We drove from St. Louis to Nashville. The weather was the wildest we have seen so far. Lightening, wind and thunder surrounded our car. We drove through 4 states this day...Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee. Nashville was great. Country music EVERYWHERE! We went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and saw numerous musical groups perform downtown. We also took a tour of RCA's Studio B. This is where almost all of the country greats recorded records between 1956 and 1978. Overall, Nashville has been one of the top cities we have traveled through so far. Memphis was less appealing and [View Full Entry]

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We stayed at Grand Island, NE. Sunday night and drove on to Columbia, MO. last night. We are heading to Chattanooga, TN. tomorrow night to stay with Mom and Dad for a night. My sister, Beth, is shopping for a new motorcycle and I am going with her tomorrow or Thursday to look at bikes. We plan to get home Thursday night. Donna and I miss the open spaces and big sky and feel cramped by the crowds, heavy traffic, and tall trees growing so close to the road. (Have I said that we will make this trip again?) Our trip [View Full Entry]

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Hello again! We drove the 200 miles from the Smokey Mountains on Thursday after our last (soaking wet) hike and were thrilled to check into a small suite at the Radisson in Nashville. It was a nice room, but just being dry, warm and indoors was enough for us. We collapsed the first night before spending two full days in Nashville. Friday: We spent most of the day drying out and resting. We had booked the NashTrash tour that was supposed to be more fun than an ordinary tour. The reviews were totally right and we had the best time on [View Full Entry]

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I hope that there are people out there still keeping track of us;) Yesterday we had a full day in Memphis. There were so many different things to do that we had to make some tough choices. We visited the Stax Museum first which is a music museum about soul music. Chris is by far the most educated of us all when it comes to music so he chose this particular one to visit. It was really a neat museum as all of us learned about the evolution of soul music and saw some great artifacts. It was disgustingly hot and [View Full Entry]

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Heather Says Really, really wish we had more time here! This town has such an awesome vibe... we start with early dinner on Beale Street (the hottest street in town!) at one of the many Blues Bars followed by a ride in a horse pulled carriage to take in the scenery and nightlife. Brendan Says Heather skipped the fact that this "dinner" was our first real fried dinner.... bust was awesome, check out the fried green tomatoes, gumbo, rack of ribs, and catfish! Heather Says Afterwards we head back to Beale street to hit the bars. They shut the street down [View Full Entry]

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Knoxville to Memphis and everyone is getting used to traveling. Rowan sleeps with her head on the cooler, Biscuit likes to be the co-pilot and often seems to think Mark can't drive without his head over Mark's shoulder surveying the road. Piper has been watching movies and reading when we haven't been annoying her with, "Look Piper! Cows!" As we were driving down Hwy 40 West, we see a pickup heading East. In the bed of the pickup is some kind of vending machine that is strapped in and standing up against the cab. Standing up against the vending machine, [View Full Entry]

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Hello again! After about 500 miles of driving (mostly Jim driving and me sleeping) and four states (Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee) we arrived in the beautiful Smoky Mountains for 3 nights and three whole days of hiking and camping bliss. Day One: We arrived at Pigeon Forge, a nightmare! It's a gaudy city surrounded by the beauty of the mountains. It's a redneck wannabee Las Vegas on acid, with more Christianity and no gambling. There, surrounded by the beauty of the mountains, you are in an ADHD nightmare. You cannot even enjoy the natural scenery because everywhere you look [View Full Entry]

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Knoxville, TN is beautiful! Rolling hills, green, I could live here. We ate at a Pueleo's Grill - wow! That was some awesome food. Our friends, Brian and Lucy, who are from Knoxville, introduced us to Ham n' Goody's Lemon Iced cookies a few years back. We looked up the location before we ever left home and that was our first stop this morning. I went in with Piper and the owner was there. I told him we'd come all the way from NC for his cookies and asked if I could take pictures of us in his store. He [View Full Entry]

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Michael and I made it to Memphis on July 3, 2008. We spent that night at the Heartbreak Hotel and returned to Nashville the evening of July 4. The Hotel is next to Graceland. Being a Triple-A member got me a discount. We toured the mansion. It was my first time in Graceland since Karen and I were there nearly 26 years ago. I thought it was good for Michael since he was born and grew up in Tennessee and has a career going at SunTrust Bank in Nashville. We filed through with other people. One thing that was different was [View Full Entry]

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Howdy! Right guys, we've travelled through Mississippi, Tennesse and we're staying in Arkansas. All by our new hire car and guided by our sat nav called Jackie. We went to Graceland today which far exceeded my expectations. We also went to Sun Studios which was so atmospheric. Really great to learn about the history of the records and how people like Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash made it big. Driving to Nashville tomorrow. Going to go hold my stomach after yet another nauseating plate of american food. See you all in a couple of weeks! Love Bex [View Full Entry]

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