18 April – Nashville to Lawrenceburg

In the morning we were checking out of the RV park and glad to see the back of it. It was right on two main roads and really noisy all night. A quick restock of the fridge at Walmart and we headed for the nearest Verizon centre to get our internet sorted. We have an AT&T phone that does hotspotting, but it is hopelessly slow (hence the delay in getting the blog posted). Verizon is in the Belle Meade area (the upper end of town) and we passed huge houses, plastic surgeons, and upmarket high-end shops. Belle Meade is named for a horse stud of years ago, and our next stop was the mansion.

Belle Meade was originally 5400 acres at its prime and provided high quality horses to the thoroughbred racing industry. One of their stallions, Bonnie Scotland, has an enduring bloodline that carries on in many of the great racehorses of today.

Belle Meade was developed into a magnificent property, with a Greek revival mansion and many outbuildings. It survived the Civil War unscathed, but sadly the great panic of the late 1800s and some very poor decisions by the third generation of owners, led to the sale of all the land, house, and livestock by 1906.

The house passed through several owners and, at risk of demolition, was purchased by the State of Tennessee in 1953 to be preserved.

We did the mansion tour with a very knowledgeable guide, and the house was decked out for Easter. Following the house tour, there was wine tasting and we were very pleasantly surprised to find the wine very palatable. We have bought some bottles and they may make it home (if we don’t drink them here).

We headed out of Nashville in the afternoon, headed for David Crockett State Park for a couple of days. Tennessee is beautiful at this time of year, all rolling green pastures, and trees with branches sweeping the ground. At times it was like driving down a tunnel of foliage.

Coming into Lawrenceburg we passed a number of Amish buggies, trotting along, horses heads bobbing in time with their hoofbeats. We even had one do a u-turn ahead of us.

The Park is lovely. We have a spot by the stream, and the rain has started falling on the roof. Very soothing.

17 April – Nashville

We headed into downtown Nashville early for the Country Music Hall of Fame museum. It’s a vast building, with memorabilia over 3 floors. “The collection includes more than 800 stage costumes, over 600 instruments, and hundreds of other objects-from microphones to automobiles-documenting the history of country music” (from their website). 

We saw Elvis’ gold plated Cadillac – not all of it is gold, just the door handles and wing mirrors, but the paint is mixed with diamond dust and fish scales to give it a lovely sheen. There was a phone, a bar and a TV in the back, so Elvis always had something to do! He even had some of his gold records on the ceiling. 

The special exhibits included The Judds, Little Big Town and Emmylou Harris, so there was lots to see. The Hall of Fame Rotunda is interesting – plaques of all the inductees line the walls, and it is deliberately round to show that everyone is equal.

From there we caught the bus to the State Capitol Building. It was stately and ornate. Senate was in recess, so we were able to pop our heads in for a look. We also sat in the public gallery in the House of Reps and watched them passing bills.

We walked to the Farmers Market for lunch. During the week it is a big food court, and we had crepes followed by ice cream and wine tastings. We were not fussed on the wine.

We hopped back on the bus for a trip to the Parthenon. It is a really interesting story. Originally built as a temporary structure for Tennessee's 1897 Centennial Exposition it was so loved by the people that they voted to have it rebuilt permanently. Reportedly an exact replica of the Parthenon in Greece, but with the friezes and statues as they would have been when new (not damaged like they are today). The Exposition photos were interesting too, it was a big event.   Major exhibits were devoted to commerce, agriculture, machinery, and transportation and exciting rides and exotic shows for the entertainment of the families attending. After the Exposition was over (it ran for six months) the area became a city park.

The highlight of the Parthenon is the statue of Athena. From Wikipedia: “The statue of Athena Parthenos is a reconstruction, to careful scholarly standards, of the long-lost original: she is cuirassed and helmeted, carries a shield on her left arm and a small 6-foot-high (1.8 m) statue of Nike (Victory) in her right palm, and stands 42 feet (13 m) high, gilt with more than 8 pounds (3.6 kg) of gold leaf; an equally colossal serpent rears its head between her and her shield”.

Nashville is sometimes referred to as The Athens of the South, because of the Greek revival architecture and their reputation for education and medicine. It is also called The Buckle of the Bible Belt.

We caught the bus back to downtown and from there a taxi to the Cumberland River for an evening of frivolity on the General Jackson Riverboat. Built as a replica paddlewheel steamboat, the General Jackson steams downriver to downtown Nashville and return. We opted for the Pilothouse tour before the cruise began, so we met the Captain on the bridge to hear some facts about the boat, including that even though she is 4 decks tall there is only 6 foot of draught, so not a lot keeping her in the water. We also bagged a Captains Cocktail in a souvenir glass.

The dinner and show was great fun. The show was called Music City Nights and ran through the years and different genres of music. With a live band and seven singers, there was lots of singing and dancing action. We were at one of the stage side tables, so right up against the front of the stage. Steve thought a couple of times he was going to have a dancer land in his lap…

Lots of fun and a rather late night.

16 April – Nashville

It was a beautiful sunny day in Nashville, and we caught a cab into downtown to the visitor’s centre. We picked up brochures and maps and tickets for the hop on hop off bus service. We decided to ride all the way round first and get a feel for what was available before deciding where to get off.

The loop took about 90 minutes and passed:

·       -  The Country Music Hall of Fame

·       -    The State Capitol Building – new Greco style building, lots of columns. The only state capitol building to have people buried in it.

·        -  The Musicians Hall of Fame

·        -  The Farmers Market – good for food.

·        -   Marathon Motors Creative Village – the guys from the show American Pickers have a shop here.

·        -   Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery

·        -  The Parthenon - yes, its an exact replica of the one in Athens.

·        -   Vanderbilt University – apparently cost $60 - $80k annually to attend and they have a 98% graduation rate.

·        -  Hattie B’s Hot Chicken - the line was massive, and the tour guide told us it looked like an hour wait to get in, which means it’s a slow day. The hottest chicken you can get is called “Get the Cluck Out” and its lethally hot.

·       -   Music Row – several blocks of recording studios and hotels where the stars stay when they are in town to record. The guide told us that Dolly Parton was only 13 years old when she recorded her first song “Puppy Love” at the RCA studios. She was so nervous she crashed her car into the wall of the studio. We were wondering what she was doing driving at age 13…

·       -  The Gulch – restaurants and bars

·       - The Center for the Visual Arts.

After doing the loop, we decided to stop at Marathon Motors Creative Village. It’s a Motor factory that has been converted into little arts and craft shops, distilleries and antique shops. We did some whiskey tasting at 3 distilleries and bought some Salted Caramel Whiskey (yum), had lunch at a little diner and wandered around the shops. The American Pickers shop was disappointing. The interesting pieces were all marked as not for sale. There was a blurb about how all the pieces in the shop had featured on the show, so that probably justified the prices.

We did a tour at Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery. It’s a really interesting story – it was started by the Nelson family back in the days before Prohibition and grew into an international exporter because of their quality, and being the first distillery to bottle whiskey, rather than sell just by the barrels. Mr Nelson passed away and his wife continued to run the family business in an era where women were not allowed to vote or own property, much less own a business. At the peak Green Brier was providing around a third of the total whiskey production in Tennessee.

Prohibition came to Tennessee and Louisa Nelson had the foresight to load 8000 barrels onto a train and head over the state line where she traded for another 6 years until finally shut down by a nationwide Prohibition. The distillery and warehouse in Green Brier fell into disrepair, and that might have been the end of the story. Except in 2006, two brothers, Andy and Charlie Nelson were on a trip to Green Brier and discovered the story of the distillery. Intrigued by the fact that it had borne their family name, they started searching the history and found that they were in fact the great, great, great grandsons of Mr Nelson. This sparked the desire to buy the property and restart the family business. The local historical archives even revealed the original recipes, so they set to work. One brother became an apprentice distiller under a distiller for Makers Mark, and the other went to Business School. When they had both graduated, they pooled their scant resources to set up the distillery again. They were even able to reactivate the original licence – number 5 in a state that had over 4000 distillers prior to Prohibition.  They are about to release their first commercial quantity of Tennessee Whiskey, 108 years after the family business made its last batch. What a story! The Whiskey was pretty good too.

The bus dropped us back downtown, and we had a look at the Walk of Fame. Not being country music fans we didn’t recognise most of the names, but we did see Dolly Parton, Roy Orbison, Keith Urban, Elvis and Kid Rock. 

We strolled up and down Broadway, a street of pubs with live music, then headed back to the RV.

15 April – Memphis – Nashville

Before we hit the road we took the RV in for a check over and oil top up by Jiffy Lube. As we go there regularly it was free (bonus!). 

With the old gal getting the all good to go, we drove out of Memphis for the four hour trip to Nashville. We stayed on the Interstate as it wound its way across the beautiful green countryside. The trees are in leaf, with some of them with blossoms still adorning the branches, peeking through the greenery with flashes of white or pink. Steve spotted two armadillos on the side of the road (sadly they were dead) and a large furry animal - we can’t figure out what it was. Beaver? Very large rat? Swamp monster?

Nashville is very organised to drive in – the highways go in, circle the CBD, then head out again.

Our RV park is pretty basic. Just water, power and sewer. No internet. Also right on the crossroads of some pretty major roads, and the traffic is loud. We will need the white noise app running tonight!

We have made plans to get a cab into the visitor’s centre tomorrow. Apparently parking is very expensive and hard to find as there is a lot on, including pre-season tryouts for the NFL which sounds like it is pretty important.

Click the link below to see where we are located.
http://fms.ws/16Pev9/36.20533N/86.76815W 

14 April – Memphis

It was still drizzly in the morning, but we braved the weather and went to visit Elvis. Graceland is just through a gate in the back fence of the RV park. We were expecting crowds, but it was fairly quiet. We bought the VIP tour that gave us priority on the shuttle and an extra VIP lounge area with displays of Elvis’ more personal items – like his little pistol he carried everywhere in his boot.

The Graceland complex is vast, with museum space, the Graceland mansion and grounds, and room for two of his planes. The tour started with a shuttle bus to the mansion. We were dropped off at the back of the mansion and started with a short film about Elvis’ life. Following the film, we were sent to the front of the house to begin the guided tour. Everyone is given an iPad and headphones with the tour recorded. You can pause the guide and zoom in on pictures and also get a look at parts of the house you can’t see from the tour.

We started with the living room. It was larger than life ostentatious, with stained glass murals, a grand piano, and what would have been up to the minute 70s décor. 

From there we took a peek into Elvis’ mothers’ room, then on to the dining room. Elvis had multiple TVs in every room and his favourite chairs always had a view of the TV. The kitchen was very 70s with all the latest gadgets and appliances. Some of the staircases had shag pile carpet on the walls and ceilings. Terribly “House & Garden” for its time. 

The stairs to the basement had mirrored walls and ceilings, and we had to be warned to watch our steps as it could be very disorienting.

In the basement was Elvis media room – a riot of his favourite colours, blue and yellow.

The pool room was decorated in brocade fabric, folded and gathered intricately.

The famed jungle room was pretty full on, with African influences in the furniture and décor.

Outside there were white railed paddocks with four rescue horses grazing contently. They have their own mail box for fan mail, and the grooms read the mail to them. The grounds include a racquetball court, offices, outbuildings and the meditation garden where Elvis and his family are laid to rest. (allegedly… he has been spotted serving at McDonalds if the rumours are to be believed).

We took the shuttle back to the main complex for the museum tour. There is everything – his cars, gold records (lots of them), the famous jumpsuits, displays on his movie career, army days, and lots of merchandise shops. You have to walk through shops to get between displays, so there is plenty of opportunity to buy up big. You can even get replica Elvis gold suits for $2300.

We had a break for lunch at Vernon’s Smokehouse. American food is interesting. Very over salted and over sugared for our Aussie taste buds.

We completed the tour with a visit to the planes. The Lisa Marie includes a living room, dining room, guest pull out couch, Elvis’ bedroom and his bathroom. The seat belt fittings are gold plated, and the sinks are flecked with 24 carat gold. The Hound Dog II is his smaller jet, with just seating space and not nearly as lavish.

Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/16LOrT/35.04916N/90.02826W

13 April – Memphis

We headed to the nearest AT&T to get a sim card for the phone. Being a Saturday, there was quite a wait, and we also didn’t leave until we knew for sure that the phone was connected and doing everything it was supposed to. We made that mistake once - driving 200 miles on from the shop and then finding that the phone was on the wrong plan. 

We did another quick shop to pick up the things we missed yesterday, then back to the RV park to plan the trip. We did some rough planning before we left, but its been a bit busy. Its been raining with lightning and thunder, so its been good to be snug indoors watching it out the window.

We are going to see Graceland tomorrow and get the RV serviced, then head to Nashville on Monday. Lots to see in Tennessee - history, nature, and alcohol mainly. We should be right in our element.

Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/16LOrT/35.04916N/90.02826W

12 April 2019 – Memphis – the start of our 2019 trip

After a really long haul (about 34 hours in transit) we arrived at the Peabody Hotel last night, ate room service and crashed into bed. Up this morning at the reasonable hour of 8.30 am for a leisurely breakfast  - omelettes, coffee and juice. We checked out at 10 and got a cab to the storage yard. The RV was waiting for us, a bit dusty, but in good shape. We had her looked over by Town & Country RV a day or two ago, so she was ready to go, batteries charged.

Steve got the outside ready and Ros checked over the inside. We were missing both the GPS devices, and with no cell phone yet we had no navigation. We spent an hour or so turning the van inside out until we decided they were actually missing, not just put somewhere odd. The kind people at the storage yard desk called us a cab, and we followed him to a Walmart Super Store where we were able to get a new Garmin and stock up on groceries. Ros even got a pot plant for the kitchen bench to brighten the place up and give us mint sprigs for drinks. Then we headed to Graceland to check in to the RV park and get settled.

It took us most of the day to get all that done, unpacked, and the van cleaned. Tomorrow we have to get a sim card for the phone and look into WiFi hotspot devices. We’ve still got to decide where we go from here – we are planning on Tennessee, Kentucky and maybe some other states if we get time.