Home Is Where We Park It:  Bailey’s Point COE, Glasgow, Kentucky

June 21, 2019

Temperature 78 degrees

Travel Day

Travel Day today.  We’re moving north toward Bowling Green, Kentucky.  Our sole purpose for moving there is to visit and tour the National Corvette Museum.  Then we’ll pack up and move north to Lexington, Kentucky in order to visit the Ark.

The morning dawned clear, hot and humid.  Frankly, we were in no rush to get up and get going.  The last two days have left us with no energy and with just a desire to sit and vegetate.  Be that as it may we had to go.

We took our time packing up what few things we had left to put away.  Them a simple breakfast of cereal and coffee.  Time now for slides in and jacks up.  This was the moment of truth, after the last time when the front slide got stuck what was going to happen.  Wew, both front and back came in without an issue.

On the road and within a few minutes we were zipping along on I 65 north.  Once again it was over hill and dale.  I’m constantly amazed at the amount of power the V 10 has.  It’s no diesel but it’s no slouch climbing hills.  Even with the AC on.

It looked like this was going to be an easy two to three hour drive.  Should have known better than to count my chickens before they hatch.  Just like that we came to a halt.  Not a car was moving.  Nothing.  It was a six mile crawl.  Then just like that it opened up and we were on our way again.  Never was able to figure out what caused the backup.

The fun wasn’t over, though, not by a long shot.  We left the highway and that is when things began to get real interesting.  We were now on rural back roads leading to the campground and they had to be some of the worse I’ve been on.  Narrow, no shoulder, blind corners and hills.  I felt sorry for the line of cars behind me but there was no where to pull over.

The worse was yet to come.  I finally found the sign indicating the campground entrance but the roads within were just as bad.  Narrow, some with a sheer drop off to the right to the lake and not much room to move to the left.   Not to mention all the overhanging trees.  None of this was mentioned in any of the reviews I read.  Rather, all had glowing words of praise for this campground. Not to mention the fact that the campground is full of big rigs everywhere.You can be sure, though,  I’ll mention the roads, the hills, the trees in my review.

This is a stock map of the campground.  It is large.  We are in loop A, site #15.  The A loop is all the way over to the right and site #15 is about half way down the right side of the loop.

Unfortunately, I’m unable to upload any pictures tonight.  The internet is that bad in this campground.  Our site, though, is a nice one.  It is a back in, perfectly level, has 50 amp and water but no sewer.  There is good site separation.  It is completely shaded yet I was able to find one hole in the trees and so was able to get Gertrude locked on to a satellite.   We need that Hallmark.  And American Ninja Warriors is on tonight.  A must watch.

So we’re settled in for the next few days.  As of now we’re rocking and rolling even with the jacks down because of a severe storm passing through the area.  I’ve never before felt Graybeard rock like this with the jacks down.  Interesting.  We even had a tornado on the ground about thirty miles south of us.  Update, thirty minutes later and all is calm again.  I hope this is the end of this storm for the night.  The funny thing – Gertrude never lost her signal!  I will say this is the first time we both had a bit of a concern during this storm.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

 

Home Is Where We Park It:  Two Rivers Campground, Nashville, Tennessee

June 20 , 2019

Temperature 82 degrees/Rain Off and On

We’ve Been Busy Having the Time of Our Life

Contrary to popular belief we haven’t fallen off the face of the earth nor been abducted by aliens.  We’ve just been real, real busy and it’s going to take several days, maybe a week to get caught up.

Over the course of the last two days we’ve been touring Nashville on the Old Time Trolley. There are a total of fifteen stops and in time I’ll cover each of them briefly.

 

During the Nashville tour we stopped and toured the

We spent over four hours here and we’ll cover our tour in a later blog.

We also toured the

Guess whose star we discovered here?

We stopped at

We stopped and toured my all time favorite, the Nashville location of American Pickers.

Want a unique ride for your children?  It can be yours for the price of $2850.

Need to keep your beer cold?  This might work.  Just $2700.

This store has just about anything and everything you could want – if you have deep pockets!

Here’s something more reasonable priced.  A toy fire truck for a mere $825.

When you see a tag like this and no price tag one can only imagine what they want for it.

We’ve had diner in a rather unique location.

You are surrounded by tanks full of all kinds of sport fish.

How’s this for a menu?

We ventured forth to view a bunch of stiffs.

We found these two guarding the front door. Taylor Swift and Johnny Cash.

Inside we found noted performers such as Minnie Pearl with her now famous hat.  The story goes she was running late one evening for a performance at the Ryman Auditorium.  To make matters worse she had forgotten the hat she was supposed to wear that evening.  So she ran into the first store she came to, grabbed a hat, then went on stage with it.  The crowd roared with laughter when they saw the hat with the price tag still on it.  Well, Minnie knew a good thing when it came her way so rather than take offense at the reaction of the crowd, she made the hat a part of her act from then on.

Look who else we found on display.

Of course no trip to Nashville would be complete without a trip to the Holy Grail of County Music.

What a show!  How can I describe it?  Powerful.  Takes your breath away.  Stirs your soul.  Lights a fire within.  Delights.  Words can hardly describe it.

Of course each show is broadcast live on 650 WSM AM radio.

For years I had heard her sing on the radio.  Finally, Wednesday night I got to see her in person and hear her sing live on stage.  The one and only Jeannie Sealy.  Her mother said that Jeannie was just 4 years old when she learned to stretch up, tune the knob on her family’s big console radio to 650 WSM and keep it there. Jeannie is still on the dial at 650 WSM — performing regularly on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. Jeannie, who was raised near Townville, Pennsylvania, remembers sitting in the family’s Ford, eating popcorn and drinking soda pop, listening to the Opry on Saturday nights while her parents played cards at friends’ houses.

Riders in the Sky played that night as well.  They are absolutely fantastic.  Their shows have a strong dose of broad, quick-witted humor that has them poking gentle fun at one another and at aspects of the movie cowboy image. This combination led to their induction into the Opry’s cast in 1982.   Billboard journalist Jim Bessman’s characterizes them as one of “the most historically significant acts in the history of American music.”

Then there is the Sawyer Brown Band.  The band’s live shows are legendary. Having been described as “the Rolling Stones of Country Music,” the band bounds onto the stage night after night, delivering its own unique brand of high-energy entertainment, and the band remains a perennial favorite at fairs, festivals, theaters, and casinos.  The band continues to fill venues across the country with the same enthusiasm they have had from day one. “That’s one thing that has never changed,” says lead guitarist Shayne Hill. “The business part of the music business may be changing by the minute, but playing live is still about the same thing it’s always been about: connecting to the audience right there in the moment.”

That’s a snapshot of what’s been keeping us busy.  Time now to sign off for tonight and begin packing for our move tomorrow.  We’re going a bit north in order to visit the National Corvette Museum.

The Road of Retirement has been a busy one of late.  No complaints from us.  We’re dragging a bit but that’s OK you only get to live once.  As time permits I’ll be expanding on some of our activities and tours that I mentioned above.   Stay tuned.

Thanks again for joining us we do appreciate your company.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

Home Is Where We Park It:  Two Rivers Campground, Nashville, Tennessee

June 18, 2019

Temperature 82 degrees

Like the Ocean  So goes the Campground

Never Believe The Weatherman

I’ve come to the conclusion that this Campground is much like the ocean.

With the ocean the tide goes out, then the tide comes in.  Same with the campground.  Every morning there is a parade of RV’s leaving in the early hours.  When you look out the campground appears empty.  But not for long.  Starting around noon time we have another parade of RV’s coming in.  Just like the ocean tide, the RV’s go out but in time they come back in.

Why oh why do I ever believe the weather man?  This morning it poured, and poured some more.  The weather report and the radar map confirmed that that would be the norm for the day.  So we pulled the plug on going into Nashville for our tour.  Wouldn’t you know it,  no more than fifteen minutes after the shuttle left for the day the rain stopped, the sky began to clear, and he rest of the day we didn’t have another drop of rain.   So frustrating.  Tomorrow no matter what we are going in.  Unfortunately, we only have half a day for sightseeing.

Why?  Because we have tickets tomorrow night for

We went and picked up our tickets today and we are so looking forward to this.  Every Friday night for over two years as we traveled to Maryland we faithfully listened to the Opry show.  Now is our chance to actually go and be present in person.

 We also checked out the parking.  Regarding parking the bottom line is we are going to have to get there real early in order to find a spot.  So we’ll go into Nashville for half a day, come back and get ready for the show, and then head over to the Opry at least an hour maybe more early.

That’s about it for today. on The Road of Retirement.  We got the laundry done.  Began to make plans for our Western Swing next year.  Besides that, nothing more.  Time now to catch 20 winks.  We both had a horrible night’s sleep last night.  Don’t know why but it happens from time to time.  Going to make up for it tonight hopefully.

Thanks for being part of our day.  We always appreciate your company.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

 

Home Is Where We Park It:  Two Rivers Campground, Nashville, Tennessee

June 18, 2019

Temperature 77 degrees

Even the McDonalds

Nashville Nightlife

We definitely have used up our good weather chip.  Since we’ve been here it has been rain off and on during the day and torrential rain and thunderstorms at night.  Even as I sit and write this it is once again pouring out.  So much for touring Nashville today.  Hopefully tomorrow and maybe Thursday.

Let’s get caught up.  Rain or not we have been out and about.  Yesterday we stopped for a quick bite at McDonald’s and you know immediately you are in Nashville when you walk in.  There is this mural on the wall.

Records on the wall.

This display of musical instruments.

Radios for listening to music.

Last night we went to a dinner show at

This is the dinner theater before the lights went on and everyone made there way in.  There were several groups in attendance last night.  One, unfortunately, was a bit late because their bus broke down.  What a bummer.

Dinner was buffet style, all you can eat.  They had southern fried chicken, ribs, Swedish meatballs, vegetables, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese and so much more.  I can attest to the fact that it was delicious.  I can also attest to the fact that I ate way too much!  The wait staff was also terrific, you never had an empty glass once they took your original order.

The show was great.  Though there were no names anyone would recognize the performers were all first class and amazing.  This is Mark Powelson who has worked  with artists like Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Conway Twitty.  He had an amazing voice and sang many of the old time country favorites that we all recognized.

This is singer and songwriter Brenda Best.  She’s a four-time Nashville Independent Music Award winner in 2012 and 2013; In 2015, she was inducted into The Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame New Brunswick.   She’s a member of The Country Music Association, The Gospel Music Association, and the Nashville Songwriter Association International,

During her performance she did Johnny Cash’s Flat Top Box and absolutely knocked it out of the park.

This is Tim Watson.  Tim has opened shows for many super stars of country music such as George Strait, Ricky Skaggs, George Jones, Keith Urban, Conway Twitty, Lonestar, Ronnie Milsap, The Judds and many others.  in 1987 Tim went to work for “The First Lady of Country Music” Tammy Wynette where he was a featured vocalist and fiddler. Tim has also played and sang with Randy Travis, Jeannie C. Riley, Vern Gosdin, and with Willie Nelson on live TV shows.  He absolutely thrilled us when he did The Devil Went Down to Georgia.  Let me tell you this man can play the fiddle.

This gentleman and his wife were celebrating their 61st wedding anniversary.  They brought him up on stage and sang with him Stand By Your Man and You Are My Sunshine.  He had a decent voice.

 

There were so many others who took the stage last night and each in their own right were absolutely terrific.  It was a show we thoroughly enjoyed and will remember for a long time to come.  This is the closing when everyone was on stage and they sang God Bless America.

Now we are up to date.  Right now I’m sitting here singing (that’s what I call it, others I’m sure would disagree!) rain, rain go away.  Unfortunately, I’m not having much luck getting the weather to cooperate.  We’re going to have to regroup and come up with another plan for today.  We have a few museums outside of Nashville that we want to visit, maybe today will be the day.

That’s if for us on the rather soggy Road of Retirement.  Rain or shine we’re still loving this lifestyle of ours.  Hopefully, the weather will clear before we leave and we can get some sightseeing in.  Would be nice, also, if things would clear up in the days and weeks to come.  Time will tell.

Thanks for traveling with us.  Have a good day and we’ll catch you again tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!