Pullin' Chocks

Smashville, Tennessee!

We stayed at the Grand Ole RV Resort north of Nashville in the little town of Goodletsville.  We were immediately and continuously greeted by super friendly folks.  Nashville really has a great vibe.... literally!  This place is all about the music.  There is an unbelievable amount of talent around here; it seems everyone we met can sing and play at least one instrument.  We also took time out of our tourist activities to pick up a second kayak.  This time we went with an old friend and got an Old Town sit inside kayak.  We think that will feel much more stable and dry as compared to the sit on top model.  We will put Gari in the Old Town when she elects to paddle along.

You can see Penelope on lot #1 they called the Pole Position.  It was a good spot for us.  Away from the train tracks in the back, and away from the road noise in the front.  Being close to the main camp building was also nice.

Tommy the owner found these old lamp posts from Nashville and re-purposed them as his street signs in the park.

A beautiful flower by the front porch, and the vine next to Gari is nice too.

Mostly loaded and packed and ready to ride to Spring City, TN the next morning.  Now there are two kayaks on the roof of Pepé.  It was a good week in Nashville.

We toured Manskers Park and on the way saw an old stone arch bridge that the old was part of the stagecoach line between Nashville and Louisville.  The railroad replaced the stagecoach in 1859.

This is a replica fort that local folks built. Very interesting.

Gari stands in front of the house that belonged to some early Nashville settlers circa 1740s, the Bowen family.  The husband was a Captain in the Virginia Militia in 1777.  This place reminded us very much of Pemberton Hall in Salisbury

One day we wandered around town riding the free bus here and there.  Below is the Sirius/XM satellite radio studios in that tower building.

Gari found a giant tomato at the Farmer's Market.

Steve stopped to pick some corn.

A contrast of old and new, down on Music Row.

 What the???  Here comes the Rocket Party Bike!

These folks are drinking on that thing, there's a bar tender in the middle!  We can't see any risk with this business concept.

Steve checks out the stage in the amphitheater in the Bicentennial Park.

Flag and fountain court in the Bicentennial Park.

Steve checks out a Tennessee geography exhibit in the park.

This is a display of the Tennessee land contour.  See the Smoky Mountains at the far end?

One night our Camphosts Randy and Rita took a bunch of us out to the Nashville Palace for some music and night life. It was fantastic.  Everyone was so friendly and the musical and dancing talent was highly professional.  So many famous singers have come through here or even gotten their start here.  It was an amazing place and a fantastic experience.

This particular group is Larry Hamilton and the Nashville Palace Band.  We think that Larry may be the owner of the Palace.  Really good and talented guy, and they all were!

Out front were dozens of cement castings.  Below is that of Loretta Lynn and Randy Travis.  Randy got his start at the Nashville Palace washing dishes!

Rita also suggested we may like a walk around the Opryland Hotel & Convention Center, so later we tried just that.  Thank you Rita!  What an amazing place.  It's as big as 3 Superdomes with shops, gardens, restaurants and water features galore.   They had a boat you could ride around the canals just like in Las Vegas.

 A restaurant in the courtyard.

Beautiful flowers everywhere.

Beautiful Gari by another waterfall.

Around another corner we found a row of shops.

 We rode out to Old Hickory Dam one day just to see.

The welcoming committee came out to greet us.  Got any bread crumbs?  Let me see your hands and pockets.

What an amazing city Nashville is, and what a big time we had there!  Next week we will be waaaay off the grid near Spring City, in eastern Tennessee.  Where?  Right.  We may not have cellular coverage there.  We don't expect any broadcast television for sure.  We will have Sirius satellite radio and we will be parked right on the bank of Watts Bar Lake.  If the weather will cooperate again this week we should have some excellent kayaking ahead there.