A Stop in Nashville

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Here it is, the middle of September, a year since we left Lynden with an RV in tow, and I haven’t posted anything here since May, just after we finished becoming Texas residents. It’s time to get back and catch up to the story.

Since leaving Livingston, Texas, we’ve visited friends and toured all over, with stops in Austin and Fort Worth, Texas, Colbert, Durant, and McAlester, Oklahoma, Joplin, Branson, and St Charles, Missouri, Santa Claus and Florence, Indiana, Knoxville, Tennessee, and Toccoa and Augusta, Georgia.

Then, because we plan to spend winter back in Yuma, we started back west, with a stop in Greenville, South Carolina because that’s an area we’ve considered as a possibility for the day we decide to stop being full time in the RV.

We continued westward through Knoxville again and are now in Nashville until Thursday, when we’ll leave for a few days in Memphis, Arkansas, just across the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tennessee.

We pretty much just relaxed our first few days here, largely because we didn’t need to get into any festivities about Labor Day beside the pool parties here at this park.

On Monday, though, we celebrated our 54th anniversary by touring Andrew Jackson’s home, The Hermitage, and the adjacent museum. Natalie calls the mansion simple but elegant, but I think the mansion and grounds is just an awesome place. I’m also glad I don’t have to mow the lawn. Before this tour, we never would have known Andrew Jackson:

1: Had been governor of Florida for a time.

2: Absolutely adored and honored his wife Rachael deeply.

3: Was disgusted to see how deep corruption had taken over Washington DC, and the country had only been in existence about 50 years. As the 7th President, he tried to eliminate it. He did not want “President” on his gravesite because he considered that a gift from the people, not an accomplishment.

4: During the Civil War, both the North and the South revered him so much neither side invaded the area surrounding the homestead, considering it sacred ground. Many Civil War skirmishes occurred all around but not near the Hermitage. We all know many homes of great leaders were taken over and ransacked by the enemy forces in wartime.

A very good RVing friend suggested we might like to visit the David Crockett State Park and museum in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. And they were right.

It was a 90-mile drive from Nashville but we found it to be a scenic and peaceful drive.

One thing that has really surprised me, especially since we come from the Evergreen State: Almost everywhere we’ve been since San Antonio has the most beautiful green forests, especially the hill country through Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and the Carolinas. Of course, several months in the desert southwest may have colored my judgement. But the beautiful tree-lined highways and cities are a really pleasant sight and we truly enjoy the views as we drive. Tennessee might be even more tree-lined than many. It is also one of seven that do not charge for their state parks. So, we start our day trip.

Lawrenceburg is where David Crockett began his first industrial enterprise and his political career with his wife and 3 children. He was a founding leader of this area. He was quite the businessman, creating a grist mill, gun powder mill and distillery in 1817, all powered by a water wheel on the river. Yes, he was a hunter and woodsman too. The museum was kind enough to provide recipes for how to cook coon and a gallon of whiskey, just in case you lost your own recipes. He served alongside Andrew Jackson and all was well until Jackson wanted to move the native Indian tribes to reservations. Crockett felt the move and treatment of them was wrong. Shortly thereafter, Crockett disagreed about the U.S. banking system revisions Jackson wanted, and Crockett became an enemy of Jackson’s, so Crockett lost his next election and went home.

The hostess at the museum told us the state park was created because of the popularity of the TV show of David Crockett played by Fess Parker. In 1957 the land was set aside, and the park opened in 1959. Now Lawrenceburg had already honored David Crocket with a bronze statue in the center of the city in 1932, so he was no stranger to these parts. The original Trail of Tears runs right through this park, a tribute to David Crockett. You can hike a lot of it if you wish. And for those of us who remember, David Crockett and Daniel Boone were both played by Fess Parker on TV. David Crockett was considered an honorable man, politician and citizen.

Outside the museum was a small aviary with a few rescued birds. We saw a barred owl, a barn owl and a red-tailed hawk in hutches. All are beautiful specimens. In flight we saw 2 large turkey vultures. We passed through a covered bridge to the falls where Crockett had his power mill. As all falls are, lovely are the flowing waters, gentle is the sound of rushing waters, peaceful are the banks to rest our souls. We just can’t get enough.

Back in Nashville, our RV park has a shuttle that takes us into downtown Nashville and back for $10 round trip. We are very grateful for it – we don’t need to find our way and drive, then find and pay for parking. It is very convenient too. It dropped us off at the Country Music Hall of Fame, so we started right there. So, on Friday we took the shuttle and toured the Hall of Fame. Now that was impressive. Three floors of well organized, informative, and really enjoyable exhibits covering a whole lot of country music we never paid much attention to when it was beginning, but many we’ve come to really enjoy now.

We saw an almost overwhelming collection of famous musician’s instruments, read their biographies, were blinded by their costumes, and enjoyed memorabilia of so many country music pioneers. We three tall floors of walls covered floor to ceiling with gold and platinum records. No way to count them all, read their inscriptions or even find a favorite artist.

Then we walked a couple blocks to the famous Broadway Street lined with honky-tonk bars and restaurants. Music poured out of every open window in every building all around us. We even ventured into Tootsie’s, but could hardly get in through the crowd and it was jackhammer loud so we turned around and escaped. It was loud and all the same but then it was dinnertime on a Friday night. We ate at the famous Jack’s BBQ, partly because it was the one establishment without a band, and yes it was delicious. Nashville is popular for bachelor parties all year long, and we saw some partying going on. Why there was the Tavern Trolley, Music City Crawler, and such. Nashville is Noise Ville.

On Monday, we went back downtown and took the Ryman Theater guided tour. (It was only $10 more than the self-guided tour, and when it was over, we were free to take the self-guided tour.) Now, this was a truly memorable place. The guided tour took us all around the backstage areas and even onto the main stage, which we would have missed with only the self-guided tour, and it was well worth the extra cost. We were fortunate to have a guide who grew up holding the Ryman Theater as a special place in her mind, so she knew all kinds of history and stories about the people who played any kind of role there, and followed many of the entertainers who appeared there. And she told the stories well as we toured the dressing rooms and special places in the theater. It is a truly amazing place, well worth its place in the history of music and theater.

We then went hunting for the Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash museums, which were both in the same building, but separate museums with their own entry charges. They were both very interesting and informative. I’ve always appreciated Johnny Cash but had no idea how extensive his acting and musical career was.

We finished the day back at Jack’s BBQ, and it was still very good. We’ll leave Nashville tomorrow with fond memories of this stop on our journey.

Then, I hope to fill in some of the blanks in our trips. Natalie has taken an armload of photos; they just need more narrative. We think of you friends often and we you all blessings and joy. We are so glad you’re along on our journey. We’ll write again soon. God bless America.

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