Nashville, Tennessee - Grand Ole Opry

Today we head into find the Grand Ole Opry and General Jackson as we have booked on them for tonight and tomorrow night.  We find the Grand Ole Opry beside the Mall.......so we pick up our tickets, go thru the gift shop and then head over to the mall on the premise that the General Jackson is on the other side so we have to walk thru the mall to get there....












We also checked out a few other places, you might recognise these guys.......

A few hours later, we decide to head out to Franklin which is an old town area - it turned out to be an upmarket town just south of Nashville and was very nice but we were pushed for time so had a quick walk around, got a frozen yogurt as it is hot down here ( in the 90's every day) and started back to camp.

 

On the way we hit a massive thunderstorm and down pour - fork lightening and the works.  Can't see where we are going - the traffic is crawling and backed up for miles but we make it back in time to shower and change for our show.  Just as fast as the storm turned up, it disappeared again and the RV was dry when we got back so it was localised....

 The Riders in the Sky.








Clare Brown & Sam Pa

 

We were lucky to get Trace Adkins 10th year celebration night on the Grand Ole Opry. 

A good evening out, we even dressed up for it........

Headin South

We have decided to head south and are making for Bowling Green in Kentucky but we decided to stop in Elizabethtown about 4pm for the day having just got through some roadworks.

It turns out the distilleries are around this area and of course Bourbon being our drink we think we may have to check them out in the morning as it is too late tonight.  The lady in the office gave us a couple of brochures and recommendations for tours.

Next morning we book our outings for down in Nashville and finally we hit the road and head out to Bardstown, east of Elizabethtown.  Bardstown turns out to be really quiet nice and it would have been neat to stay out there but these are things you find as you go......

We end up at Heaven Hill Distilleries Bourbon Heritage Centre and take their tour (1.5 hours) finishing off with bourbon tastings - Daryl was hanging out the entire tour for this bit.
















It was an interesting tour and we learned some things about bourbon we didn't know plus the tastings were very nice. 

It was after 1.30pm when we finally head on our
way towards Goodlettsville, just above Nashville where we will be staying for four nights.  We did not stop at the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green in the end as time was pushing on and it was a long day - maybe we will return for a day trip... 

Finally we hit Tennessee, find our RV park and settle in for the evening.  Sleep in tomorrow!

Indianapolis

We have been trying to decide where to go from here - toying with Washington DC or carrying on south.  Today we headed into Indianapolis to check out the Hall of Fame and Indy 500 Speedway - another on Daryl's bucket list he can tick off.















First off, we took the tour around the Indy 500 track. The pictures show the final straight, winners podium & the original red bricks - this is all that is left showing of them.  The track opened in 1909.  We also watched the film on its lifespan.

Scott Dixon's name on the trophy for 2008.

 


 
We went through the Hall of Fame Museum and saw a lot of history with the cars on display.

 

 

On the way out, I decided to check for Hard Rock Cafes and found there was one in town, so we headed down there, had a late lunch which also served for dinner and Daryl got some more guitars.

There was a large display on Michael Jackson as of course he was born in Indiana.

 

 

We parked just down from a monument, so checked that out and saw the state capital for a flying visit before the meter ran out and we got caught in the rush hour traffic to go home again.

 

 Great artwork and architecture - unfortunately it wasn't open until the next day.  Can't win them all.


Note the Kumera plants - they are commonly used here as decoration plants in pots.




















The state capital building where we met one of the Senate's (Cindy) who invited us to join her in her German Restaurant in a little town to the east, where she would show us around and cook us the best chicken - very nice offer. 
Eventually we decide we would head south so didn't get the chance to take up this offer.

 

Gilmore Relix Riot

Dawn came and Daryl went to park the car........nothing like power parking but at least I got to sleep in! After breakfast we decided to take a look at the museums - there are about 12 barns full of different displays and the cars are beautiful - lots of old gangster cars, a hot rod section, Cadillac barn, hood ornament's galore, model A barn, etc...... 

This is the host club - Daryl swapped T-shirts with them.

Little Deuce Coupe

 

'Nose art'

Some really cool art work on display in the hot rod section also......

Aptly named 'Hip High'









Something different....

 

We even won the prize for Long Distance this time and the 40 has it's first trophy.  A good day in all.

 

Next day was a fairly quiet rest day where we stayed in the park & the following day we moved down to Anderson, about an hour above Indianapolis.

Kalamazoo / Gilmore

We arrive at our camp in the middle of nowhere - sort of what we were expecting but no full hook up's...   We set up and decide to go for a drive to find where the car show is at in Gilmore about half an hour away.  We drive through many back roads of rural land and find the place - a nice setting in the country with red barns and museums.  We take a drive thru the place and find they are camping out in the side paddock, so we ask about this and find that we can camp there for free tonight, they have a couple of bands playing and the show is on tomorrow.

We decide to go back to camp, pack up everything and head out there for the night, which turned out to be pretty good.   It was dry camping (i.e. no sewer, power or water) but that wasn't a problem as we have a generator, our own shower & toilet and cooking is the same as usual.

So we set up, cook our dinner, meet some of the people there, burn round the circuit a couple of times (after Daryl has uncapped the coupe) and take some photos in the scenes while there are not too many people around.  Later we wander over and watch the band, juggling & fire acts etc.  All pretty good and we go to bed with the band in the background with the bonus of not having to get up at 5am to come to the event!!!!!





 This guy squealed around the circuit in his Grand Pooba hat & promptly got told off......there is always one but in his defense there were many others too, including you know who, who floored it down the back straight uncapped - sounded sweet.

 

We had to do the night shots also.......even thou you are all sick of seeing the coupe by now!!