying the comradery that only Firefighters can understand…we all have our own lives, opinions & reasons for doing what we do, but for 48 hours, we are all part of the Firefighter Brotherhood, and it is amazing.

On Sunday morning, we pack up and say our good-byes to all. Moving to the next adventure. We drive as far as Nashville and get settled in at Cages Bend Army Corps park on the Old Hickory Lake, part of the Cumberland River about 20 miles NE of Nashville. The park is beautiful and about ½ of the sites are water front. Nashville is a ½ hour away, so we go downtown. It has been 35 years since we have spent any time here, been through numerous times, but never stopped. What we find is a revitalized city that has discovered that people are interested in having a good time. The area surrounding the Ryman Auditorium used to be a blighted area with empty buildings everywhere. Those empty buildings are now 2 & 3 story bars/night clubs/honky tonks and every one has at least one live band, some up to 3. And the Ryman has been renovated and has live shows 3 nights a week. So, we start making some plans for our time there, first checking out about 5 of these clubs…what a blast. We have reservations to The Grand Ole Opry for Tuesday night and we make reservations for a show at the Ryman for Thursday. In between, we drive down and check out some more clubs and tour the Country Music Hall of Fame, none of which were there the last time we were here…like a different city. And it is a LOT of fun. We will be back as often as possible. And the music is not all Country. Sure, you will hear a Johnny Cash song, but you will hear plenty of other performers too that you would not expect in Nashville…fun times!

On Tuesday, we spent the day walking through the Country Music Hall of Fame. It is a walk down memory lane that is very involved, from a huge display dedicated to Sam Phillips, another to Trisha Yearwood and yet another to some of the current stars (which I found weird for in the Hall of Fame). But it also had a lot of the greats from the 1940's-today, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Conway Twitty, Waylon Jennings and a lot more…it is a fun visit. From there we drove to the Grand Ole Opry, which is celebrating 90 years of existence and one of the performers (Dierks Bentley) celebrating 10 years, so there was some extra whooping & hollering, but it was a fun night. We stopped at the Nashville Palace on the way back to the camper…honky tonk music at its best. They tried to charge us for about $10 plus the tip too much…another reminder to scrutinize every check when it is presented.

On Wednesday, we hung out at the camper until about 3, then drove into Nashville to visit & tour the State Capitol. We thought we could catch the guided tour at 4 but they had stopped tours at 3, so we did a self-guided tour. It is not very big compared to others we have toured, but is a pretty building and had recently gone through an extensive renovation, so it is in great shape. They ran us off at 430 so we walked a few blocks to the Tennessee Museum. That place is huge, artifacts back to the dinosaurs & all the way to today…a lot of Civil War era stuff. They ran us off at 530, so we retrieved our car from a parking garage and drove downtown. We found a $7 after 5 parking garage close to Broadway and visited a few of the many places and listened to the bands and looked at all the memorabilia on the walls. There is lots of it, like being in a live concert, in a museum, that serves beer…amazing. At 730, we got in our car and drove the 2 miles to the 5 Spot, a little Honky Tonk that put 4 different performers on stage over about 3 hours. It was a great night, about 7 bands we had never heard before…fun times.

On Thursday, we hung out at our beautiful campsite until 4 & headed to the Ryman Auditorium for the 7 pm show. We found a place to park, got something to eat ($28 for a piece of chicken & 2 drinks…yikes!) and walked next door and took our seat on the ground floor near the back of the room and watched the show. Larry Gatlin is the host of these shows and he thinks he is a lot funnier than he is and also thinks everyone who pays $48 to come in the door also is just waiting for a giant sing-along of ‘All the Gold in California’ with Larry…lol. It is pretty pathetic. But we enjoyed the show, which culminated with a 3 song medley by Crystal Gayle, Loretta Lynn’s little sister. Her hair is still very long but she is 35 years older than she was the last time we saw her…her voice is a little raspier and she has a few wrinkles, but it was fun to see her again. After the show, we walked a block to Broadway and visited 3-4 more Honky Tonks and then made our way back to the camper. We have enjoyed ‘Nashvegas’…time to move on.

Steve & Barb Larson