Over 700 miles inland!!!

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Before we embark on stage 5 of our adventure a few more words about Pigeon Forge. I really should have mentioned that one of the unique features of Dollywood was the age of the staff. Anyone who frequents theme parks will be familiar with the band of "enthusiastic" youths who normally shrug punters onto rides. Not at Dollywood. Oh no. Their employment criteria would appear to be something along the lines of if you are too old and infirm to ride the thrill rides then this is the place for you! I doubt we saw any employee under the age of 60 - many appeared well over 80 and some had walking aids. Very helpful of course but quite unexpected in a theme park...
The other issue I haven't touched upon is that parts of Tennessee have only recently stopped being dry - Pigeon Forge being very new to the whole alcohol market. You can buy beer in a supermarket but have to go to a drug store to buy wine - I couldn't help but think of Hotel California...
Most restaurants are unlicensed so we looked forward to a beer or two at the Hard Rock on our second night. Big mistake. Not without a passport for each person drinking. Ours were back at the hotel.. Tennessee law states that it is illegal to sell alcohol without photo i.d. regardless of the age of the consumers. The plus side was that soft drinks came with free refills so it turned out to be a cheap night out!!
And so we left East Tennessee, destination Nashville. The Holy Grail of our trip. As we left the hotel the omelette chef was dismayed that Mr Bill was going without breakfast and begged us to take some doughnuts with us but we politely declined.
I drove the first 3 hours, crossing into the Central time zone and gaining an hour in our day on the way, to a planned shopping stop just outside of Nashville. Bill drove the last 30 minutes from there. I had the better deal. I don't know what I expected from our arrival but 4 lanes of solid pulsing traffic wasn't it. Approaching from the East the skyline resembled images of Gotham City - a very different America to what we had seen so far.
Arriving at our hotel we used the valet service and ditched the car for the next four days. A porter offered us some words of advice for our first visit to this city " Y'all want to go on down to Broadway for some honky tonk. Pick a bar where you like the music, grab a long neck and just sit back and enjoy". Sounded like a fine piece of advice so off we went. Being lightweights we substituted the long necks for diet coke. America is a country of meteorological extremes. To our east the beautiful Outers that we left only days ago is about to be pounded by the edge of a tropical storm. To our west Colorado is experiencing heavy snow and there are tornados and severe thunder storms sweeping up from Texas into Kansas. In Nashville it is 90 degrees against a seasonal average of 76. HOT!!
We walked down Broadway, as advised, past bar after bar playing live music . At the far end of the street a band was playing on the roof top terrace of the Hard Rock Cafe. Acts are staged in the front Windows of the bars so they can be heard before you enter, filling the street with music.
Broadway on a Friday afternoon is a busy but fun place. We spotted at least 5 hen parties, mostly wearing the local uniform of Daisy Duke shorts and cowboy boots. Will I be adopting this garb? Not with my legs, rest assured!! I can honestly say I've never been anywhere quite like it, but Temple Bar in Dublin is the closest I can get. It also has many shops selling boots. Some are offering buy one pair and get two more free! It's almost rude not to....
For our evening we returned to Broadway, this time indulging in a couple of aforementioned long necks. All the bars and shops are heavily air conditioned which is nothing less than a blessing. We settled upon BB Kings Blues Bar for dinner and the bulk of our entertainment. The main band was The Hank Sinatra Band. Playing a mix of music from The Band, Dylan and The Blues Brothers amongst others it was the perfect choice for us. The bands in most of the bars are not paid to do so and are reliant upon tips from punters. We saw five bands in total on our first day and they were all tight operations with fine musicians and singers. Makes The Voice look like a joke.
We have three more full days in Nashville with plenty planned to fill our time. Whilst I go and prepare for the first of those days I will leave you with the regular words of wisdom from Mr Bill..

So, what about the language? I hear you ask. It is true that we are divided from the colonies by a common language. Crisps taps pavements are all described with different words. However, the big difference is not what we say but how we say it. Yes, the British accent. Throughout our travels we have been asked "from whence do you hail" or something like that, they do have a strange way of speaking.
This came to a chest expanding moment of pride at Dollywood theme park. I approached one of many ticket booths and enquired from the cashier about the various rates. (I won't mention here that I qualified for a whole $5 discount for being old.) Whilst this pleasant exchange was continuing, a disembodied voice chimed in. " Oh! Boy I love your accent. ( more chest expanding pride) I could listen to you all day." Before I could reply a very familiar voice added, "That can be arranged!!"
Instant chest deflation!

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