States Traveled To/Through: North Carolina, Tennessee
Soundtrack: WTF Podcast (interview: Julia Louis Dreyfus), Howard Stern, the new Sirius “Covers” station (highlight: “All About that Bass” interpreted by Kate Davis)
Hotel: Town Square Marriott Nashville
Major Highways Traveled: I-40 West
Greetings from the Music City! On our last visit to Nashville a few years ago, we toured the Grand Ol Opry, dined on supreme southern bbq, rang in the New Year hopping around the city’s legendary honky tonks, and had White Castle at the break of dawn. This time around, we find ourselves at the Marriott extended stay suites by the airport, in for the night with takeout and a sleeping babe by 8:30pm. But we are thrilled because we can do laundry here. Ah, how times have changed. 😉
We started today in Asheville and, after 2 days of getting on the road by 9am, decided to take a little extra time before moving on. Poor little Charley has had an icky cough for the last week and half, so we decided to take her to an Asheville urgent care. 😦 She was very brave, and the great news is the doc says her lungs sound fine – probably allergies. So we got an antihistamine perception and a good bill of health from the doc. On our way out of town, we stopped to see Cliff and Juan one last time at their beautiful home – covered on the inside and out with Cliff’s colorful, wonderful art. We had a lovely brunch on the back deck talking about babies, travel, food, and politics; and of course watching Charley throw all of Dad’s credit cards on the ground (never gets old). They are just the best! It was such a wonderful visit.
Our original plan was to go straight onto Memphis, but after yesterday’s 7 hour drive, we decided to break it up a bit and stopover in Nashville. More green hills, beautiful mountains, and rolling rivers the whole way. Halfway there, we stopped for a chik-fil-a snack in Knoxville – a bit of a funny setup: a double drive through and walk up window with all covered outdoor seating. Sort of an odd dining experience, but actually perfect for us and Wally that then ended up being a miracle! Right as we sat down, the rain starting coming….then it started coming harder,..then pouring, then hammering, then hailing! Thunder and lightning! And there we were, safe at our covered little table watching in total disbelief. It was like sitting inside a waterfall…with chicken sandwiches (did I just blow your mind?). Just how were we all going to make it back into the car? Then a few minutes later, it stopped and we rushed to get back on the road. After another hammering of rain on the way to Nashville, we finally made it – dry and in one piece! And now we drift to sleep to the sweet sounds of uncomfortably close airplanes overhead.
Paul Simon said, “for reasons I cannot explain, there’s some part of me wants to see Graceland”. That’s us. We don’t exactly know why, but we really want to go. Tomorrow maybe we’ll find out….
Jill & Carey 