The Last Leg Home

After leaving Nashville, we spent a night in a small RV Resort south of Louisville. I changed our usual campsite photo a bit because of our neighbour. This is the first time we've been parked beside another Safari. A little newer and fancier but you can see the family resemblance. Oh, the catching up we did. 

The owner came around to make sure we weren't having too much fun. He's driving a miniature mule (very rare). A miniature pony bred to a donkey. They don't normally breed; he said it took him 2 years to get them to. That's a lot of  XXX films.

We next stopped at Dayton Ohio for three days. Cold and wet. Our neighbours the Duck family seemed happy enough. Check out the snooty neighbours across the street. No one even came over to visit.

That's OK. We didn't come here to socialize but to visit the worlds largest aviation museum, The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. The place is huge, and with the exception of these outdoor exhibits, they are all indoors. The various exhibits are themed by era or war, like the WW1 exhibits.

You're probably wondering what a bicycle has to do with aviation. Well Duh! We're in Dayton Ohio, the home of the Wright brothers, the fathers of flight. Their occupations were bicycle makers and they dabbled in flight. They used a lot of bicycle skills to build their airplanes and this is a Wright brothers bicycle. 

This beauty is a Fokker tri-plane, the same as used by the Red Baron.

Some of the best exhibits were of the really rare WW2 planes like this ME 262. It was the first jet plane flown into combat and was unstoppable. By the time the Germans brought it out the war was near the end and supplies weren't available to build enough to turn the war around. 

Japanese Zero's are very rare and other than the one at the Smithsonian, this is the only other one we've seen. Both were recovered almost destroyed in the jungle. 

A lot of dioramas are used to show certain aspects of an era. This is a flight student during WW2 getting chewed out for nosing over on landing.

One diorama showing damage to Berlin due to bombing has two actual artifacts in the rubble. The bust of Hitler has bullet holes in it and came from a German Generals headquarters in France. The eagle came from in front of Hitlers office in Germany. If you can zoom in enough, you can read the plaques beside them.

Sorry about the fuzzy picture. It's had to find a good photographer. This is the actual B-29 bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki to help end the war with Japan. A mock up of the bomb sits beside the plane and is about the size of a Volkswagen. 

There is another B-29 on display that you can go into. That round tube above Grammie is for the crew to climb from the front to the back. That's why they had to be skinny kids I guess.

This is the only B2 bomber on display in the world. This is the type of bomber that flew over Baghdad during the start of "Iraqi Freedom". Do you remember all the tracers going skyward as the bombs fell. It's so stealthy that they never got a single radar picture of all those planes flying overhead. To bomb Baghdad, the planes took off from the US, flew their bombing mission and returned to the US to land. How did they stay awake for all those hours, not to mention other needs.

The F117 Night Hawk is one of the wierdest planes ever built. it's so aerodynamically unstable that a computer makes thousands of corrections a second to keep it in the air. It's built that way to maximize its stealth performance. 

Now I know that not everyone is as interested in airplanes as I am so I showed only a few of the dozens we took. Grammie, as usual was a real trooper and pretended that my finds were interesting. The neat aspect of a lot of the exhibits is they were actual participants in historical events. This P-40 actually shot down 5 Japanese planes in the Pacific. We spent 2 days here and loved it. I've now officially been to the best aviation museum in the world. So I guess I'll never go to another one; nah, who am I kidding.

An overnight in Flint Michigan and we're home. Visitors already.  McKenzies grown since we last saw her and we finally get to meet the latest addition. 

Grammie latched onto Ethan and this is as close as I got to holding him. Hopefully the novelty will wear off eventually and I'll get my turn. Well, we're home for the next few months so this will probably the last blog for awhile. Unless something interesting comes along. Otherwise we'll be back on line in the fall. Hope you have enjoyed our adventures this year. TTFN

Nashville (It's a long one)

An easy drive from Jackson gets us to Nashville Tennessee. By 2 PM we were all set up and booking tours and shows at the office. There's lots to see here.

Because we haven't been here before and there are so many things to see we decided to sign up for a guided tour of the town just so we could get oriented and get background info. First stop on the tour is the Ryman Auditorium, home of the original Grand Ole Opry. The back part of the structure is the original Union Gospel Tabernacle built in 1892. In 1943 the building became know as "Mother Church of Country Music" as the Grand Ole Opry began broadcasting a live radio program from here. In 1974 the GOO moved to its new digs. Due to its excellent acoustics, the Ryman is still used for world class concerts.

The hall holds about 2500 people and has excellent seating. Normally you can get your picture taken on stage but a school group was putting on a concert later. The school group on stage is from Kitchener, how weird is that?

We drove down Music Row where all the recording studios are located. These were outside Sun Records, the major recording studio which started with Elvis and The Carter Family.

Next stop was the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Three storys of costumes and pictures. I was ready to leave after 30 minutes, not too exciting I'm afraid.

You can only look at so many of these.

The Hall of Fame rotunda had plaques for every inductee. It was interesting to look up the oldtimers we grew up with. Roy Rogers is the only double inductee, bet you didn't know that.

There were other spots we visited but I'll cover those later because we went back on our own. After the tour, we went to a dinner show. Both the food and the show were great.

Next day we went for a walk through the Opryland Hotel. It's the biggest hotel east of the Mississippi and has 2881 rooms and 4 separate indoor green areas.

Fountains, ponds and streams make the hotel interior a beautiful oasis. Never seen anything like it.

At night we took a river boat cruise on the Cumberland River aboard the General Jackson paddle wheeler.

It was a lovely evening with an elegant meal and entertainment both before and after eating.

New day and a trip to the Parthenon. It is a full size replica of the original in Greece. It was built in 1897 for the Tennessee Centennial and Exposition. It was rebuilt in 1920 as a permanent structure.

A full size statue of Athena is housed in the structure, just the same as in Greece in 5th Century BC. It's 42'10" high and gilded with 8 pounds of gold. The winged statue of Nike in her hand is 6'4". That should give you a feel for the size. Amazing isn't it! 

An interesting fact. If you look past Grammie to the far opening, the columns are designed so the opening between columns look like a Grecian urn. Cool Huh.

The grounds are lovely and the trees are blooming. A great place for a long walk.

Tonight's our visit to the Grand Ole Opry. This is the Mecca for Country Music fans and is the main reason we came to Nashville. 

Sorry we can't let you hear the great music, but trust me it was a fun time. I probably enjoyed it more than Grammie because it was mostly older music which I like and not as much current music which Grammie prefers. It's a live radio broadcast so we got commercials and station breaks. Live radio, whoda thought.

Today we're walking around downtown Nashville to see the sights. Broadway St. in the downtown area is known as The District and is one saloon after another. Each has live music and the musicians get paid by tips only. I guess they hope they'll get discovered as well. Most saloons don't have food, just music and booze. Great fun for pub crawling. These go on for blocks and are all busy. 

One of the back streets is called Printers Alley and is famous for its music since the 20's. The venues are more intimate with more blues and jazz. 

I ran into Chet Atkins and we jammed a bit. My only musical talent is sitting still, and I'm pretty good at it. 

This is the State Capitol Building in Nashville. As you know we like to visit them. Unfortunately it was closed for renovation. I guess it needed it, its the oldest original Capitol Building still in use in the States. 

We stopped for lunch at the Wildhorse saloon. One of the few saloons with food. Probably the best BBQ shredded pork I've eaten. And great atmosphere, not to mention friendly horses. 

These look like fun. Everybody piles on and pedals. When they get tired they pull over and have a beer then off they go again. They don't go very far. It takes an hour to go a couple of blocks and back. I guess it's not about the exercise. 

They have a lovely river walk with lots of blooming trees. It was a warm breezy day, perfect for walking. 

Just across the street from the Country Hall of Fame is the Music City Walk of Fame with celebrity names in the sidewalk. This town is music central for sure. I guess that's why one of it's nicknames is Music City USA.

We even managed to find time for a tourist trap or two. One called Cooters Garage has everything Dukes of Hazzard including all the original cars such as the General Lee and Boss Hoggs caddy. Didn't see Daisy Duke though, rats.

Right next door is the Willie Nelson Museum. There is a pile of memorabilia from his life as well as most of his friends. If you recall, a few years ago the IRS seized all his property for back taxes and sold them at auction. Most of the items on display, such as this lounge set were bought at the auction by his friends and donated to the museum. It seem unfair that he did all those Farm aid concerts to help farmers and then lost everything himself. He's still earning so I guess he'll be OK. 

Of all his friends, I guess this is my favourite. Isn't she just cuddly! A real Dolly. Well, not real but you know what I mean. I think we've done Nashville up well and now its time for our final run for the border. Perhaps a short stop along the way but this is our last real break. Keep posted.

We're goin' to Jackson, look out Jackson Town

Our next stop on our long journey home is Shawnee Oklahoma. This time we're staying at the local Expo park where they have rodeos and such. You'd think a town named Shawnee would be pretty exciting but this is the best picture we took. Nothing special here.

Now I'm sure you think our trips are all sunshine and blue skies; well, not so. Pouring rain from Shawnee to Little Rock Arkansas. At the rest stops we usually walk over to the facilities to stretch our legs. Stayed inside this time; one of the perks of a motor home. 

The rain stopped about the time we arrived. Now this is a great spot to stop. 50' from the Arkansas River and right across the river from downtown Little Rock. 

This is the view out of our front window at dusk. 

Next day the rain was gone and happy hour arrived. Don't we look content sitting beside the river in the sun.

That bridge behind us is an old railway bridge converted to a pedestrian walkway across the river. Took this from the bridge.  

Right across the bridge is the Bill Clinton Presidential Museum. They didn't have a Monica exhibit so we never bothered going.

If you've been following our blogs over the years you'll know we like to go see State Capitol buildings. Don't know why, I guess they're just impressive. This is the Arkansas Capitol in Little Rock.

Didn't pick up much of the history of the building but we're blown away by the marble staircases and columns. This is what we did on Easter Sunday; we had the place to ourselves, except for security.  

The grounds were beautiful. This Magnolia tree was in full shedding mode but the tree and ground was lovely, not to mention Grammie. 

One of the big American Civil Rights moments was when 9 black students first entered a segregated white school in Little Rock. This group of statues commemorates that day.

Next stop, Jackson Tennessee. Not quite the view of our last stop. That's OK. It's warm and sunny and happy hour.

After stopping at the visitor centre, it appears Jackson is most famous for two people; Carl Perkins and Casey Jones. Now I know there may be a few of you who don't know who Carl Perkins was. He was just the first major musician to combine hill billy music with rock to create Rockabilly music. Even before Elvis. A true pioneer in music. But I can understand your lack of knowledge about him but don't say you don't know who Casey Jones was! See that train? He rode Old 382 to his doom rather than jump when a stalled train appeared dead ahead. By staying with his engine he saved all of his passengers. He died a railroad hero. A song called "The Ballad of Casey Jones" immortalized him. Perhaps you can find it on the internet and play it. Is it any wonder we had to stop in Jackson? 

I always thought Casey Jones was a fictional hero like Paul Bunyan or Pecos Pete but this is his house, placed in a Casey Jones park with his train and other historical items of note.

See, told you! Well, our next stop is going to be Nashville. Hope you join us for a bit of exploring and hopefully some Country music. Oh, by the way, if you click on the location icon at the bottom of each blog it shows where we were or a spot of interest along the way. Try it. Oh yeah, the title of this post refers to a Johnny Cash/June Carter song. Look that up in your Funk and Wagnells.