USA Journey Autumn 2014 - October 14

On October 9th we left St. Louis for Nashville for the next three nights.  Despite three different GPS devices on board all telling us a different way to navigate around St. Louis, we ended up going through the City centre, rather than the ring road! May have to resort to a good old map!  During this interesting drive for 5+ hours, we passed through parts of Illinois, across the Ohio River and through Kentucky.

Some of the highlights in Nashville:

The Grand Ole Opry on Friday night.  Headlining the show was Lady Antebellum who were outstanding!  Other great acts were the Willis Clan, who were contestants on America’s Got Talent. They are a family of 12 children ranging in age from 3 to 21 years, all of whom performed.   Each entertainer only performs 2 or 3 songs so you get to see a lot of acts including the commercials related to their live radio/ satellite broadcast.  The Opry is celebrating its 89^st birthday so we were able to take part in those festivities also.  In May 2010, the Cumberland River, which meanders throughout Nashville, flooded its banks and did considerable damage to the Opry; the famous stage was under 4 feet of water.  After 6 months of restoration the Opry re-opened.

We were fortunate to meet up with Taylor Nay from the Edmonton area, for dinner in the Opry Mills. She is attending a nearby university; she did not have a soccer game this weekend, so we were unable to see her play with her team, the Cumberland Bulldogs, who are currently the #1 varsity team in the nation!

We also wandered around the opulent Gaylord Opryland Resort, an expansive property  with 2,900 rooms, and the largest non-casino hotel  in the continental US excluding Las Vegas.

We toured Belle Meade Plantation, a championship thoroughbred breeding property, which was founded in 1807. Damage from bullets during the Civil War is still visible on the mansion’s front stone columns. Following the war which interrupted horse breeding and racing in the southern US, Belle Meade flourished and became the most successful breeder in its day, winning more purses than any other in the US at that time.   Adverse financial conditions forced an auction of the estate at the beginning of the 20^th century, forcing the 4^th generation of the founding family off the property.

Belle Meade Mansion

On Saturday afternoon we went downtown to Broadway Avenue. First stop happened to be at ‘Goo Goo Cluster’ store, the original candy of Nashville; yummy!!  Ron ventured off to the Johnny Cash Museum while Linda sought out a Starbucks to catch up on Facebook and emails, as WiFi at our RV Park is sketchy.  Walking down Broadway was fantastic with live bands performing in every pub, sometimes bands on all 3 floors of an establishment.  Enjoyed listening to new artists at the Tin Roof Pub and tasted deep fried pickles for the first time. Today we also drove by the Parthenon; who knew it was located in Nashville?!

Lots of Stagette's on the pedal taverns

On Sunday we departed Nashville for Memphis, a short four drive.  Starting to see cotton fields now, instead of corn.  Since leaving Edmonton, we have had a tail wind the entire trip thus far(4,400 km), which has improved our mileage (have to remember this when we begin our northwest trek thru Texas and then back to Arizona where we will likely encounter headwinds).

We are parked for a week at Tom Sawyer RV park in West Memphis (actually on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi, but we can see the lights of downtown Memphis Tennessee from here). This is such a cool place; thanks Gerrie and Linda for the tip to stay here!  Our site is right on the river and the barges and tugs are working continuously; even during the storms and all night long, they travel up and down the Mighty Miss! The loads that they carry are massive!  The pictures don’t do them justice.

Tom Sawyer RV Resort office

Linda catching up on her email and Facebook

Enjoying the sights of the Mississippi

In May 2011 the Mississippi River flooded its banks and the entire RV park was under water Signs posted on various buildings indicate the high water mark.  Management have done a fantastic job to re-store the park although much work remains.

High water mark from 2011 flood

The lower Mississippi River from St. Louis to the Port of New Orleans has no locks or dams and allows barges up to 42 barge units (7 X 6) per tow.  Each barge unit can carry containers three wide by four long by five high for a total of 60 forty-foot containers.  That’s over 2,500 containers in one tow and almost four football fields long.  Loads include grain, corn, soybean, fertilizer, trash, timber, cement, sand, gravel, coal.  Liquid cargo tank haulers carry petroleum products, fertilizers and molasses.  There are many flat deck barges also carrying heavy equipment.

We have had several moments of torrential rains throughout Tennessee, but none as severe as Monday when weather warnings were being issued for this area including tornadoes. Fortunately those did not develop close by us, but with pouring rain and winds, we spent the day ‘hunkered down’ in the motorhome working on a jigsaw puzzle and watching the weather alerts.

Nasty weather approaching

Doing jigsaw puzzle and keeping eye on weather reports

More to come on Memphis.....(when the rains let up!!)