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!

Nashville TN, Beautiful COE Campground, and the Grand Ole Opry

October 04 - 05, 2014  

We are now in Nashville TN at a wonderful Core Of Engineers (COE) campground on the J Percy Priest Reservoir.  This campground is only $20 a night and only about 15 miles from downtown and the same to the Grand Ole Opry.  The only problem with this campground is that a lot of people know about it and stay here so it is full most of the time.

We left Elizabethtown KY around noon for the 125 mile trip to Nashville.  The main reason we left so late was that we couldn’t find an open site at any of the campgrounds.  This area seems to be busy even this time of year.  The only place we found was the COE that we couldn’t get availability information on.  Anyway, we did something we don’t usually do, leave with no idea if we could get a site.  We can always stay at a rest park and then just head on down the road and not visit Nashville.

Finding this COE was difficult for us since our Garmin didn’t recognize the GPS coordinates that were given.  Patty worked on trying to find an alternate method of getting directions to the campground.  Well, she didn’t find the directions until we were 3 miles from downtown Nashville where she had the Garmin taking us.  Obviously the campground was not going to be downtown so I had to pull off of the road while Patty continued to work on getting directions.  She finally got a text list of directions on her cell that she could read to me as I drove.  This was not an optimum way to travel.  Patty would say “turn on Bell Ave,” and then I would ask “how far is that?” to which I would get an, “I don't know!”  This meant that we had to drive real slow looking at all of the street signs for the street names as they came up so I could get the rig turned on to it.  We had a long line of traffic behind us at one point.

We finally got to the COE to find that they had just one site opening and that was due to a person being evicted for some reason.  The site was also only good for one night and then we would need to move tomorrow.  That’s a real pain in the ass!  Well, what are to do, we took the site and it was probably the best campground site we have ever been on. 

We were right on the edge of the reservoir with a huge secluded site.  The site was concrete with a fire pit including wood and a round concrete picnic table.  The site was a little hard to get into as it was a back in and down a hill on a curve.  It was also on the hardest side, the passenger side. Patty and I have gotten real good at back in sites though so it went pretty good.  I think this site would be almost impossible to get into after dark though.

Our first site at the Nashville TN COE.

View out of our dirty back window.

The fire pit still had a fire from the previous occupant of the site.  That was a little weird!  This site is a 50A and water site without sewage which is fine with us.  We were hooked up and ready for a cocktail by 3:30.  We have reservations at the Grand Ole Opry at 7pm and we have been told that we need to be very early so we can get a parking place.  We also want to get something to eat before the show so we need to take showers and get ready to leave.

We left the site and headed the 15 miles over to the Grand Ole Opry.  The Opry shares a parking lot with a large shopping mall.  The entrance is also just one lane from the highway exit making it a pretty slow go to get to the lot.  We got there an hour and a half before the event but that was not early enough if you want to get in one of the restaurants in the mall.  We had to settle for some Mexican fast food which was just OK.

We finished eating and went over to the Opry and got our seats.  Now, this is not our type of music but we really like most music that is live.  This Opry house was built in 1974 after the old one burnt down.  It is a really nice place; however, the seats are very tight.  Another observation is that most of the performers are very old.  We would guess the age to be mostly over 70 and some over 80!  The only performer we had heard of was Mel Tillis and he is 82. There were a few younger performers but not very many. 

The show lasted about 2.5 hours with a short 15 minute intermission in the middle.  We had a good time, not great, but good.  Would we do it again, Ahhh…no.

On the 5th Sunday we needed to move to another site.  I took a walk up to the office and found out which sites would be open for the next 3 nights which there was only 2 open.  I walked around the mile long campground to check out the 2 sites and to get my morning exercise.  I walked the campground 3 times and determined that site # 1 would work the best for us.  Neither of the sites would allow us to get satellite TV but that is OK.

I got back to our site and picked up Patty in the Truck and went to look at the sites again and we both picked site #1.  It is not on the water but it is still a beautiful site.  About 150 feet long and not even close to another site.  It really is total privacy here.  We went and paid our $60 for the next three nights and then back to the RV to get ready to move the half mile to our next site.  I think this is the shortest move we have ever made.

We are so proud of ourselves with our back in skills now! This site has a narrow entrance and is also on the harder to back in passenger side of the rig.  Patty knew exactly where to have me stop before the reverse move and when to tell me to start to straighten up.  We were in the site in one move! However, we did do some jockeying around to get the RV in just the right position at the back of the site.  Even with the last minute movements, we were into the site and the truck removed within 10 minutes.  We are feeling pretty good with that!

Today we decided to just hang around the campsite and relax.  We knew we had the move today and we pushed pretty hard yesterday to get to our site and then get out to the Opry so we wanted just a down day.  We started a nice fire around 4pm and we hung out around it until about 9pm under a full moon.  We cooked baked potatoes and 2 pork chops on the fire and ate out on the picnic table.  What a great night.

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain again for the next 2 days. We want to go into town and see the sites and maybe have dinner with music.  We shall see.

Stay Tuned!

Indiana RV Friends and Heading South

October 01 - 03, 2014   

It’s October already!  We haven’t been in the Northeast this late in the year for 2 years.  It is nice to see the trees changing colors.  It still seems early to have them change so fast though.  Now we are headed south to the RGV for the winter but we are stopping a few places along the way.  Our plans are to stop for a few days each in Nashville TN, Natchez Mississippi, Houston Texas, and San Antonio Texas. Our final stop for the winter will be Elsa Texas which we plan to reach by the 20th of October or maybe a little bit later.

Livy getting home from school on the bus.

Tony, Livy, and Patty.

On the 1st we went to see my stepfather Leon Weber and his wife Barbara.  They are living in an assisted living facility here in Crawfordsville IN just a few miles away.  Barbara’s daughter Kathy keeps use pretty well informed on their condition when we are not there.  We had a good visit but are a little surprised at their lower level of functioning.  They are both in their 80s and are dealing with some advanced age issues that will be happening to all of us soon enough.  I am thankful they have Barbara’s daughter Kathy and son Mike there to help them as much as they do.

After the visiting my stepfather we went over to Tony’s house and started a couple of slabs of ribs cooking and then headed out back to our campsite.  We met friends from the area, Phil and Rudee, who we have been corresponding with since before we went full time.  They went full time back in 2009.  Now they are planning to take a break and stay put for a while in South Dakota and work at the Crazy Horse monument full time.  Anyway, before they start their new jig in SD they came back to Indiana to visit.  We happened to be in the area so we finally got together to visit.  We had a very nice visit at our campsite before we needed to get back to the ribs and for Phil and Rudee to head to a motorcycle club meeting in town.  We said our goodbyes and had some hugs with our promise to visit them in SD in 2015.  RV people are so much fun and friendly!

Cool mural in the Crawfordville Post Office.  This is how I remember the area as a kid.

For dinner we went over to Tony’s house and finished the 2 slabs of BBQ ribs.  Pork ribs are very cheap here as compared to NJ.  In NJ we were spending about $8 a pound and here the price is just $3 a pound.  I bought the ribs already seasoned this time as they were cheaper that way by $2/pound.  I have no idea why they were cheaper that way, but they were so I just had to get them.  They came out good, but not as good as the one that I season myself.  Next time I will spend the extra money to do it myself.

Good picture of Livy drawing her dress designs.  She learned to draw dresses on her own.
 She is definitely a girly girl, she told me so her self!

On the 2nd Patty wasn’t feeling well so I took on the dinner for the evening.  First I did my usual 5 mile walk/jog and then went to the store to get a chuck roast for a crock pot stew.  YUM!  Pot roast stew is definitely a comfort food for me!  I put fresh green beans, onions, and carrots into the stew.  It was great!

After dinner I stayed and played Racko with Savannah and Tracy for a while.   Livy took over Tracy’s place for the last couple of hands.  Who cares who won (Savannah), we all had fun.  Then it was time for bed and I tucked them all in including Bailey.  I turned them into mummies.  However, I had to leave Livy’s feet out so I tucked her legs in real tight so she couldn't move.   They all gave me a "I love you" when I left, it was great!  We will be back in just a couple of months.

We headed out for Nashville TN the morning of the 3rd, Friday.  It rained all night and then most of the morning while we were packing up.  Tony and Tracy came over for a little while before we started to pack up.  They were out early after getting the kids off to school.  We waited as long as we could to start packing up.   We tried to wait until there was a hole in the rain.  We had several holes but we kept getting wet.  Due to everything being wet, it took us until almost noon before got in the truck and left. 

We had a river running over our ground mat on the morning we are packing up to leave.

Our trip today was to Elizabethtown KY about 215 miles. The trip should have been 3.5 hours but turned into 4.5 due to construction on I-65 in Kentucky.  We are at the Glendale Campground about 50 miles south of Louisville KY.  We are here just one night on our way to Nashville for 4 nights.

Going in to Kentucky in the rain.  We are crossing the Ohio River into Louisville KY here.

Our site at the Glendale Campground in Elizabethtown KY.

People here are getting ready for Halloween.

Tomorrow we are off to Nashville TN about 125 miles further south.  The temperature is still cold for us with highs only in the low 60s.  The overnight last night in KY was 40! 

Tomorrow night we have reservations at the Grand Ole Opry. It's not our kind of music but while there we just need to see and do it.

Stay Tuned!

Grandkid Time and new Weather Station

September 28 - 30, 2014   

Sunday the 28th my son Tony and his wife Tracy brought over the entire grandkid clan to our campsite.  We played corn hole and a game that Tony came up with that involved throwing tennis balls up on our awning and catching them. There was also some sword fights with pool noodles.  All in all it was a fun day and the weather has been the best!

Bailey on the left and Savannah on the right.

Left to right: Tracy, Tony, Savannah, Livy, and Bailey.  They are throwing
 tennis balls on to the awning and catching them when they come down.

Tony proudly holding up the wine bottle he removed from a puzzle box Chas
brought back for us from Israel.  Tony is the first person since we got the
thing to open it without the instructions.

Monday the 29th we just did stuff around the RV.  We bought a new weather station when we were in Elkhart last week so I installed it today.  It has a device to measure the wind speed that I needed to mount to the roof of the RV.  Today was a good day to do this on-the-roof stuff as the temperature was only in the mid-60s most of the day.

Mounting anything on the roof is not something I like to do at all.  I do not want to put holes into the roof.  So I decided to mount the wind speed device on to the bat wing TV antenna. I mounted it so that it would raise and lower with the antenna. What I do not know yet is if it will survive going down the road at 60 mph.  I figure it is, after all, a wind speed measuring device so it should be able to handle it.  We shall see come this Friday when we head down to Tennessee. 

The wind sensor is hard to see but it is on the right side of the batwing antenna.

The wind speed measuring device needs to be hard wired to the wireless transmitter that also measures the humidity and the temperature.  The transmitter also needs to be placed in an area that is not in direct sun and rain.  The closest place on the roof, without punching a hole in the roof, was under the front AC cover.  I took off the AC cover and found a place located in the air intake holes on the side.  I used plastic wire ties through the intake holes to hold it in place.  I also used wire ties to hold the communication wire in place on the antenna mast and then just let the wire rest loosely on the roof for the 12 inches to the AC cover.  I think it will be OK.

This was the first time I used my folding ladder I brought from the S&B to get on the roof.  I always thought that it was tall enough to reach the roof.  Well, now I find that it is not tall enough.  It is just tall enough to reach the slides, barely.  I used the folding ladder to get on the roof via the living room slide and the RV ladder to come down on.  It is real hard to climb the RV ladder with anything in your hands.  The RV ladder is also not real sturdy.  I have gotten along for 2 years this way so I probably will continue to do so.  However, if I see a good deal on one of those telescoping ladders I may go for it.

The weather has been so nice that we decided to make Bacon, Lettuce, Onion, and Tomato (BLOT) sandwiches outside.  I already had the Coleman grille out so it was easy to cook the bacon.  We got the electric toaster out and put it on the picnic table and plugged it into the outside outlet on the RV.  We were ready to go now! We don’t do this often, but we actually watched TV outside too!

Our site at the KOA in Crawfordsville IN.

A gravel road I did my 5 mile walk/jog on.  Very fall like.

Another pic of our site.

Tuesday the 30th we went into town and did laundry. Then, after that, we headed over to Tony’s house to help and have dinner.

We had some frozen chicken we bought in NJ that I froze the wrong way.  I froze 4 boneless skinless breasts in the store package all together.  These breasts were huge and no way were we going to eat these just the 2 of us.  So we thawed them out split them into 2 pieces then and stuffed them. They came out very good especially with the sauce from the noodles that Savannah made.

After dinner we played some UNO until time for the kids to go to bed around 9pm.  We said our goodbyes and headed back to our house at the campsite.  Life is good!

Tomorrow Tony is not working and we are planning to make some BBQ pork ribs.  We are also planning to visit with my stepfather and his wife in the assisted living facility here.

Stay Tuned!