Visiting Friends & Cousins In Nashville, TN

We had done and seen all we wanted to in the entire area of Knoxville and Great Smoky Mountains National Park and we still had a full Saturday to spend. Well, I thought the other day, we should hop on over to Kentucky, you know, so we can get the state sticker for our map. (Kevin’s Rule: HOWE [footnote 1] has to spend at least one night in a state before we can add the state sticker to our map.) I looked and there is a Harvest Host just over the border and less than an hour north of Nashville, where we would be for the week. Kevin loved the idea of leaving and getting the sticker. We took I-40 west. The roads were a bit bumpy in places. Some small hills and little passes that Kevin wondered what they are called. Not a “holler” but not a valley either. We turned north on Hwy 109; as we crossed into Kentucky, the land flattened out quite a bit. 

We pulled up to the Harvest Host and parked to the side. The email instructions said to park on the right side, when facing the building, but we just wanted to double check. This is a very small business with a few cars out in front. The worker walked out with Kevin and was pointing and talking and pointing again. It turns out there is a big semi-trailer backed up to their dock. First she said to park parallel to it but in front. We pulled out and across the street so we would be coming in the right direction to back where she wanted us. Then she stopped us as we pulled in and said something about parking on the other side of the building. Kevin told me she said to park close to the asphalt and have HOWE on the gravel but the stairs on the asphalt. The next door building is a church. So, I started backing Kevin up but it sure didn’t make sense to me. The next day is Sunday and that seemed awfully close to the church parking, to me. We got parked and the manager came out. (Both he and the worker were very nice, just confused on where to put us.) He had us move in the middle between his place and the church, but right in front of a fenced in gate for some restaurant supply name. I was afraid of blocking that but maybe he owns that, I don’t know. So we moved over, back and forth. I knew from researching that this place did, in fact, make and sell pizza. (Not like Midnight Oil in Delaware. HAHA) The pizza was fine, cracker thin crust but a little too burnt for my liking. The toppings were good. This place closes at 6:00 p.m.

With the hour time zone change, I was awake at 6:00 a.m. Around 7:00 a.m. I got up and Kevin did a bit later. I had a feeling that we would be asked to move; Kevin did, too. He thought it would be nice to go to church there before we left. Yep, just before 9:00 a.m. we got a knock on the door. Kevin said the guy was very nice, but told him the church people park right where HOWE was. Could we move on over to the far side, right next to the distillery. He was surprised we were there because usually RVs park on the other side so Kevin told him the story and about the semi-trailer blocking. We decided to just leave the area; we didn’t want to cause a problem for people parking and it wasn’t worth it to stick around. So off we went.

Seven Points Campground, outside of Nashville, TN, has a lot of trees here, but right above us at the back of the site is some open sky. Yeah! Our Starlink internet worked great. You can see a little bit of the lake through the trees. We got all set up and then took a walk down along the road to the boat dock. We saw two guys fishing and several boats on the water. There is a rope-off place for swimming. A huge sign that says 197 people have drown in this lake, only 4 were wearing life jackets, 193 were not. And they have life jackets hanging there for people to borrow. That is really good. The bugs are bad and we put on bug spray as soon as we got here. 

The next morning, I see Kevin online to the XM Sirius radio website. What ya doing? “Well, for $2.00 a month, I can get a few months more.” He got 3 months free when he got the tires rotated at Discount Tires. I threw up my hands, laughing so hard, and said, “Merry Christmas!” THAT is what I was going to give him. Music, not the tires. Anyway, we had a good laugh.“I am done shopping for Christmas!” HAHA OH, that is soooo funny. Now I have to come up with other ideas for him. I love shopping and giving him things. 

We decided after work we would go to Nashville, to Broadway St. Kevin looked up and found free parking at the stadium, unless there is an event there. Then you walk across the bridge and we thought that sounded fun. Thinking we would be out and about, I made a big lunch: creamy chicken enchiladas. After work we headed to the parking in Nashville. We get there, lot R, and of course, signs everywhere saying you have to have a permit to park there otherwise you will be towed. So we continued on and drove up Broadway St. It was packed with people. We saw parking garages but they seemed pretty low entrance. As we drove slowing up the street, Kevin said he heard music, but each bar/place was so close together that you heard someone else doing music from next door or outside. We saw a lot of homeless people plus drunk people walking down the road, not the sidewalk. Well, I am sure there were some on the sidewalk, too. We turned right and happen to pass Ryman, the old Grand Ole Opry place.

We then drove about 5 miles east to Grand Ole Opry House. There wasn’t very many people around. This also used to be Opryland, a huge theme park, but it closed due to no visitors back in 1997. Now it is a mall. We walked around the outside of the opry house just looking. As we were driving around the mall we saw a direction sign for Paula Deen’s Restaurant. We had really enjoyed the food and the family-style at her restaurant in Savannah, GA. Let’s go here now. Mind you, we had had a big lunch. HA We got right in, this was at 5:30 p.m. The place is darling and the food excellent. Rated: Every Time We See A Paul Deen’s Restaurant, We Must Stop And Eat…Even If We Had A Big Lunch!

The next day we decided to go to Broadway St in Nashville again. We got to Nissan Stadium parking lot R, again, and saw a guy sitting in a chair at the entrance. We pulled in and asked if we could park there. He waved his hand and said he wasn’t full and yes we could park there. No charge, either, which was so nice. Kevin visited with him a few minutes. We walked across John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge, built in 1907. The weather was perfect and it was fun to walk the bridge over the river. We turned one block to the right and then we were at the famous Broadway Street. We moseyed along with the crowd. I notice that at each narrow store front, there would be a large guy standing there. It took me awhile to realize, and I asked Kevin for verification, they are bouncers. See, all the store fronts and narrow bars and sometimes bars/restaurants. Each has doors and windows open, with a band playing. Usually the band was set up next to the window with the drummer right there. Kevin said you can hear a bunch of different bands from different places playing at the same time. There were a lot of people and it got busier the later it went. 

We turned right and walked to the Ryman Auditorium. https://www.ryman.com/about/history Interesting history. It was built as a church. We walked along the side and saw a band bus back there. Guards everywhere. There was one bar that said, “Never live music…it’s football season!” That gave me a laugh. We walked back over the bridge and got to the truck just about dark. A short visit with the guy at the entrance and we headed home (footnote 2).

We had a wonderful visit with a couple we have been friends with for years. We were also able to visit with Cousins who live in the area. We had great times with both these couples on two different days.

1. “HOWE” is what we named our Alliance Avenue 36-ft 5th wheel. See: Home On WhEels and we pronounce it Howie. We live and travel in it full-time around the country.

2. “Home” is where we park it. Home is our 2022 Alliance Avenue, 36 ft, 5th wheel.