When we go to a new area we usually reach out to people and ask where are good places to eat and our friend Mark (and another friend, Jane, who you will remember from our stop in Omaha last summer) recommended The Loveless Cafe. Unfortunately we initially tried to go on a Sunday and the wait to eat was 1 hour and 45 minutes. That is not a typo, so I took an early lunch break on Thursday and we arrived at 11am. The wait was still 10 minutes, but we got in right away and saw immediately why the waits were so long. The restaurant was relatively tiny (smaller than a Cracker Barrel) and with such high demand we understood the wait times.
Its a cool story and I couldn’t wait to try the fried chicken and see what all the fuss was about
The other buildings have been repurposed into event locations and shops
The inside was full of pictures of famous people who had eaten here.
We also went and visited the Marathon Motor Works. We were drawn there by the Jack Daniels Store, but I was completely enamored by the interior. We have seen many old factories converted to shop spaces but have never seen the old machinery used as decoration. It was super, super cool and unique.
We knew it was cool when the Redneck Riviera Tour Truck pulled up lol
The pictures don’t do it justice it was super cool inside.Giant safe …Lee loved it This cracked me up.
The stores were just so-so except there was a fantastic Olive Oil Store inside. That being said its worth the trip just to see the interior, but I would definitely go early so you can avoid the crowds.
I have to say though of all the things we have done this week, going one evening and seeing David & Sharon was the absolute best. David’s mom had to go into assisted living and they have been remodeling the cabin she lived in. They are the only people I have seen who didn’t put on the “COVID 15” pounds because they have been working so hard on the remodel. And I have to say the house looks absolutely incredible. They basically gutted it and they have added all these little storage areas everywhere that reminds me so much of living in an RV. It was a lovely evening, here are the pics.
I wasn’t kidding about in the middle of nowhere. You need four wheel drive to get up the driveway and since we dont have it we parked at the base and they came and got us.The porch is amazing. They built a new one which wraps around three sides of the houseThe inside really blew me away. All the artwork are pictures they took on their travels which is an amazing idea.
Kitchen and Office
Loved, loved the stairs going to the top floor which they built and remodeledSharon and Dave
It was a lovely visit and on the way we had a chance to stop at a vista point and see a wonderful view of the lake. The entire place was Jack friendly and he had a great time hanging out.
Next up a visit to The Bluebird and Andrew Jacksons home.
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Because I am working during the week now, when we arrive at a new city I am being somewhat choosy about the things I want to do. Not only am I limited to the weekends, but I am also fighting the crowds. I have found that the best way to handle it is to pick my very favorite thing and do it first thing on Sunday morning. That way I can enjoy it and skedaddle out when it starts to get crowded.
After much research I chose the Country Music Hall of Fame and when we arrived we added a special tour of RCA Studio B. All in it was $45 a person with both tickets, but it was definitely worth it. We took more pictures than I can share here, but I will show enough to give you an idea of the place. Again, from my perspective definitely worth the ticket.
Oh and before I start I should probably mention that I grew up with country music, but in my teen years was definitely a rock and pop fan. Later in life (around when Garth became famous) I expanded my listening back to country music, but I am definitely not a super fan or anything. If you are a super fan, you definitely don’t want to miss this museum.
Extra bonus of Sunday morning was parking was freeThe building is laid out in floors and along the right there were videos playing music. Actually there were videos throughout the museum and they did an excellent job of spacing them so the music could be enjoyed separately from other musical exhibits.
The first section was older exhibits and I got chills when I saw Minnie Pearls costume. I grew up watching Hee Haw.
Around the corner they had more costumes. Junior was always a favorite of mine!
They also had instruments from famous country western singers. Earl Scruggs banjo was amazing. I have always been a huge banjo fan.
In the middle of this floor they also had two custom cars. I’ve seen tons of cars on my travels, but these were both really special.
Elvis’s gold plated Cadillac. All the metal was 24 carat gold and the inside had a bar, phone etc. The exterior was also unique as it had crushed up diamonds in the paint. Lee was really into it.
I was blown away by a car owned by a local Nashville businessman. It had pistols for door handles, a saddle with silver dollars for the middle console and real gun holsters on both sides of the vehicle. Say what you want, but this guy went for it.
After we finished the first floor (which is actually Floor 3 of the museum) we walked down to get on a tour bus to Studio B. Along the walls they had a fabulous selection of gold and platinum records and it was fun taking our pictures in front of them.
In general Lee and I are not big fans of tours, but in some cases they are the only way to get to the cool thing. Along the ride I learned a lot about the history, I did find the tour guide to be a little preachy and repetitive. That being said I still absolutely recommend this tour because It is the only way you can be in this space.
The story is this small studio was built in the 1960’s and 45,000 recordings were made here. Of those 1,000 were certified hits and 240 of those were made by Elvis. The #2 artist who also made recordings in this studio was Charlie Pride. This was the first real studio Elvis recorded in when he was starting out and the space is all original except for the lighting.
Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors was recorded here. In the upper right is Chet Atkins who produced many of the hits recorded here.
One of the coolest parts was the walls. They were curved and made in a way I have never seen before. This was a real sound studio.
The sound board was updated and I asked if recordings were still made here. The non-answer I received was “special projects”. This 1942 Steinway is original to the room. The story is Elvis tried to buy it many times, but Chet refused to sell it to him. Thinking about the people who had played it gave me goosebumps.
All in this tour was roughly an hour (including driving to and from), but again totally worth it. When we went back to the museum we asked to start on floor two and they allowed us to ride an elevator to that floor. This started in the 70s and Willie Nelson aside this is not my favorite time in country music.
We did love this Dolly Parton outfit though and its hard to tell from the picture but she had a teeny tiny waist.
The 80s was a little better but again not my favorite time in history.
The car from Smoky and the Bandit II was pretty coolLoved the Barbara Mandrell instrumentsAnd Charlie Daniels fiddle gave me chills again!!
The most disappointing part of the museum (for me at least) was the more current stuff. For some reason I couldn’t find anything owned by Garth Brooks and there was lots of stuff for lesser known artists, but less from more current people. Really not sure why that was although throughout the museum Taylor Swift was featured prominently.
They used Taylor Swift for many of the young people interactive features Taylor’s guitar
Along the way they also had some cool interactive things, like a giant record player and a guitar you could climb into. And there was a beautiful rotunda with the Hall of Fame plaques that was built with some acoustical significance. I am not a musician so I didn’t really get it, but Lee thought it was super cool.
The record moved which was pretty cool.
Really great visit and we were completely done by lunchtime when it started to get crowded. We have had a lot of success seeing museums first thing in the morning, and if you are willing to get up early I highly recommend it.
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Finally we were on the road again and as hard as it was leave Oliver, Kyrston & Jeremy, we were glad to be traveling again. Unfortunately we also chose to travel Memorial Day week and when it came time to find a campground in Nashville everything was booked within an hour of the City. Thankfully, as a last effort, we booked a spot in the Nashville Fairgrounds campgrounds. It’s not much to look at, but all the sites are brand new and because of construction there is 24/7 security. At night walking around the property Lee has counted 6-8 off duty but uniformed Nashville PD sitting in their cars. This might be the safest place we have ever stayed! We also snagged the best spot and were even able to walk up to the flea market above us after we arrived on Saturday.
The ATT “Batman” building in the downtown is pretty coolThis was by far the best spot. The rest of them were extremely tight with no separation.
Being right in downtown was convenient for sure but we were a little worried about safety. Turns out there is a major construction project going on so there was 24/7 security for that and additional security because one of the fairground buildings was being used to shelter homeless people with COVID. Those folks were kept totally separate but Lee was asked on one of his long dog walks to stay away from a certain area.
Speaking of the dog I saw on the map there was a dog park connected to the fairgrounds. Unfortunately walking there was blocked by construction so the one time we went I had to drive around to it. It was an ok park but there was little shade and Nashville was HOT the week we were here.
One of the most iconic places in Nashville is Broadway, the “Honkytonk Highway” and both of us really wanted to see it. I am not a big crowd person or a big drinker, so we decided to go down Tuesday night in the hopes of avoiding some of the crowds. There were a surprising amount of people for the day and time, but there were few lines and we were able to get in and out of all the places we wanted to see. My favorite part was the front windows were all open and we could see and hear the bands right from the street. The neon signs were also really cool.
Many of the buildings were three stories tall and had different bands on each level. We walked many of them, including the famous Tootsies and I certainly got my steps in. In general the singers were so-so but the musicians were really great. I wonder how many musicians that are usually out on tour were hunkered down and weathering COVID.
You can see all the rooftop bars from this picture. The crowds (and music) generally got younger the higher you went. All the window frames were empty and you could see the bands from the street.Even the Taco Bell had a live bandLots of these booze tours even on a Tuesday.
The shops has some interesting stuff, but to show you how old we are Lee and I got ice cream in this candy store.Had to get this picture
One thing I did not like was the smell (stale beer and urine) and the tons of homeless people. I will say that their signs were pretty creative. Lee actually was uncomfortable with how the young women were all dressed. Since we have daughters this age we certainly appreciate their right to dress however they want, but it was really all hanging out.
It’s not really that long of a block, but going up and down the stairs we definitely got our steps in. We finally found a bar called The Stage that had a minimal crowd, a good band, and was definitely more our age bracket. I had a beer and we listened to some Merle Haggard so I really felt like I got the Nashville experience. After that though we were pretty much done so we headed back to the campground before the sun fell down. Overall I am glad I did it, but have no particular interest in ever doing it again. If you love live music though, this is definitely a don’t miss experience.
The Stage
Lee found this picture online. The photographer told a great story about how he had been trying to get this shot for many many years, but the sidewalk always has people on it, no matter what time it is, and there’s always traffic on the road as well, so it’s impossible to set up a camera in the middle of the intersection to get a long exposure. During Covid he happened to go downtown and found the street and sidewalk completely deserted with four police cars in the road blocking traffic because everything was closed due to the pandemic. He asked the police officers if they would be willing to move their cars and turn off their lights just for a few minutes so he could the picture, and they did.
This is believed to be the only picture of the Honkytonk Highway in existence that is devoid of people and cars. Once in a lifetime opportunity.
Next up The Country Music Hall of Fame and Studio B!!
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You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
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I really wanted to take Oliver to a petting zoo, but since he isn’t two yet I wasn’t sure how he would do with the animals. After doing some research Lee and I decided to try Bee City which was about 45 minutes north of Kyrston’s house. This was our first longish trip with him and let me say right up front Oliver was an absolute dream. He did great on the car ride and loved most of the animals. We all had an absolute blast and I was so happy everything went well. Can’t wait to have more adventures with my little guy.
He was excited to get out of the car.Bee City is a petting zoo and honey farm in a small town north of Charleston.For a small place they had tons of really cool things to see and at $12 a person it was a steal. Our first stop was a giant caged in bird area. We were given birdseed to use and the birds were tame enough many landed on peoples hands.Oliver was really gentle with the birds Grandma and Oliver on the horse!He did really good feeding all of the animals.But this spider monkey was all of our favorite. We could feel his soft hands as we fed him cheerios. Super CoolFor the less tame monkeys we put the feed in a bowl on a wireThen the monkey pulled it to himThey also had bunnies that ate carrots Lemurs you could feed by handAnd Mike a really gentle camel that Oliver loved to feed.They also had a really cool train playsetSome turtles to climb onAnd a neat live bee display
The only downside was that the animals that were far away from their fence (including a huge tiger) Oliver didn’t really see. He was just too young to get that an animal laying and not really moving around was anything. Thankfully that was the exception rather than the rule and there was plenty to keep him entertained.
He spent a long time looking at the fish.And even longer touching the turtle shells. He was fascinated by them.My absolute favorite though was the baby kangaroo. Oliver got to feed him and it was amazing. The only animals that we didn’t like were the alpaca. They spit!!!
As you can see it was a terrific day and we can’t wait to go back when he is older next year. Next up we are finally moving towards Minneapolis. We will be stopping in Nashville, St. Louis, and Kanasa City along the way. Our next grandson is due July 7th and looking forward to being there for the birth.
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes.
We haven’t had an opportunity to see many of our RV friends for the last several months, so we were thrilled when Kelly and Bill rearranged their travel schedule so they could come and see us. Since they visited on a Tues – Thurs we were able to get them the spot right across from us and they were both pretty excited to see some of the city. Plus Kyrston brought Oliver over one day and Kelly got to see him while Bill and Lee went to visit Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum.
Oliver and KellyOliver likes to play with cans when he comes to my house and he discovered the ice machinePlus our favorite meal is thin crust pepperoni pizza…we both love it !!!
I had to work while Kelly and Bill were here, but we did all go out to dinner at Halls Chophouse where my son-in-law is a manager. Bill said it was the best meal he has had since being on the road and he had the best bread pudding he has ever had. It was really fun and so glad we got to be together. Plus since we are all vaccinated we could finally hug!!
Kelly’s lamb was cooked perfectlyMy steak was excellent. I even splurged and got crab meat on top.And the deserts were to die for. I was trying to be good so I took this blueberry cheesecake home and ate it in small portions over several days.
That same week I also met my sister in Columbia and got to see my nieces new house. I have never spent any time in Columbia and we got to eat at one of her favorite restaurants and toured the downtown area. Unfortunately it poured rain, but I was still able to see the town.
Bailey and WendyBailey’s neighborhood was really nice
It is so wonderful having the vaccine and not worrying anymore. I exchanged my first hugs with Wendy and Bailey as well making up for not being able to hug them at the wedding. I am super grateful that my shots are done and I am worrying so much less.
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes.
You are going to see lots of red on the budget this month, in some cases we spent money to try and save money down the road. In other cases we just spent alot of money 🙂 Details are listed below.
Clothing – I have been buying mostly thrift store clothing for seven years, but COVID has thrown a bit of a wrench into that, because most of the dressing rooms are closed. That left me to trying inexpensive items in case they didn’t fit, which eventually led me to Croft & Barrow. This is a Kohl’s brand I have never worn before, but it turns out their clothes fit my new “grandma shape” pretty well. Since I liked them so much and the new versions are relatively inexpensive, I decided to splurge and get several pieces. I made three visits to three different stores over three weeks and by taking advantage of sales and Kohls cash I was able to stock up completely for the $300. It’s nice having new clothes for a change. Haven’t given up on thrift stores, but for an additional $4 a shirt I will also continue buying new once in awhile.
Entertainment – Our friends Kelly and Bill came into town and Lee and Bill spent a day at Patriots Point. We also have been trying to get out a little more and have some fun.
Dining Out – We went over by several hundred dollars this month but that was mainly one meal. We splurged with Kelly and Bill and had a very fancy steak dinner at the restaurant my son-in-law manages. We knew going in we were going to blow the budget, but some things are totally worth it.
Groceries – To be honest not really sure what happened here. Lee is, as I write this, doing a cost comparison between Costco and Sam’s Club. Not sure that will make a difference. I also implemented some changes to reduce the number of K-cups we are buying but that shouldn’t take effect until May.
Home Equipment – Speaking of the K-cups. It was driving me crazy not being able to make a regular pot of coffee so after much discussion we bought a combination Hamilton Beach K-Cup and regular coffee pot. Unfortunately Lee hated the K-cup side (in fairness it exploded the cups quite frequently), so we ended up buying another slim Keurig and this time I got an electric percolator. Turns out this makes me super happy. My Elite Gourmet percolator makes coffee in 5 minutes and has a built in warmer. I just love the way percolated coffee tastes (reminds me of my grandma) and now Lee and I both have a workable solution. We also bought a new Cuisinart Air Fryer. Kelly has one and we absolutely love it. It bakes, broils, air frys, and toasts. Buying this allowed us to get rid of our Air Fryer and our toaster and freed up some space. Highly recommend it, but make sure you buy the right one because they come in multiple sizes.
Truck Fuel – We went over this month but we took a couple of trips including one that I did to see my sister and niece in Columbia. Lee also had to go to Florida twice. It’s the most gas we have spent in a long while.
Speaking of fuel, many of our categories really dont matter so much when you look at them monthly so Lee made a picture of our YTD costs. It will show you how we are trending 33% into the year. We already blew our optional home equipment budget 🙂
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes.
Camper Chronicles 