[Adam] We went to bed knowing that a huge storm front would be moving through the midwest, and as luck would have it, so would we. The forecast for afternoon was "dangerous lightning, damaging winds, large hail and flooding rain" moving west to east through Nashville. Our route would take us northwest to Nashville from Gatlinburg. I set the alarm for 6AM to tear down camp and get out of dodge so we could beat the worst of it. Unfortunately when the alarm went off in the morning it was down pouring. This was just a precursor to the more significant storm heading our way but still too much rain to get started so I had no choice but to wait it out. Around 7:30AM it slowed down but pockets of continued heavy rain would only allow for a few minutes work at a time. It would be 10AM before we could actually leave the campground two hours later than planned. Most of the ride was fine but I kept watching the radar maps and with our late leave we would definitely drive straight into the major storm front. Around 1:20 PM about 90 miles east of Nashville it came in to clear view in the distance. From our viewpoint the line was straight ahead to the west stretching as far north and south as the eye could see. The perception was something out of a disaster movie. It looked like a tidal wave approaching as those in peril stand on the beach and watch knowing what is about to hit them. We passed one vehicle pulled over on the shoulder of the highway with the driver standing beside his truck taking pictures. We opted to take pictures from the window as we continued to drive directly into the front. I rarely have anxiety but my nerves were on edge and I asked Mitzi to change the satellite radio to the spa station (not something I usually listen to).
Soon enough the storm engulfed us. It was torrential rains that lasted until we hit Nashville and slowed us down tremendously. Thankfully we did not have any of the severe lightning, hail, high winds or flooding that was predicted and I was fearing. We finally arrived in Nashville at 2:40 PM (3:40 for us since the timezone was now central and we gained an hour). Much later than expected but safe with no incident and that's all the matters.
[Mitzi] We arrived at the Grand "Ole" RV Resort to our 3rd back in site. This one was on somewhat of a diagonal. Two employees from our campsite came to help us get in. One was in front of us and the other was in the back. The combination of their help and Adam's now collected experience made for a very smooth park. While Adam got us all hooked up the girls and I went to check out the playground and explore the campground a bit. This site had such quaint little charm. We loved their street signs! We were located right at the corner of Happy Circle and Nice Street. They also had a huge porch lined with colorful paintings and rocking chairs.
Since we were only going to be here for one night, we decided our time would be best spent getting the quintessential Nashville experience checking out Broadway. It did not disappoint! As we came to the main drag it reminded me of New Orleans at Mardi Gras. There were people everywhere, restaurants with multiple floors that had balconies full of people and rooftop eateries, music coming from every direction and a partying, good vibe atmosphere all around.
The very first thing we came to was Rippy’s Restaurant which donned a huge sign saying Ribs (one of Ella’s favorites) and a live band that sounded incredible as we approached. We were able to get seated right away and got a table right by the band. Everyone in the place was in a great mood and enjoying the music and interacting with the band. Ella, Adam & I ordered ribs and smoked chicken to share along with a bunch of sides. Lily ordered a corn dog. While we waited for our food, Adam and I tried Tootsies charred cinnamon moonshine. It went down smooth and had a very nice flavor. They served the food in paper lined baskets with chinet paper plates and packs of plastic utensils (with such an easy clean-up, this could have added to all of the staff’s constant huge smiles). One of our waiters had all gold teeth and a golden personality to go along with it. For some reason the Women’s bathroom walls were covered with customers’ writing. There were ALL kinds of things written. The girls and I couldn’t figure out how the people knew to have sharpies with them or how/why they climbed up and wrote on the high walls and ceiling. This was one Nashville tradition of which we did not partake. (Adam let us know this was oddly only in the women’s room and no such thing existed in the men’s room)
After our yummy, relaxing dinner we went for a stroll and checked out some of the shops. The first one we came to was the Ernest Tubb Record Shop. Lily just had to go in here as they had a giant statue of a man with a guitar right through the doorway and a huge guitar on their sign (for her last birthday she got a guitar and it is a very big interest of hers). They had all kinds of souvenirs and country music vinyl. They had a display of country music costumes in the back with tags so you knew who wore them. Ella found a cowgirl hat in there with a beautiful blue stone on it that she loved.
They also sold Nashville’s original Goo-Goo candy. We all thought that the name sounded funny. As we continued down the street we got to watch a very talented young girl play the violin and dance in true country style. We all enjoyed watching her for awhile. A few blocks later we noticed the Goo Goo store on a side street. It was across the street from the Johnny Cash Museum. We passed these candies up when we first saw them, but we felt compelled to go in and look around. There were several varieties of goo goo candies. Ultimately we decided on a bag of mini original goo goos to take home with us. And on that sweet note we decided to head back to Goldie for the night.
