For the last two days we have been tied up with making camping reservations but were handicapped by being unable to find locales where we had both WiFi and phone coverage. Our phone will sometimes work in one spot when we drive up the hill from our campsite. Unfortunately, the WiFi only works adequately when inside one of the campground buildings but none of them are built where the phone works. We made our best headway when we drove about 15 miles over to Hohenwald and stopped in at the public library for their free Wifi. Even the library wanted cell phone calls limited to outside or in one interior corridor. That newfangled fancy-schmancy communication stuff is not a priority in this region.
Today we jumped into the truck and took off going north toward Nashville which sits on the edge of the Cumberland River. Nashville is a city with a long history of Country Western music, a genre I personally find soul-suckingly distressing. However, lots of folks here in Tennessee do like this type of music which includes yodeling, tone-deaf harmonizing, twanging and unique pronunciations of common English words. Lots of the alleged musical artists seem to wear cowboy hats although I don’t think many of them have ever seen a cow, grasslands or a horse. I didn’t spot any wearing fuzzy chaps.
Certainly one of the Meccas for this type of music is the Grand Old Opry which I believe is a reference to an opera of some sort. I used to see quaint little concerts on TV broadcast from the Grand Old Opry as I switched them off in my youth. I always envisioned the Opry as being an ordinary theater-type venue, maybe sandwiched between two low-rise masonry buildings in a downtown area with very narrow streets. Nothing could be further from reality. The Grand Old Opry building at a place called Gaylord Opryland is enormous and looks like the main auditorium should seat not less than 4000. The backstage area looks like the loading docks at a Walmart distribution center. There is an affiliated hotel called the Gaylord Opryland Resort next door that may be the largest hotel I have ever seen. Even the mega-resorts in Vegas are dwarfed by this monster. The complex has its own freeway offramp.
Fortunately for both Peggy and me, we were unable to go in for a sample of the caterwauling because we had to floss. We drove around the Nashville area and spotted some magnificent estates that can only be called modern plantations. Nashville’s downtown area is accessed through a series of beltline freeways with many left-side exit ramps requiring multiple quick lane changes and universally crummy paving. It is challenging for ignorant, elderly types.
On the way back from Nashville, we decided to swing through Leiper’s Fork again before heading back south on the Trace. There are some great historical buildings and some gorgeous modern plantations nearby and we loved the back country cruise before jumping onto the Trace where we spotted not less than 15 wild turkeys.
We got a few pictures along the way. To see them, click here