Day 1 - Nashville, Tennessee

We begin our RV trip on Wednesday 9/26/2012 from Sebastian, Florida.  On this trip we will be driving our 24-foot class A motorhome; with it we are pulling our car.  We are on our way to the Balloon Festival (Oct 7 through Oct 11) in Albuquerque, New Mexico but first we'll make stops in Nashville and Memphis Tennessee.  

Nashville is where we will meet up with several other RVs.  On our way we drove north on I-95, west on I-10, then north on I-75 where we will stop in Georgia for an overnight.  While at the campground, the area experienced some very high winds, breaking tree branches and toppling tents and ez-ups.

The next day (9/27/2012) we left the campground early, since it will take us most of the day to get to Nashville.  By the time we reach Nashville it is later in the afternoon and check into the Two Rivers campground.  Even though it is really day 3 the first 2 days were driving to get here, hence the title indicates day 1 of our trip.

After setting up we meet with some the others that we will travel with.  Good friends Rick and Shirley Hood are pulling a 5th wheel and have traveled to Nashville from Brunswick, Maine; Shirley’s sister and husband are also in a Motor coach similar to ours and they are here from Tallahassee, FL.  There are another two couples that will accompany us on this trip.

Today 9/28/2012 we begin touring Nashville, TN and Carmen and I went to the Parthenon (a scaled copy of the original in Greece), Belle Meade Plantation, and finally after dinner at the Santa Fe Cattle Co. we end the evening at the Grand Ole Opry.  

We started the day with a visit to the Parthenon and that includes the Athena statue.  As you look at the statue of Athena, you can get a feel for its size by the smaller statue (Greek god Nike) in her right hand.  He is 6 feet 4 inches tall!  Imaging the size of her, at 42 feet, she is quite impressive.  On her chest is the magic breast plate armor that has the head of Medusa.

Once again, outside the Parthenon you can clearly see the relief depicting the Greek gods and scenes on the frieze depicting the slaying of Centaurs.  It is difficult to see, but there is a screen over the sculptures to protect them from the birds.

Next, we went to the Bell Meade Plantation.  The house is impressive with many of the original pieces that were taken or sold, being returned to the house.  This is one of the better restored and maintained plantation houses Carmen and I have seen.  

A couple of the out buildings that housed different people that worked on the plantation.  One might have been for the manager or others who lived on the grounds, but not part of the family.  

Some of the buggies that were in the bar.  Here there were also others like a sled and a cannon.  

The grounds have some nice pastures where several horses roamed.  Fencing was in very good shape and I'm glad that my entrance fee is going to good use and upkeep of the property.

And lastly, after dinner at the Santa Fe Cattle Co., which was very good, with all of the people we are on this RV trip with, we spent the evening at the Grand Ole Opry.  Outside of the Opry were a couple of giant guitars, here Carmen is in front of one of them.  

The Grand Ole Opry building.  The show format was different than I expected.  The show has four segments with a segment “host” who sings a song then turns the stage over to two other bands/singers each playing two songs and the segment finishes with the Host singing another song.  So during the evening performance we had 12 different performers (bands) playing music. 

If you are ever in Nashville, Country fan or not, I would recommend going to a performance.  We saw a number of country stars, including Little Jimmy Dickens, who was almost 92 at the time.  

Until later, Bob and Carmen