Over the last week, it has become clear to us that many American Music forms (Country, Rock n Roll, Blues, Jazz, R&B, Bluegrass and even Soul & Rap) have been influenced by or started in Tennessee cities/regions (Memphis, Nashville, Bristol or the Smokeys- Appalachians). Obviously other cities & states have influenced to some of these genres, however Tennessee has been a significant contributor to all of these.
The other noteworthy item for this week is that we have finally said goodbye to Interstate 40. Over the last 2 weeks we traveled the Route 66 part of Interstate 40 and then coincidently carried on until Wilton Springs, TN - approx 1803 miles on the same road. There have been some detours, but it certainly does not feel that we have been on the same road.
Sat 11th Sept - Memphis
We got up early and I made a British breakfast, we watched Peter’s religion - soccer and the Chelsea game and planned our day. We drove to Beale St and parked near a hotel where all the Tennessee Tigers were staying, they were all walking around chatting to family who had driven to Memphis to watch them play. College football is huge in the USA. We found a café in the Hotel with wifi for us to make our Saturday AM zoom call to the UK Baldwins and Granny Scotland. We realized we were in a Hilton Hotel when we paid for the coffees, juice and 1 croissant – ouch!
After the call and catching up with everyone, we walked down to Beale Street, Memphis’ Music’s Mecca, to find a Sports Bar to watch the Brit - Emma Radacanu in the final of the Women’s US Tennis Open. We found a bar the Tin Roof and it had around 10 large screens and one screen had the tennis, we sat almost underneath it to watch the game. Oh what a game more to see a Brit winning in tennis and then to finally win! Yes!!
We then walked along Beale St to find Sun Studios, the walk took us to a not so nice looking part of town and after a few cars cruised slowly to check out the mad people walking in the heat, we decided to head back to the car and drive to the infamous Sun Studios for the requisite pics.
Sunday, Sept 12th - Nashville
We get up early and leave Memphis for Nashville via Elvis Presley Blvd.
We arrive at our KOA in Millersville just outside Nashville, and after being guided in by the KOA guy in the golf cart to our camping spot we unhitch. You hear about Nashville, so here we are to see it, we decide to go to the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum tomorrow.
Monday, Sept 13th - Nashville
We found an out of the way place for Breakfast called Skye Blue Café.
The Country Music Hall of Fame Museum was well set out with the History of Country Music we don’t know much at all so our learning curve was huge. There were some interesting exhibits - however it is difficult to see so many dresses that country star XYY wore. Really the best thing about the place was the air-conditioning.
The Bill Munroe is for our friend Chris - not sure - but this have been Bill Munroe's actual favourite Mandolin ... or could have been a repro.
Also went to Johnny Cash Museum and Jack White's studios - third-man records where Peter got some Jack White designed socks :)
Our friends Bonnie and John recommended the Urban Cowboy Public House, a B & B, for a meal and its outside and inside ambiance. We didn’t go inside the main building but we did go into the enclosed outside patio area, so very cool and wood fired pizza’s too. After being in downtown Memphis this suburban low key place set in a residential area was a breath of cool air.
Tuesday, Sept 14th - Nashville
We have another day in the heat of Nashville and decide to go to the Grand Ole Opry, we didn’t go on the tour, we did take a photo or too, not a lot to do here and its so hot so we walk in the AC mall one end to the other and then find a great out of the way Mexican cantina for lunch.
Wednesday, Sept 15th - Smokies
We head off to the Smokies National Parks, we stay at an RV park in Cosby called Imagination Mountain Campground, it has a babbling brook, the weather is cooler, humidity is a little high, it is way better than Nashville.
Thursday, Sept 16th - Smokies
We drive up to the highest point in the park, Clingman’s Dome. In the 60’s they build a structure to help you see above the misty tree tops to the high peaks around, unfortunately the mist and cloud was in for the day, there are very few clear days due to air flow and pollution in the neighboring states.
We drove across the park from Gatlinburg to near Cherokee, we asked a Park Ranger what were the best falls to see and she suggest Mingo Falls, very pretty. We drove back along the same road to take in the views and take a few pics, the trees really do look like they are smoking. We get back to the babbling brook and our noisy neighbor who even though they have shore power keeps putting on his generator. Americans and their love of consuming fuel :)
Check out a photo of Peter on Appalachian Way. Apparently this is the highest point of the 2200 mile path - it is very narrow and looks like very few people use it here.
Friday, Sept 17th
We leave the Smokie Mountains for a distillery in Piney Flat.