Nashville TN; HS Friend; Natchez Trace to Tupelo Mississippi

October 06 - 08, 2014  

Lots of rain, but the rain didn't really dampen our plans at all.  Mostly it rained during the night or while we were inside doing stuff.  The next 2 days we are visiting downtown Nashville and meeting up with an old high school friend of Patty’s from Cheektowaga NY.  Then we head further south to Mississippi on the Natchez Trace.

Rosey has a butterfly friend stay on her all morning.

Monday the 6th we waited for the rain to stop in the morning and then we traveled the 15 miles west from our campsite to downtown Nashville TN.  We really didn’t know what we were going to see but we knew that most everything was around the Country Music Hall of Fame.  So we plugged the Hall of Fame into our Garmin and off we went.  

It really is so nice to be able to visit this stuff during the week and during the off season.  There was really no crowd or traffic at all, just enough to make it interesting.  After we found the Hall of Fame we drove around checking out the area and also looking for a place to park.  We found a parking lot for $10 for the day or until 2am, as if we would need that long since it was now 1pm.  We were just a block from the Hall of Fame and maybe 2 more to Broadway Ave. where all of the entertainment and night life seems to be.

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is a large modern 3 story building in downtown Nashville.  It is very similar to the Rock and Roll Hall of fame in Cleveland but a little bigger.  Since we are not fans of country music, it is very hard to do a proper critique of the place.  However,  from our non-fan point of view, we would say that it is very well done, for this sort of thing.  Just to make this clear, we are Rock and Roll fans but we didn’t get excited over that Hall of Fame either. 

The Country Music Hall of Fame.

There is a lot of memorabilia, videos and pictures.  If you like that sort of thing then you will like this.  I did learn a couple of things about country music and its history so I had a good time but not worth the $49.50 for us to get in.  We spent about 2 hours in the museum before we called it quits. If you are a fan you could easily spend 4-5 hours there.

The Hall of Fame was having a special covering Kenny Rogers.

This is one of many walls of country albums.

After the Hall of Fame we headed the 2 blocks up to Broadway Ave. with the first stop being the Visitors Center. Not much in the visitor’s center but it is a real cool building. Now we are ready for some libations!  

Visitors Center is the cone shaped building.

On the corner is the famous (apparently) Tootsies.  They have roof top seating that overlooked Broadway so we could people watch from above the street.  After a couple beers for me and wine for Patty we headed to another landmark, according to locals we met, Honky Tonk Central.  Central is another bar restaurant with live music.  We both had some more to drink and also ordered some light appetizers.   We were now done and we had seen enough.  Patty was just a little woozy so the walk back to the truck was quite fun.

The AT&T building in the back with Tooties being
the white building left of the red building.

Long walk to the top of Tooties!

Patty overlooking Broadway in Nashville.

The Redneck Comedy Tour bus!

A child street performing act.  They were really pretty good!
They were singing "Soul Man" here.

Inside of Honky Tonk Central. 

Cool street mural we saw on our way back to the truck.

Our take on downtown Nashville is it mostly just like a lot of other cities' downtown areas now.  We have been to many places like this now.  Probably our favorite one is downtown Austin Texas.  We are glad we went but wouldn’t do it again.

We finished up the day with hot dogs (Sahlen's from Buffalo, if you must know) cooked on the grille. We really are cheap and easy to entertain!

Tuesday the 7th I went for a 5 mile walk/jog around the campground.  The campground is .9 miles around so I needed to go around 6 times.  It is mostly flat so it is a really easy course for me.  Patty went the first lap with me which is really good.  Her hips seem to be getting better now, yea! 

Patty by the beach/swimming area during our morning walk.

Someone made this out of PVC and now I want to make one for us!

I felt really good so I tried to jog a mile in one segment and made it!  I haven’t done that since the mid-90s.  I have been a little nervous about jogging in general as it is not real good on my joints so I have been taking it real slow doing this.  I am not sure how far I will push this in the future, just listen to my body on this one.

We went out in the afternoon and filled up the truck with fuel for tomorrow's trip south and got some groceries.  We were back by 5pm to get cleaned up for dinner out with a friend (Lynn & Early Salter) from Patty’s high school days.  Actually this friend left the school in their sophomore year so they have not seen each other for over 40 years!

We met Lynn and her husband Early at a restaurant just a few miles from our campsite.  They live real close to this area too so it was a great place to meet.  We had a great time talking and laughing for a couple of hours.  It seemed like we had known each other for years.  Soon it was time to leave so we all got pictures and hugs and said our “see ya laters”. It was a very nice evening for us!  Thanks Lynn and Early!

L-R: Patty Lynn, me, Early

Wednesday the 8th we are leaving Nashville and heading further south to Tupelo Mississippi.  We are taking the Natchez Trace Parkway most of the 230 miles.  We have reservations for the next 2 nights at the Trace State Park in Tupelo MS.  

The Natchez Trace Parkway was started in the 30’s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, CCC, during the depression. However, the parkway wasn’t finished until 2005.  The parkway sort of follows the old Natchez Trace foot path the buffalo and then the Indians used to travel.  The Trace Parkway is 444 miles long and stretches from Nashville TN in the north to Natchez MS in the south.  The entire parkway is maintained by the National Park Service.  The speed limit is just 50mph and there is no commercial traffic.  To say the least, it is very scenic and not at all busy.

It took us about 5.5 hours to get to the Trace State Park in Tupelo MS.  We made a few stops along the way to see various sites and to just stretch our legs.  We also changed drivers about half way from Patty to me.  This was the first time Patty has driven the rig in almost a year.  I’m not sure if it was me being nervous or she got tired or both but she was ready to be a passenger for the second part of the trip.

The old foot path Natchez Trace is in the background.

This is where Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark is buried.
The writing on the sign is very interesting.

We are back in cotton territory!

The Trace State Park is another great state park.  We have been told that state parks are the best and we are now starting to believe it.  We are backed up right to the edge of the lake with a large site and full hook-ups.  All for just $24 a night!

Entrance to the Trace State Park in Tupelo MS.

Pictures form our RV windows in the Trace State Park.

After the storm the clouds opened up and lit up the bank on the other side of the lake.

Our site at the Trace State Park.

We got here just in time before a large storm hit.  We had the emergency broadcast come in on our radio in the truck just as we were arriving.  We were to get 60mph wind and 1" hail.  We got set up just as the rain started, Whew!  We got lucky as most of the very bad weather went just to our north so we only got some rain with some lightning and thunder.  It just lasted about an hour and it was done for the night.

Tomorrow we are planning to play some golf at the country club here.  Included with our stay here at the state part is a free round of golf at this nearby country club.  What a deal! We are also planning a drive by on Elvis’s birth house.  We think this only worth a drive by.  We don’t really want to pay to see where the guy was born!

Stay Tuned!