Gatlinburg, TENNESSEE to Nashville TENNESSEE

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I think the tired look of both girls when I woke up this morning was reflective of how tired we were. It has been pretty hectic so far, so I let them sleep in until around 9am, whilst I caught up on the blogs. I put on my Aussie Socceroos T-Shirt and fired off a text to Luke as he was already at the ground in Sochi Russia hoping for a Socceroos win against Peru.

We were staying in Room 423 on the 4^th floor and our room had a city view balcony room, which was nice to be able to sit out and overlook the main street and the mountains beyond. It was pretty clear after spending a few days here how devastating the wild fires were in late 2016 that destroyed thousands of properties in this area and claimed the lives of 14 people.

We went down to breakfast room on Level 3 about 9.30am and they had hardly anything left even though it was open until 10.00am. We got the only table left and I had a couple of biscuits with strawberry jam with some OJ. There was not much fruit available either. Kerry had some toast. The breakfast offering here has been very ordinary with the breakfast room too small for size of hotel and the options of food choices too limited.

We hit the road around 10.15am and I made a late decision to change the route and drive through Smoky Mountains National Park and come out via the Townsend exit which gave us one last chance at a bear sighting. Due to the wildfires the undergrowth is really active so it made it very hard looking as you drove through the forests, and we did not see any wildlife let alone those black bears.

We exited via Maryville, then north up to join up with Interstate I40. It was pretty much Interstate all the way and I stopped off at Kingston at a Pilot gas station to fill up with 8.805 gallons which was about 2/3 of a tank for $2.49 per gallon which is the cheapest we have seen yet. This place had a Subway so we decided to grab an early bite as it was now about 12.30pm. Kerry & I shared a Veggie Delite footlong on 9 grains bread whilst Elise had a 6 inch Chicken Rancho.

We then drove along the Interstate until we reached Cookesville where we took a few minutes to have a stop and stretch and buy some snacks at the Shell gas station and a coffee to give me some more energy for the rest of day. We were planning on going to the Snow White Diner in Lebanon but it was going to add thirty minutes to the drive so we kept on going instead and around 2.30pm we arrived in Nashville. The Tom Tom and Google maps made it easy to find our Hampton Inn & Suites Hotel in the Vanderbilt University precinct about 2 miles away from downtown.

The weather today was fine when we left Gatlinburg, and just got hotter and hotter as headed west. It got to 35 degrees at Cookesville, but we went through the edge of a thunderstorm soon after and it dropped to 27 degrees. When we checked in we had the most unexciting check in lady who was just not welcoming at all (for a Hilton brand this was quite unusual). As soon as we checked in to the room a big storm arrived just like it did in Ann Arbor but it soon passed over, and sun was soon back out again but much less humidity. We have been batting these thunderstorms for a few days now.

Luke was texting me updates on the Socceroos game live from Sochi on the drive and we got beat again and the World Cup journey is over for another 4 years and to be frank I never expected us to get through with the quality we have right now. Luke sounds like he had had a blast and he will soon be headed home getting home a few days before us.

We drove into downtown Nashville and I parked at the Library Car Park which trip advisor said was the cheapest spot to park being only $10-00 after 5pm entry. Wow once got to Broadway at Legends Corner this place was electric. We walked down the street and the honky tonks were all going crazy there was live music playing everywhere and you literally walked 10 metres and another band could be heard as the bands tended to be at the front and windows were open to attract you to come inside.

We walked down Broadway towards the River and ended up going in to a honky tonk called Dierks Bentley which is owned by some famous Country Music Artist who I have never heard of. We got there about 7.15pm and the band was playing some nice music and we managed to get a seat at a table up front. We ordered some meals and drinks and this band was playing some really good variety of music. His name was Jay Bragg and he was so entertaining and we stayed until 10.00pm and he did not have one break at all. What a great start to our Nashville experience.

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Photos

Old Ryman Auditorium
Where they held the famous Grande Ole Opry shows