Music City

Here's a picture of our campsite, during our usual snack time just after pulling in to the campsite yesterday:

There was a washer and dryer at this campground - really unusual for a public campground.  So, this morning, Doreen made use of these facilities and did a big washing, while I took Tanner for a long hike over to a sandy beach where he ran around in circles until he was beat.  He could hardly make it home he was so tired.  Then, after taking off from here we drove down and into the tangled mess of freeways around Nashville.  The roads in Tennessee are really good - really smooth and well maintained.  But the freeways are scary the way people drive, and there are roads going off in every direction around Nashville.  But we made our way through and ended up in the Bedsco Creek State Park (N36 22 32.2, W86 21 12.7) on the northeast outskirts of Nashville.  We really like Tennessee.  It is pretty, and neat, seemingly prosperous, and full of beautiful brick houses (at amazingly low prices!!).  But we were not too impressed with the State Park.  It was just too sterile for our tastes with manicured lawns, and paved RV pads etc.  And they don't allow anyone to burn their own wood - you have to use local wood, which means buy it from them.  Well, we managed to find a few sticks of wood at some nearby campsites and had a fire anyway.

1 November, Tuesday

Today was "Music City" day.  In the morning and early afternoon we went to a couple of banjo maker's places, and I looked at and played some of their banjos.  It's just amazing the beautiful instruments they produce all by hand in cramped messy woodworking shops.  They are pretty expensive to buy, but I wonder how they can actually make a living doing this kind of work, because they don't produce that many banjos a year.  Later in the afternoon, we went to the Grand Ole Opry.  Here I am, just to prove I was there - you'll probably have to click on the picture to get an enlargement in order to see the Grand Ole Opry sign:

  It is fairly far from the city centre, so it is easy to get to, and there is lots of room to park.  But, starting November 1, the shows move down to the old Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville where the Grand Ole Opry used to broadcast from before 1975, and so there was nobody around the present day Opry.  There is a huge shopping complex associated with the Opry, but it is all closed down for repairs because there was a flood (there is a big river flows past the place) a year ago last May, which completely ruined everything (including the Opry building), and they are still working on it.  The Opry itself is all back in working order, however.  Included in this devastation was the Gibson guitar and other stringed instrument shop.  Gibson was the name in banjos (as well as guitars) in the old days.  Since the flood they haven't made another banjo, and some say they never will.

We drove a couple of miles from the Opry and are camped in a private RV campground (N36 13 59.4, W86 42 14.8), sandwiched in between lots and lots of $$$$$RVs.  (Ours is the smallest RV in the place, of course).  They have laundry, showers, free TV (except we don't have a TV), and free WiFi (hurrah).

We learned from Nina yesterday, that Doreen's Mother is in hospital.  She has some heart problem, which apparently she has had before, and being in hospital has made her very confused.  It was hoped that she would be home today, and Nina was going to stay with her a few days.  I sure hope she improves and can have a good visit with Doreen when/if we get there later on.  We hope to get up to visit with Glen and Gayle Thursday morning in Kentucky.  That is not too far from here, but we are taking our time, and working a visit in between his medical treatments.