Taking Tennessee!

"Home" in Tennessee (Knoxville)... for a few days

The great state of Tennessee was not in our original plans for this retirement trip; but neither were Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico to follow on our ever-changing travel itinerary.  We had originally intended to spend some time in the Middle Atlantic States of Virginia, West Virginia,  and North Carolina, after leaving Pennsylvania, and before heading straight across Middle America (Kentucky/Missouri/Kansas) to Colorado for Thanksgiving.  But daughter, Sara, and grandson, Jonah, conveniently changed those plans when Sara told us she had a work conference to attend in  November in Nashville, TN; and, since she was still breast feeding Jonah, the "Little Man" would be coming along.  Okay, all bets (and previous RV Park reservations) were off the table at this point; and we quickly re-arranged our schedule to be there (Nashville) when Sara and Jonah arrived, and to provide on-site babysitting while Sara was in conference sessions.

And we don't regret for a moment the rescheduling of plans, part of which, before Tennessee time,  included a nice 10 day stay in Ohio, which I've previously related in a recent blog posting.  From Ohio it was on to Knoxville for three nights before heading to Nashville.  Knoxville is home to the University of Tennessee Volunteers (Vols), thus the name Volunteer Park Family Campground for our RV Park 12 miles up the freeway from the big city.  There was lots of Orange, Tennessee's school color, around when we arrived, and even more Orange of a different shade in the Park when Auburn fans started pouring in for that weekend's game against the Vols. The head pharmacist in a nearby drug store we visited offered his assessment of the then upcoming game when I charitably offered that the Vols would perhaps give Auburn a good game.  "Are you kidding, we're going to get creamed," is basically what he said.  And they did.

Tiger fans invade Volunteer Park Family Campground

After a three night stay in Knoxville, we hitched up the old gypsy wagon (5th Wheel) and headed to Nashville, setting up another "primitive camp" (WiFi, Satellite TV, 50 Amp Electric Service, Water, Sewer) for a week long stay starting Friday, Nov 8th.  Funny thing is, though we were just two miles from the Grand Ol Opry, and  20-25 minutes from all the honky tonks and other music venues downtown, we never made it to any live music shows, mainly because we were too busy doting over Grandson, Jonah, who arrived with his Mom, our daughter, Sara, that Sunday.  Babies sure change a lot in just a couple months; Jonah has developed so much since we last saw him at two months of age. He holds his head up, follows sounds and visual images instantly, is working on trying to roll over, laughs and smiles and generally expounds in baby talk on various subjects of interest, even if it's just a ray of light or a bug flitting around.

We split time between our trailer and Sara's hotel room the following week, and greatly enjoyed the company of our daughter and grandson.  Jonah loves his Grandma, and only she, between the two of us, had the magic touch with the bottle when he got fussy/hungry, or at other times cooing him to sleep when he was tired.  My main assignment was entertaining "Little Man" on other occasions by plopping him in his baby stroller and taking walks around the hotel public areas.  Jonah likes people and he likes movement, so it was kind of a carousel at times taking him into the bar, the lobby, past the front desk folks, up to the 2nd floor pool deck; and REPEAT! The front desk folks soon knew him by first name (they never asked for my name). Once I paused near the front desk so one of the ladies could ogle him for about the umpteenth time.  Jonah thought that was cool for just a moment, then he started to fuss, and even his Number 1 front desk fan had figured it out by this point as she laughed and told me, "better keep moving;" and we did.
                                          

Hanging out at the Hotel Wine & Martini Bar

Out on the town with Sara & Jonah

 We saw Sara and Jonah off that Thursday, and finally found the live music we'd bypassed all week, in an airport lounge, some guy with his guitar and portable sound system strumming and singing popular tunes.  Was a pretty good show and cheap.  Also should note that the laundry room at the Nashville RV Park is the only such room I've been in where someone was picking on his guitar right next to the washers and dryers.  He told me it was warmer there than his trailer, and he was practicing for a live show at some downtown joint later that evening.  All in all we found Nashville to be a nice town with a number of nice old buildings, a wide variety of dining options, and, of course, a lot of good music offerings; or so we'd heard.  We would definitely go back at some point to spend more time there.

From Nashville it was on to Memphis for a couple nights, kinda starting our Westward trek back to Colorado in earnest at this point.  We actually stayed across the Mississippi River in Arkansas in a riverside park appropriately named Tom Sawyer's RV Park.  It was the only park I've been in that was on the river side of a levee providing flood protection from a major river; in other words we were in the unprotected flood plain of the biggest honkin' river in all of the USA; and it has, on occasion, overflowed its banks and flooded the RV Park.  There was an outbuilding on the park, built on sturdy stilts, which has a sign on its side about 12 feet up from the ground indicating this was the high water mark for the most recent flood in 2011.  We found the riverside site greatly enjoyable, watching tugs go up and down the wide river pushing barges, sometimes 10 barges being pushed by one tug. And it was very quiet and peaceful at night, even with the low drone of tugs chugging by 24/7.

Moonlight over the Mighty Mississippi at Tom Sawyer's RV Park

And, to demonstrate how far we, and the river, had gone during our long journey, here was the Mississippi we visited back at its headwaters in Minnesota  a couple months ago.

Mississippi River at its beginning, Late Itasca, Minnesota

While in Memphis, which is admittedly rough around the edges, we did manage to enjoy some of the great history of the City.  There was Graceland, of course, Elvis Presley's mansion, still owned by his daughter, Lisa Marie, and long a tourist attraction bringing in mega millions every year for its owners. Was fascinating viewing the Gold Records, the flashy stage costumes, etc., and the oft-times gaudily decorated rooms, all maintained with same decor as they were when Elvis died in 1977. I think he had about 3 or 4 "man-caves" spread around the premises.  We were both surprised, though, that the "Mansion" was rather small by today's standards.  There are many million dollar homes in Eugene, Oregon and the surrounding area that are bigger, for instance.

A "modestly" decorated room at Graceland

One of many Elvis performance costumes

 We also drove by Sun Records Recording Studio, an unassuming little red brick building from which the careers of Elvis and other music luminaries from the 50's, such as Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and my personal favorite, Roy Orbison, were launched.  And then, of course, there was Beale St. and Live Blues everywhere, some call it the birthplace of the Blues; I don't know about that, but maybe they have a good claim after all because Riley B. King, more commonly known as BB, plus several of his contemporaries, got their starts as Blues Legends here. According to the "historical" record (Wikipedia, of course),  BB King, as a young up and coming blues artist, was called by many "The Beale Street Boy".  I enjoyed an hour or so of live blues in a little bar that reminded me of some of the small honky tonks near Austin Texas where we've enjoyed Real Country Music in past visits there.  This was Real Blues!

Sun Records where Legends were created

                                                     

Digging the Blues on Beale Street

Another stop of historical interest was the Lorraine Motel and the National Civil Rights Museum, sited where Martin Luther King was assassinated in April 1968; very well put together exhibits and very moving.

Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel, Memphis

Our last visit in Memphis was to the Central BBQ, very near the Lorraine Motel.  The ribs there were "fall off the bone" tender and very tasty, comparable to the best BBQ joints we've been to in the BBQ capital of Texas, Lockhart.

First rate BBQ in downtown Memphis

All in all it was a good tour lasting nearly two weeks and taking us almost clear across the great state of Tennessee from East to West.  It is a very pretty state with rolling hills, pastures and trees, and some interesting towns.  We'd been there before, to Nashville and Knoxville at least, on a couple earlier occasions, we enjoyed this visit just like we had the earlier ones; and we'll likely come back again.