Nashville, our most southerly point

27th May
We are currently at Pigeon Forge, a holiday resort 200 miles east of Nashville, just for a short stop on our way there.
This place was described to us as a tourist trap but with a place like this, you can be sure that everyone is trying very hard to be competitive, so everything is crazy cheap. We did a deal with a show and dinner combined and it all was half price, they seem to be into “all you can eat” buffets here, $21 for an all you can eat dinner and a good musical show has to be good value. It was a good fun night out.
We had two days in the Smoky Mountains; one day we went up to 6000 ft and covered lots of miles in the truck, but did get to walk a little of the Appalachian Trail, wending our way “homewards” at the end of the afternoon very tired.
The following day started with breakfast at IHOP, (International House Of Pancakes.) This was the real deal, true American stuff from a chain we have used many times before, always very clean, always excellently cooked food, always at an extremely good price.
Today we went into the Smoky Mountains to drive the one-way Roaring Fork Motor Trail, which was a bit narrow and undulating but just about passable with the wide truck! We did a lovely walk to a waterfalls, a bit over 1½ miles each way, through the woods on rough terrain, but ultimately worth the effort and took some superb pictures.
Later on round the “motor trail, ” we found that at 8ft 10 wide and 22ft long we were a bit unwieldy. When it came to a bend with a tight turn onto a narrow bridge with no parapets, things got a little scary and at one point we were on the edge rail of the bridge, I decided the best way to deal with the remainder of the trail was to “fold in” the door mirrors so that we could get between the trees without damaging the mirrors!
June 1
We had planned to move on to Nashville next and it was pure chance that there is a major music festival on this coming week.
We arrived at our “new” home and after a meal we rushed to the entertainments hall on the camp site. Initially we were both a little disappointed to find the “entertainment” was a single musician but sat for a few minutes to give him an opportunity. We sat enthralled till the end of the evening. He played guitar until a string broke, then, totally unfazed, he switched to the banjo and played “blue grass.” He also sung, extremely well.
He told us that the following evening he would be playing with his buddies, at “Cowboy Town.”
We duly travelled to “Cowboy Town” on Saturday to be entertained in a very “down home” manner with a gunfight, a good meal and some excellent music around the camp fire. What a lot of fun that was! At the end of the evening there were us two and about fourteen others sitting round the fire joining in as best we could as night fell. Wouldn’t have missed it for anything.
You can give the guys a try by clicking the following link and you can hear their music. They are called Wilson County Line.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=169671908

June 2nd
There is a cafe nearby where the rich and famous go, not for snob value but for top class food. We found this place in one of our books and set off for breakfast.
The book and website said the building was no great shakes but the food was without compare. So it was (is). The “Loveless Cafe” treated us to a breakfast that was of astonishing quality for a realistic price. We spent $30 for the two of us but it was an extraordinary experience. Past customers, with their autographed pics on the wall included Princess Anne, Al Gore and whoever else you could think of.
www.lovelesscafe.com for those who would like to check it out and my pal Brian might like a visit there on his next trip to Nashville.
Our next port of call today was “Lane Motor Museum.” I thought that for three dollars, I’ll try anything, so we paid our money. Once inside we just took root, it was an amazing top quality collection of stuff we had never even heard of and we were totally absorbed for two hours, having expected to be there for only a short time.
We find lots of this “stuff” on the net and also in the Book. Oh! Yes, we have some books. One has to have the “One thousand things to do before you pop your clogs”. (I’ll explain later Fredy.) and as we are here we bought the version that is 1000 things to do in the USA. Our bible is the Rough Guide to the USA, absolutely brilliant.
We also have another book, Interstate Exit Directory, this is a book that tells you what lurks at the next motorway exit.
Now, why would you want a book like that?
Well, if you are 52 feet long you don’t want to get off the main drag and find you can’t park to get food, or find diesel, etc.
This strange book tells us where we can exit and find a diesel pump THAT WE CAN GET AT, and where we can park to eat. You can always find places to eat but can you park? I should explain that most US gas stations don’t sell diesel, so we have to hunt a bit hard to find one. I suppose about 1 in 10 do, so you will understand the problem.
We stopped at one truck stop and took a little while to sort out how things are done but we parked after some deliberation and saw all the trucks lined up along the gantry where they could have “conditioned air” blown in through the side window without running the engine. We also discovered the “Iron Skillet” cafe where you could “pig out” over lunch for not a lot!
We had new neighbours arrive Sunday. The bus rolled in to the adjoining pitch just before our evening meal. In true American style, the bus stayed, all 42 Feet of it (That’s about 14 metres), just the two folks on board pulling a Honda CRV 4x4 behind. They had just driven down from New Jersey for the Nashville Music Festival.
I am in awe of how much money these guys have to burn. The expense never seems to worry them at all! It must be the conditioned reflex of an English person. I know that the American troops refer to our English troops as “the poor people”. Perhaps they are right.
These guys certainly have some mega large “camping” outfits. We have seen some with a truck similar to ours, towing a VERY large 40ft fifth wheeler behind and behind that? Another trailer with the Harley Davidson aboard.
I looked at this thing of a crazy length and decided that with that kind of set-up, there would not be a hope in hell of reversing it!!!
There will be a photo of a train of three in the slide show.
Those pulling a travel trailer (caravan) or fifth wheel have all learnt the skill of reversing. They just back up onto their pitches in one go without any thought. It always seemed to me that it was a life skill that you needed to learn for this kind of life, and yet we have seen hundreds of Brits who have not a clue about how to reverse a trailer and have no intention of learning. They push them, well try pushing mine! Mine weighs in at six and a half tons.
We have heard a lot of great traditional country music since we’ve been here, and one thing we have noted is that they always include a gospel song or two. Gospel music was a big part of the roots of country music. They all seem to be believers in this part of the world, and they are proud of it. There was a Nascar race on TV on Sunday and not only is the National Anthem sung before the race, but they also recited the Lord’s Prayer. Sadly it wouldn’t work at the British Grand Prix.
A tour guide said to me yesterday that this is the Bible belt and Nashville is the very buckle of that belt.
It’s hot, hot, hot and praise the Lord for air-conditioning. All the shops are air-conditioned, in fact, anywhere indoors is, even the music barn on the campground. Life would be unpleasant without it, and we also have it in our Fifth wheeler. You just need a break from the heat now and then (94 f yesterday with 78% humidity).
Don’t forget to view the slide show at
http://picasaweb.google.com/arthur.croasdell/Blog9
We have “done” “The Grand Ole Opry” this week but more next time about that