Blogs from Tennessee, United States, North America

After taking a few pics of Beale street in the day (def doesn't capture it) we drove to Nashville, Tennessee! After checking in at our hostel we ventured into town for a late lunch. They have country music playing from random boxes in the streets and there is a surprising amount of corporate offices/ people. We went to the 'Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum' and did yet another interesting audio tour. On the way home we found a white castle which was heaps exciting (from the movie- harold and Kumar Go to white castle).We then crashed for a couple of hours due to exhaustion. For our late dinner we went to Broadway where all the 'honky Tonkin'' happens! All the bars down this strip are older/ dingy but all playing live country music and ... read more

After breki we went on a tour around Graceland. They have Elvis' house and land (Graceland) on one side of the road and then a stretch of land on the other side of the road which is where they run all the tours from and have built all different museums, and restaurants dedicated to Elvis. They run an audio tour through his house and grounds including his grave. It was really interesting but a bit sad again! Some of the rooms in his house are decorated really funky, but there was a few really tacky things as well.We then went to Sun Studios 'where Rock and Roll began' and went on a tour. The guide was so excited and enthusiastic and you could just tell he loved music and all the history that is involved in ... read more

Five years. Africa had become our home. The foods, the means of travel, the landscape, the people, the brethren – all had become the norm for us. We were now saying goodbye. We boarded a bus headed for Dar Es Salaam on the morning of April 25th. On the way the bus developed engine trouble. We were just north of Mikumi National Park, stranded on the side of the road. Thanks to some quick work by Charles and Carey, a bus headed for Dar was notified of our plight. After a two hour delay, our luggage was reloaded and we climbed aboard.Also, one of my former students from the school of preaching who was living in Dar made arrangements for a third bus to take us from the city bus terminal to the airport. Thankfully these ... read more

Got up early to pick up our rental car for our week long road trip around the South. Still am baffled by how many shredded tyres are on the road. On the way to New Orleans we had it all flying back at us and had to weave around a huge piece of it while going 70 miles an hour. We stopped in at Jackson for lunch at a little restaurant in the funky hondren district. Laura and I both got traditional Cajun meals. Mine was just red beans with rice and Laura's was a crawfish (small lobster) poboy (huge sub sandwich). Jackson is pretty ugly in the city but there is beautiful houses out in the suburbs. We made it to Memphis in time to go to the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr ... read more

DAY 14……14/042012 We left the town of Sparta at around 1030, and headed back onto the Blue Ridge Parkway for the last time, although it has been a fantastic ride over the last 400 miles, I think it has been fairly tiring for Lynne, and the trike suffers a bit on the steep climbs because of the gearing. After about 100 miles we came down out of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and decided to head for Pigeon Forge, which although was another 100 miles on, was on flatter roads, and back to 55mph. Well we crossed the State line into Tennessee, State number 10, and that’s when our problems began. A sign that said road closed ahead seemed fine, as there was bound to be a detour, well no there was not, the main ... read more

So back to the hotel after a long day at the golf course, the team shot combined -5 today to lead by 2 from Lindsey Wilson. Personally I was all over the place today with an outward 9 of 3 over par 39 consisting a bogey 2 doubles and 2 birdies. After a brief rain delay on the 10th I began my back 9 with a 3 putt bogey but bounced back with 3 birdies in a row to get it back to 1 over. My finish left alot to be desired with a short miss on 14, a bogey on the simple par five 16th from the centre of the fairway and a double on the par 3 17th with a ball in the hazard. A 5 over 76 in the end. Anyway, 9:30 shotgun ... read more

Hello again, So after a 6am wake up call we travelled about two and a half hours south east to Kingsport, Tennessee for the second Mid South Conference regular season event of the year. The first was held last semester in Ohio where the team won by 19 and I finished T9 individually. We ate at Cracker Barrel on the way down as is tradition for the practice day before a tournament and arrived at the course at around 11 to tee off at 11:30 in our practice round. The course at Cattails Golf Club is nice with two very different nines with the front being relatively flat and open before merging into a much tighter and treacherous back nine so it will be interesting to see how the pin placements affect scoring on the very ... read more

On the way to Nashville, I discovered a nearby bouldering spot. I only had a vague concept of what bouldering was, so I researched the subject. Basically, it is rock climbing on the small scale. Rope is generally not used, just a mattress to fall on, and instead of quickly scaling, the goal is to work out the most efficient way to scale. Boulderers refer to their courses as "puzzles". I was highly intrigued. The site gave a poor description of where the rocks were located, but the backroads were fun to drive on, and I was listening to some metal, getting pumped to try this new sport out. Finally, after driving up a dirt road past a bunch of farm land, into an abandoned logging area, I saw some big squarish stones, and pulled over. ... read more