Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is a city full of things to do. On Tuesday we had tickets to the Grand Ole Opry. There is a large mall where the Opry is located so the parking is free which was really surprising. We went early to get a good parking place and spent some time in the mall. Went to dinner before going to the show. It was a special night because Darius Rucker was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. We had great seats on the main floor and only 18 rows back from the stage. Part of the show was being recorded for a TV show and it was being telecast on the radio so they had commercials. Clint Black, Bill Anderson, Elizabeth Cook, Connie Smith, Martina McBride and Vince Gill and of course Darius Rucker preformed. It was the highlight of our trip so far to see the Opry live.
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| Bill Anderson |
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| Clint Black |
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| Martina McBride |
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| Vince Gill and Darius Rucker |
The next day we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame. They have great video clips, costumes and many instruments from country stars. Elvis's gold Cadillac was on display. There is a room of plaques of stars in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Gold and platinum records cover the walls of the building. We wanted to see the historic Ryman Auditorium, where the Grand Ole Opry used to be, but it was closed for filming the new TV show Nashville.
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| Elvis Presley's Solid Gold Cadillac |
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| Wall of Gold and Platinum Records |
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| Hall of Fame Plaques |
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| Historic Ryman Auditorium |
Our last day in Nashville we drove to Graceland but didn't go on the tour, too expensive. We had a good time in Nashville and enjoyed eating at some Triple D restaurants with good southern cooking.
Oct. 19 to 22nd
Natchez Trace, Tennessee
We stayed along the Natchez Trace Parkway which is a 444 mile road through 3 states and 10.000 years of North American history. It starts in Nashville, goes through Alabama and ends in Natchez Mississippi. Established in 1938 by the National Park System and officially completed in 2005.
In the early 1800's through the mid-1820's, "Kaintruks" from the Ohio River Valley floated cash crops, livestock and other materials down the Mississippi River on wooden flatboats. At Natchez or New Orleans, they sold their goods, sold their boats for lumber, and walked or rode horseback toward home via the Old Trace. There is still traces of the Old Trace along the Parkway. No commercial trucks are allowed on the Trace so it is a nice drive at a slower pace through some beautiful country.
There were cotton fields along the Trace Parkway and we stopped and watched cotton being harvested. The round bales weight 4500 lbs. each
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| Dick looking at cotton field |
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| Cotton Combine dropping a bale of cotton |
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| Each bale weights 4500 lbs |
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| Double Arch Bridge near the parkway's northern terminus |
Oct. 23 to 25th
Tupelo Mississippi
We move down the Trace to Tupelo Mississippi for 3 nights. Tupelo is where Elvis Presley was born and spent his early years. We visited his birthplace and in town is the hardware store where his first guitar was purchased by his mom for his 10th birthday.
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| Elvis birthplace |
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| Kudzu vine growing over trees in Mississippi |
Oct. 26 to 29th
Memphis, Tennessee
We move to Memphis Tennessee for 4 nights. We are actually staying in West Memphis which is just across the Mississippi River in Arkansas. Our campground is right on the river and we can watch the barges go up and down the river. The tugs are bigger than the ones we see on the Snake and Columbia Rivers back home and they push around 16 barges at a time. Dick had so many places he wanted to eat at, I didn't cook dinner all four nights in Memphis. We found some good BBQ in Memphis, some of the best ribs we have ever had.
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| Tug pushing barges on Mississippi River |
Oct. 30 to Nov. 3
Mountain Home, Arkansas
Our next stop is Mountain Home Arkansas where we visit our good friend and the best man at our wedding, Jack Jennings. While there we did some geocaching up in Missouri and in Arkansas. We are at the top of Arkansas by the Ozark Mountains. The countryside is rolling tree covered hill and very pretty. We enjoyed our visit with Jack and seeing the beautiful area.
Nov. 4 to 6th.
Grove, Oklahoma
We have not spent much time in Oklahoma before so we are staying in the far north east corner for 3 nights. Our campground is on Grand Lake O' the Cherokees which is an enormous lake very popular for fishing, water sports and many resorts on the lake. We are close enough to Kansas and Missouri to go geocaching there also.
Nov. 7 to 11th.
Lake Texoma and Bridgeport, Texas
Our first stop in Texas is Lake Texoma, for 2 nights, which is just across the border from OK. We move south by Dallas for 3 nights and not much sightseeing to do here. This has been a place to rest and not go so much. We have spent a couple of day geocaching in Texas. Yesterday we found a cache at the Center for Animal Research and Education. It was established to provide a safe haven for abused and abandoned big cats rescued from unsuitable exotic pet owners and a permanent home for retired preforming animals. There were 42 big cats at the reserve and we got a quick tour and took some pictures of the lions, tigers, white tigers, black panther, leopards and cougars. It was a very interesting place. We are geocaching in every state we stay in and in any state we can drive to in the Jeep. So far on this trip we have geocached in 17 state.
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| Black Panther |
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| White Tiger |
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| Tiger |
Tomorrow we move to Dallas and staying in a Corp park for 3 nights. Then we are moving down the east side of Texas to Rockport on the Gulf before going to San Antonio area.
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