2022---Tennessee
Prologue
The genesis of this vacation came from a conversation that we four, me, Margo, Jayme and Pam were having last year when we were planning the Ft Lauderdale trip. Somehow the subject of Graceland came up, and Pam mentioned that was something she wanted to do. Then the Grand Ole Opry came up and I reminded her that those were both in Tennessee. Soon Dollywood was in on the discussion, also in Tennessee. For some reason those all sounded good to me, and I started looking into things, factoring in that it would be a great opportunity to go see John and Becky. It was not long before I had a realistic itinerary put together. The more I started thinking about it and working on it, the more excited I got. While I did enjoy both Graceland and the Grand Ole Opry, I did not think we had done justice to Dollywood or the town of Pigeon Forge way back when. Margo added that Hurricane Mills, home to Lorreta Lynn’s Ranch was in Tennessee, and we had lots of reasons to return to the Volunteer State.
In addition to planning for this trip, Margo and I also were planning for the Schenfeld/Mildenberger reunion, which happens every three years. We took over the planning and execution of that, nine years ago. It was to happen on Sept 10th. This vacation Sept 11th. Not ideal, but months ago, when we had to decide on a practical date of the trip, while not set in stone, beginning on Sept 11th, seemed like the safest bet, to both minimize the crowds and still have a really good chance for nice weather. Then we got word that Sister Stephanie was coming out the week before. So, we had the choice of the Sept 3rd, right before Labor Day or Sept 10, the day before our trip. In hind sight, we should have taken the 10th, AND bumped out trip a week to the 18th. But, live and learn. The 9th and 10th turned out to be very stressful and did not feel like vacation days for me at all. Not with all the things that needed done.
Adding stress to this trip were two other things. Jackie and Cooper. Jackie is Margo’s sister, who lives with us, and gets a little more depended on outside (outside from herself) help each year. Right now she uses a walker and can do little more than feed and clean herself. Household chores are very difficult to impossible. Luckily, we have Veronica, her personal assistant, from North Metro. Lucky, because Veronica is willing to stay over and keep an eye on Jackie, while we are gone. We could not travel, without Jackie, without her. Traveling with Jackie, is so difficult, it make the thought of taking a trip not even worth it.
Cooper is Margo’s one year old dachshund. 100 pounds of cute, packed in a 15-pound body. He also has about 30 pounds of orneriness and 30 pounds of stubborn. Jackie could not care for him, and it would not be fair to delegate that to Veronica (who we do pay) on top of Jackie. But Jessi is willing to step in and take care of him. As long as he gets along with her dogs. Luckily, he does.
In addition to planning for this trip, Margo and I also were planning for the Schenfeld/Mildenberger reunion, which happens every three years. We took over the planning and execution of that, nine years ago. It was to happen on Sept 10th. This vacation Sept 11th. Not ideal, but months ago, when we had to decide on a practical date of the trip, while not set in stone, beginning on Sept 11th, seemed like the safest bet, to both minimize the crowds and still have a really good chance for nice weather. Then we got word that Sister Stephanie was coming out the week before. So, we had the choice of the Sept 3rd, right before Labor Day or Sept 10, the day before our trip. In hind sight, we should have taken the 10th, AND bumped out trip a week to the 18th. But, live and learn. The 9th and 10th turned out to be very stressful and did not feel like vacation days for me at all. Not with all the things that needed done.
Adding stress to this trip were two other things. Jackie and Cooper. Jackie is Margo’s sister, who lives with us, and gets a little more depended on outside (outside from herself) help each year. Right now she uses a walker and can do little more than feed and clean herself. Household chores are very difficult to impossible. Luckily, we have Veronica, her personal assistant, from North Metro. Lucky, because Veronica is willing to stay over and keep an eye on Jackie, while we are gone. We could not travel, without Jackie, without her. Traveling with Jackie, is so difficult, it make the thought of taking a trip not even worth it.
Cooper is Margo’s one year old dachshund. 100 pounds of cute, packed in a 15-pound body. He also has about 30 pounds of orneriness and 30 pounds of stubborn. Jackie could not care for him, and it would not be fair to delegate that to Veronica (who we do pay) on top of Jackie. But Jessi is willing to step in and take care of him. As long as he gets along with her dogs. Luckily, he does.
Day One-Sunday, September 11, 2022
Sunrise as we fly to Memphis
So, at 1:50 AM, on September 11th, Margo wakes me, after my alarm failed to sound, to start our vacation. Also, luckily, that was only 5 minutes after I had planned to get up. Cooper was at Jessi’s and Jackie was snoring. We were on the road by 2:35, looking forward to a very nice trip and hoping that the fates would not throw any large curveballs at us.
We made it USAirport Parking, our go to for the past ten years, at least, but 3 AM. When we pulled in a guy got us our ticket, pointed us towards covered parking, and called the bus letting them know they had passengers in the covered area. So far so good. Things were working as planned.
It was not lost on us that we were traveling on the 21st anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Margo and I made a conscience decision to where red, white, and blue. Sadly, we were in a very small minority.
We made it through security with minimal fuse. TSA PreChek was not open, so we had to go through regular security. Margo went through the normal lane, but I need to go through the scan that looks through your cloths. I forget what it is called. Poor Margo had to deal with my computer bag and all her stuff, but at least they did not make her pull the computer out.
We arrived at the gate and sat down. It was too early to get any food, except for vending machines. Margo went to the bathroom and came back with soda and cake donuts. We should have boarded about 4:50, but all we saw was what looked like several flight attendants standing about. Someone said our flight was missing a pilot. Oh, Goody. Our first hiccup of the trip, and it looked to be a doozey.
They found whatever missing crew member they needed, and boarded about the time we should have been taking off. We loaded quickly and took off only 20 minutes late. The pilot kicked on the afterburners and we landed in Dallas at about 8 AM, Flight from Dallas to Memphis took off at 9:35 AM and landed at 10:45 AM.
These were all on schedule; no hiccups. But, I was worried about our rental car. With there being two couple traveling, there would be a lot of luggage. We had to have the Chrysler Pacifica, or we would be in trouble getting everything in. It was a very long walk to see if we had a problem. But, the Memphis airport had free luggage carts, and lot of water features on the way. I need to get me one of those for my backyard.
Anyway, No hiccups with car either. We got a brand new, only 4 miles, 2022 Chrysler Pacifica. We had an extra minute getting out of the lot, as the attendant had to enter the car into her system, but we were on our way.
We were pretty hungry after having no real breakfast, and it being almost noon, Central time. We were going to eat at Cracker Barrel, but right before we pulled in, I recalled that it was Sunday, in the heart of the Bible Belt. I was expecting the line to long. It was, 1 ¼ hours, maybe longer. Nope. We had not time for that. We ate across the lot at Freddy’s. We were back on the road in 30 minutes.
To shorten the drive we brought several audiobooks, the first of which was a book by Mike Rowe, the host of Dirty Jobs, called The Way I Heard It. This was something of an homage to Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story. He would tell the stories in a very Paul Harveyesque way. I figured out more than half of them, but he got me on a lot. I really enjoyed them.
He would also tell personal stories that tied into the story he just told, These always funny, at least in part. One of the Paul Harvey stories was about Laika, the first dog into space. This was a sad story, because Laika died in space. She was planned to die in space. The poor animal was terrified. When the story was over, Mike’s personal story include the reaction of his girlfriend and his mom. His Mom called him up after it landed and asked him “What the hell he was thinking. No one wants to hear a story like that.” He said that this story generated the greatest reaction from his podcast listeners (these stories had aired already. The book was a compilation, with his personal stories). He then said getting his mother to cuss on a voice mail was just a bonus. We got a chuckle out of it ourselves.
We had our next hiccup about an hour after eating. Freddy’s had apparently had a surprise for me. By stomach turned over about an hour after leaving. We were in rural Mississippi by now, and bathrooms were in short supply. The next exit gave us a choice of Canton to the left or Yazoo City to the right. Neither gave down or distance, so I chose Canton.
It was five miles away. By mile three I was looking for a tree. Plenty of trees, plus ditches and houses. We made it to Canton. The first stop was a baseball field with a game going on. Had to be a portapotty, right? Nope those people, had to hold until the game was over.
Stop number two was a convenience store, with an open sign. It was an older building, but the pumps looked modern, so I figured OK. We pulled in and noticed that the big front window was broken, and some sort of metal rack was laying on the floor among the glass. The front door was chained shut. I figured this must have happened hours, or maybe days ago, but when I got to the now open window, I could feel the hot air from the A/C pouring out, trying to cool down the Mississippi summer. I gave a brief though to stepping in and using the facilities. But, the thought of explaining what I was doing to a police officer chased that notion away.
The shock of this chased back the worst of my impending gastric disaster, at least long enough to get to stop number three, a Family Dollar. They would have a bathroom, but in this obviously outstanding neighborhood, would it be open to the public. I did not ask, but went directly to the back and tried the door. It opened. I was saved, in just the nick of time. Until I looked for toilet paper. This paper product would be essential. Did I mention, that the door would did not lock? I did not see a locking mechanism either. I sent an SOS text for Margo to bring me some Kleenex. She rescued me, in what seemed to be 20 minutes, but was more like three.
She figured she would pee while she was out and tried the door when I was done. It had locked when I had let it go. She went to the front and was told that they did not have public restrooms. God had smiled on me, so maybe this was more an adventure than a hiccup.
Continuing with the adventure theme, we ran into three separate thunderstorms on the way. Each of them were the same. You could look out in the distance on the highway and see where it was raining, because the pavement appeared wet, but there would be dry in front of your and for several hundred feet. When you hit the “wet” it was like driving into a car wash. You went from nothing, to a steady rain, to sheets of rain, which visibility down to nothing. It was disconcerting the first two times. But by the third I knew what to expect, and was already slowing down. The car in front of me was not, and slammed on their brakes. I changed lanes in time. God was still smiling.
We made it USAirport Parking, our go to for the past ten years, at least, but 3 AM. When we pulled in a guy got us our ticket, pointed us towards covered parking, and called the bus letting them know they had passengers in the covered area. So far so good. Things were working as planned.
It was not lost on us that we were traveling on the 21st anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Margo and I made a conscience decision to where red, white, and blue. Sadly, we were in a very small minority.
We made it through security with minimal fuse. TSA PreChek was not open, so we had to go through regular security. Margo went through the normal lane, but I need to go through the scan that looks through your cloths. I forget what it is called. Poor Margo had to deal with my computer bag and all her stuff, but at least they did not make her pull the computer out.
We arrived at the gate and sat down. It was too early to get any food, except for vending machines. Margo went to the bathroom and came back with soda and cake donuts. We should have boarded about 4:50, but all we saw was what looked like several flight attendants standing about. Someone said our flight was missing a pilot. Oh, Goody. Our first hiccup of the trip, and it looked to be a doozey.
They found whatever missing crew member they needed, and boarded about the time we should have been taking off. We loaded quickly and took off only 20 minutes late. The pilot kicked on the afterburners and we landed in Dallas at about 8 AM, Flight from Dallas to Memphis took off at 9:35 AM and landed at 10:45 AM.
These were all on schedule; no hiccups. But, I was worried about our rental car. With there being two couple traveling, there would be a lot of luggage. We had to have the Chrysler Pacifica, or we would be in trouble getting everything in. It was a very long walk to see if we had a problem. But, the Memphis airport had free luggage carts, and lot of water features on the way. I need to get me one of those for my backyard.
Anyway, No hiccups with car either. We got a brand new, only 4 miles, 2022 Chrysler Pacifica. We had an extra minute getting out of the lot, as the attendant had to enter the car into her system, but we were on our way.
We were pretty hungry after having no real breakfast, and it being almost noon, Central time. We were going to eat at Cracker Barrel, but right before we pulled in, I recalled that it was Sunday, in the heart of the Bible Belt. I was expecting the line to long. It was, 1 ¼ hours, maybe longer. Nope. We had not time for that. We ate across the lot at Freddy’s. We were back on the road in 30 minutes.
To shorten the drive we brought several audiobooks, the first of which was a book by Mike Rowe, the host of Dirty Jobs, called The Way I Heard It. This was something of an homage to Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story. He would tell the stories in a very Paul Harveyesque way. I figured out more than half of them, but he got me on a lot. I really enjoyed them.
He would also tell personal stories that tied into the story he just told, These always funny, at least in part. One of the Paul Harvey stories was about Laika, the first dog into space. This was a sad story, because Laika died in space. She was planned to die in space. The poor animal was terrified. When the story was over, Mike’s personal story include the reaction of his girlfriend and his mom. His Mom called him up after it landed and asked him “What the hell he was thinking. No one wants to hear a story like that.” He said that this story generated the greatest reaction from his podcast listeners (these stories had aired already. The book was a compilation, with his personal stories). He then said getting his mother to cuss on a voice mail was just a bonus. We got a chuckle out of it ourselves.
We had our next hiccup about an hour after eating. Freddy’s had apparently had a surprise for me. By stomach turned over about an hour after leaving. We were in rural Mississippi by now, and bathrooms were in short supply. The next exit gave us a choice of Canton to the left or Yazoo City to the right. Neither gave down or distance, so I chose Canton.
It was five miles away. By mile three I was looking for a tree. Plenty of trees, plus ditches and houses. We made it to Canton. The first stop was a baseball field with a game going on. Had to be a portapotty, right? Nope those people, had to hold until the game was over.
Stop number two was a convenience store, with an open sign. It was an older building, but the pumps looked modern, so I figured OK. We pulled in and noticed that the big front window was broken, and some sort of metal rack was laying on the floor among the glass. The front door was chained shut. I figured this must have happened hours, or maybe days ago, but when I got to the now open window, I could feel the hot air from the A/C pouring out, trying to cool down the Mississippi summer. I gave a brief though to stepping in and using the facilities. But, the thought of explaining what I was doing to a police officer chased that notion away.
The shock of this chased back the worst of my impending gastric disaster, at least long enough to get to stop number three, a Family Dollar. They would have a bathroom, but in this obviously outstanding neighborhood, would it be open to the public. I did not ask, but went directly to the back and tried the door. It opened. I was saved, in just the nick of time. Until I looked for toilet paper. This paper product would be essential. Did I mention, that the door would did not lock? I did not see a locking mechanism either. I sent an SOS text for Margo to bring me some Kleenex. She rescued me, in what seemed to be 20 minutes, but was more like three.
She figured she would pee while she was out and tried the door when I was done. It had locked when I had let it go. She went to the front and was told that they did not have public restrooms. God had smiled on me, so maybe this was more an adventure than a hiccup.
Continuing with the adventure theme, we ran into three separate thunderstorms on the way. Each of them were the same. You could look out in the distance on the highway and see where it was raining, because the pavement appeared wet, but there would be dry in front of your and for several hundred feet. When you hit the “wet” it was like driving into a car wash. You went from nothing, to a steady rain, to sheets of rain, which visibility down to nothing. It was disconcerting the first two times. But by the third I knew what to expect, and was already slowing down. The car in front of me was not, and slammed on their brakes. I changed lanes in time. God was still smiling.
Tessa
We got to John and Becky’s about 6:15 PM. We were tired and hungry. They explained that locally there were probably only a couple of options, or they could cook something up. We did not want to put them out, but Becky said it would not be anything special, just some grilled sausage, rice, and fries. So, as we did not feel like anymore windshield time, we went with that. They had three kinds of sausage, pineapple, cheese, and jalapeno. They were all good.
They gave us a tour of the house, and showed us all the renovations they had done in the past year and told us about the prior owner, who echoed the mentality of the people in the area. You don’t replace something because it is old. You use it until it breaks, then you fix it, and use it some more. When you can’t fix it, you repurpose it. The thought of replacing something just for aesthetics or just to update, was foreign. The prior owner upon seeing their new attic fan and dining room lights said “Miss Becky, I can assure you that those things were working when I sold you this place. If I had known they were bad, I would have fixed them.” After Becky assured them that they had been in working order, and were replaced for a different reason, he was shocked to silence.
They gave us a tour of the house, and showed us all the renovations they had done in the past year and told us about the prior owner, who echoed the mentality of the people in the area. You don’t replace something because it is old. You use it until it breaks, then you fix it, and use it some more. When you can’t fix it, you repurpose it. The thought of replacing something just for aesthetics or just to update, was foreign. The prior owner upon seeing their new attic fan and dining room lights said “Miss Becky, I can assure you that those things were working when I sold you this place. If I had known they were bad, I would have fixed them.” After Becky assured them that they had been in working order, and were replaced for a different reason, he was shocked to silence.
|
We visited and I finished the letter I usually send out on Sundays. That only took about 30 minutes, but when I tired to sent it the next hiccup of the trip reared its head. My Settings would not come up on my computer. I could not even view to see the internet connections available. Becky and I worked on it for 30 minutes and nothing. I had this trouble before, about two weeks ago, and ran a system check, which cleared it up. Now it was back, worse than ever. It appears to be some sort of Windows update that is frozen. So, while I can use the computer for Excel and Word, and other programs, I can’t do anything that involves make configuration changes. I will be ordering a new computer. Becky set us up in the guest bedroom with slippers, extra towels, the guest bathroom, and ibuprofen. She is a very gracious hostess and they have a very beautiful house. We were in bed a bit after 11 PM |
Boomer and John
|
Day Two--Monday, September 12, 2022
We were up at about 7 AM. John and Becky are early risers so they were already waiting on us. We are in different parts of the house and neither Margo or I heard a thing. John and Becky have two dogs, Tessa and Boomer. We were introduced to them yesterday. They are both pit bull mixes. Tessa is well behaved, and Boomer is more rambunctious. They are both sweethearts, but Becky was very annoyed that they, especially Boomer, were not on their best behavior for guests. They had also gotten into a fight the day before, and drew blood. So, they were still a little miffed at each other. But they never showed the least little bit of aggression to us. Boomer would just try to jump up on you, or more accurately, half jump, because he knew he was not allowed. He was just so happy to see new people. Anyway, John had blocked our hallway with a couple of chairs so they would not come wake us up to play.
John and Becky are leaving on their own vacation, to Mexico, on Friday. So, Becky, who works from home, did not have an option to take the day off. We completely understand. It is so hard to get everything on autopilot, so the customer gets served, and you don’t come back to complete disaster. John was able to take the day off and would be showing us the area.
When we made our way down to greet our hosts, I did so, wounded. While I was in the shower, I managed to not only poke myself in the eye, with my left thumb, but my thumbnail gouged out a nice chunk under my eye. When it happened, I was sure I was going have blood on my fingers, when I checked. But, somehow, even though it was raw and open, it was not bleeding. This added to an existing injury from Friday. I am almost certain I broke a toe on my right foot. I was trying to step around Margo in the bedroom, but missed and kicked my dresser.
As long as we are on the subject, Margo is also not at her best. She is being treated for an arthritic ankle, and nothing is working. She tried injects of hyaluronic acid, creams, lotions, and even oxycodone, but at best they provide temporary relief, and the oxy ends up making her sleepy. The doc is going to have to fuse the ankle when we get back.
We decided donuts at the local shop, Donuts Place One, and coffee from 2nd Street Bean, would make a great breakfast. The coffee was really good, and the donuts were better than Dunkin, Winchell’s, or Krispy Kreme. It would not hold us for long, as it was so heavy in carbohydrates, but it was yummy.
John and Becky are leaving on their own vacation, to Mexico, on Friday. So, Becky, who works from home, did not have an option to take the day off. We completely understand. It is so hard to get everything on autopilot, so the customer gets served, and you don’t come back to complete disaster. John was able to take the day off and would be showing us the area.
When we made our way down to greet our hosts, I did so, wounded. While I was in the shower, I managed to not only poke myself in the eye, with my left thumb, but my thumbnail gouged out a nice chunk under my eye. When it happened, I was sure I was going have blood on my fingers, when I checked. But, somehow, even though it was raw and open, it was not bleeding. This added to an existing injury from Friday. I am almost certain I broke a toe on my right foot. I was trying to step around Margo in the bedroom, but missed and kicked my dresser.
As long as we are on the subject, Margo is also not at her best. She is being treated for an arthritic ankle, and nothing is working. She tried injects of hyaluronic acid, creams, lotions, and even oxycodone, but at best they provide temporary relief, and the oxy ends up making her sleepy. The doc is going to have to fuse the ankle when we get back.
We decided donuts at the local shop, Donuts Place One, and coffee from 2nd Street Bean, would make a great breakfast. The coffee was really good, and the donuts were better than Dunkin, Winchell’s, or Krispy Kreme. It would not hold us for long, as it was so heavy in carbohydrates, but it was yummy.
John had told us about a local hardware store, Hill Hardware, which has been around for 121 years. It reminded us both of the old Hunter Hardware back home. Only this one had modernized, so they could keep up with the times. But there was so much old stuff above eye level, and several of the displays and counters dated back deep into the last century. Jayme pointed out several tricycles up in the second-floor storage area, which were still wrapped in some very old paper. They had an old cash register that had to be at least 50 years old, which was tied to eight different cash drawers. They store candy in it now for the kids, and it still works.
|
|
I saw a book, written by a local author about a regionally famous missing person case. It was about a small boy that went missing in Louisiana, who was later found. The rub is, that most people did not think it was the same boy. His mom did, and while that was not the end of it, it did carry a lot of weight. I showed it to Margo and John, and kind of moved on to the next interesting thing.
|
|
We finished up and decided on a place called Debbie’s for lunch. John called Becky to see if she could join us, but she was still super busy. About five minutes later she called back and decided that she was going to say Screw it and spend an hour with family. We were glad she could make time. Margo and I enjoy her company. We would have understood completely, if she couldn’t, but we were glad it worked out. The burger, which was seasoned beef, was pretty good. It was a good choice for lunch.
They both spend some time telling us about Experience Columbia, a big Christmas program that ends with fireworks each night. It is a religious themed program and is supposed to be very well done. We would like to see it, but I doubt we can swing it this year. I am not even sure about 2023. We already have one trip planned, and this trip is going to end up costing $9,000 after all is said and done. I th8ink that is going to wipe out all travel money that I had in reserve.
Afterwards we went to the town square and saw the small courthouse. Columbia is the county seat, so they hand the county’s business. It was still small and there was nothing much to see. It did have the benefit of being near the hardware store, and I had been thinking about that book, Mizpah, since we left. So, I went in and bought a hardcover print. It was signed by the author and was only $20.
We still had most of the afternoon, so John suggested going to Hattiesburg. I thought it was an hour away, but he corrected me, saying it was more like 30 minutes. We got the tour, driving past Southern Mississippi University and dozens of restaurants. We saw Oak Gove High School, where Brett Favre is spending a ton of his money. I don’t know if went there back in the day or not.
That reminds be of a story John told us earlier in the day. Walter Payton was actually born and raised there. But if you look at his football bio, he lists his hometown as Jackson. This is because the police in Columbia pulled his dad over for suspicion of drunk driving. He was really having a medical incident. They threw him in jail and he did not get treatment. He later died as a result. Since then, he wanted nothing to do with the town. The town, however named the high school field after him, and have a statue. Walter, who passed away more than a few years ago, would likely not be happy. We got back to John and Becky’s place about 4:45 PM.
I worked on my computer, hoping to get it fixed, but I made zero progress. I only found different things that would not work. As soon as Becky could finish up her day, we went to dinner. There are not a lot of choices in Columbia, but we decided on Magnolia Grille, a place they tried in the first week they moved out. It did not impress them, but always seemed busy. We were happy to give them another shot, with them. It turned out to be pretty good. I had their brisket and it was the most tender I have ever had. We went home and visited for a while, and then went to bed. We needed to get an early start.
Day Three--Tuesday, September 13, 2022
I was up at 6 AM. Margo got up earlier, because she wanted to say good bye to John before he left for work. He also needed to get things done. He is a driver for a water delivery company, and needed to make sure his customers were covered, while he was gone. Like everywhere else, they are shorthanded.
We left John and Becky about 7AM, and stopped at the same donut shop for our breakfast. We ate there and were on the road by 7:30 AM. We finished up the Mike Rowe book and started on the country music story book. The reader, who was likely the author, was not good. His writing style was also too drawn out, failing to add information with the words he was speaking. You lost interest quickly. We switched to music, but even then, we had poor results.
We stopped twice to pee, and snacked the whole way up. We kept Pam and Jayme updated on our progress. We had no issues on the way back. But I determined that we probably should have flown into New Orleans, as we really did not need to fly into Memphis, as we were not flying home from there either. We arrived about 1:30, which was better than I expected.
Pam and Jayme had been waiting for us at Hooters, which was just off of Beale St. I am sure it was because of their wings. They had actually only been there about half an hour and were having beer and chips. They had spent their morning looking for the garage of a street racer from TV. They did not have any luck. Too bad, as it was something Jayme really wanted to see.
We had been texting back and forth, trying to figure out how to link up and not block traffic. It worked out and we were soon on our way to a parking garage, so we could have lunch on Beale Steet. We had no idea which place would be good. We settled on a place called The Pig on Beale. It turned out to be the right place. We had a Family Feast which came with Ribs, Brisket, Hot Wings and Pulled Pork. We rounded it out with Beans, Corn on the Cob, Fries, and Onion Rings. The food was really good. I loved their ribs. Meaty and tender.
I had two things planned for today; dinner on Beale Street and the Peabody Ducks. We had eaten, but I still wanted to see some live music. That could happen anytime. It was happening now, but the Peabody Ducks had a hard and fast time; 5 PM. But we needed to be there no later than 4 PM to have a shot at seat to see the action.
We had some time to kill before the ducks, so we walked around Beale Street. One of the first thing to catch our eye was a street show that was going on. The Beale Street Flippers are an institution, that has been around since the 1980s. They consist of a group of young, fit, and athletic black males who will do various acrobatic maneuvers, usually over chosen bystanders. They put on a nice show.
We saw the tail end of one short performance, and when the next one was about to start, they “chose” both Jayme and I. There were two or three other people brought out. We were given very specific instructions on where to stand and how far to bend over. I turned by head so I did not see him coming, but I could hear the fall of his feet, and out of the corner of my eye, the take off. Margo captured the whole thing on video. They quickly passed the hat to collect tips for their performance, starting with us, who got to be part of the show. They knew how to get money out of the crowd. We wandered a few of the shops, but it was starting to get close to 4 PM and we needed to be on our way.
I guess I should explain about the Peabody Ducks. The Peabody Hotel is a five-star, historic hotel, dating back to 1925. Sometime in the 1930’s the general manager, returning from a duck hunting trip, decided it would be funny (alcohol was likely involved) to put his live decoys (legal then) into the hotel’s lobby fountain. Rather than be disgusted by having ducks in the fountain, the guests were greatly amused. The ducks stayed. Over the years, a program developed where at 11 AM, the ducks, who have a pen up on the roof, are elevatored down to the lobby, marched down a red carpet to their daytime home. Then at 5 PM the process is reversed.
The Peabody is not far from Beale Street so we walked. Pam is also hurting. She has a bad back, resulting from a fall and runover by a mule team, and sore feet and legs. Margo’s back starts to hurt from her being overweight and compensating for her bad ankle. So even though it was close, three out of the four of us are in pain when we walk. But we were not here to whine. We were her to see the sights.
We made it there, figured out where to enter in, and found a table which would give us a partial view. Even at a bit before 4 PM the prime viewing areas were gone. They have a rule against people standing in front of the tables, so we hoped our view would not be blocked.
Margo and Pam had both noticed a drink which had a tiny duck floating in it, and were enamored. As it turned out, most of the cocktails could have that duck put in it. They both ordered a fruit juice-based concoction, which went down pretty easy. Pam ended up with two of them, which should have softened her pains. I had an Angry Orchard and Jayme, his standard Bud Light. Jayme, who had a sweet tooth even greater than mine, saw a duck dessert on the menu. It was a white chocolate duck, filled with chocolate mousse. Jayme at most of it, but made sure that we all got some. I ended up finishing it off. It was delicious.
The show began at 4:45, with the Duckmaster (red jacket and all) telling us the story of the duck and explaining what was going happen. We also watched him enforce the no standing rule, and also watched certain entitled people continually try to circumvent the rules. He explained that there are 5 ducks, one male and four females, and that they are rotated out every four months. The show started and ended in less than a minute. The ducks moved slower than I thought they would, walking in a single file. My vantage point did not allow a great view once they were out of the fountain, but it was still cute. Everyone got a kick out of it. When the bill for dessert and drinks arrived a few minutes later, it was evident why the tradition continues. We spent $80, and we were far from the only people in the room, drinking.
We spend maybe 45 minutes in the hotel shops getting various trinkets, including a quacking, stuffed duck for Jackie. The Peabody is all about ducks. It is their brand. During the show, we were told that even though they have a French restaurant on premise, duck was not allowed to be on the menu.
We decided on BB Kings for dinner and music. The food was OK. I tired at catfish sandwich. It had a mushy feel to it, and I did not care for it at all. I still ate about half of it, more for the experience than the sustenance. Jayme usually ends up ordering a burger, and is rarely happy with what he gets. He is very, very particular. It should be a single quarter pound patty, no cheese, well done. The fries should not be coated or battered. I think he had to take a patty off this one. I don’t recall what Pam or Margo had, but I don’t remember any complaints.
We sat in for the last set of a band, whose name I did not catch. They played blues, but more popular stuff. I think we only heard about three of four songs. It was definitely loud. We paid a $10 per head just to be seated. Next up was the BB King All Stars, the house band. We enjoyed the few songs we listened to, but in truth this was not the music we grew up with, so we did not know it well enough to really enjoy. We left and went back to Beale Street
It was dark now, and we all wanted a few pictures with the light. I can never seem to get a good night picture. Between me not knowing how to use the camera to its maximum efficiency, and the limitation of the camera, I just never seen to get a great pic. But, whatever, it was still a great experience. I doubt we will ever be back, as there are other things in Tennessee that I would rather see or repeat. But I am glad we did it.
We fought the construction going around the area a bit, and made our way across the Mississippi to our hotel in West Memphis, AK. We were staying at the La Quinta there. Pam and Jayme checked in yesterday, we had not checked in yet. They had our room ready for us. The hotel’s Wi-Fi was down. They lady working the lobby counter was exceptional, and let us know that it would probably be out all night, even though she had a call in to get it fixed. My computer could not connect anyway. My phone could, but in truth, I was tired. I made my notes for the day, and we went to bed. Tomorrow would be a very full day
We left John and Becky about 7AM, and stopped at the same donut shop for our breakfast. We ate there and were on the road by 7:30 AM. We finished up the Mike Rowe book and started on the country music story book. The reader, who was likely the author, was not good. His writing style was also too drawn out, failing to add information with the words he was speaking. You lost interest quickly. We switched to music, but even then, we had poor results.
We stopped twice to pee, and snacked the whole way up. We kept Pam and Jayme updated on our progress. We had no issues on the way back. But I determined that we probably should have flown into New Orleans, as we really did not need to fly into Memphis, as we were not flying home from there either. We arrived about 1:30, which was better than I expected.
Pam and Jayme had been waiting for us at Hooters, which was just off of Beale St. I am sure it was because of their wings. They had actually only been there about half an hour and were having beer and chips. They had spent their morning looking for the garage of a street racer from TV. They did not have any luck. Too bad, as it was something Jayme really wanted to see.
We had been texting back and forth, trying to figure out how to link up and not block traffic. It worked out and we were soon on our way to a parking garage, so we could have lunch on Beale Steet. We had no idea which place would be good. We settled on a place called The Pig on Beale. It turned out to be the right place. We had a Family Feast which came with Ribs, Brisket, Hot Wings and Pulled Pork. We rounded it out with Beans, Corn on the Cob, Fries, and Onion Rings. The food was really good. I loved their ribs. Meaty and tender.
I had two things planned for today; dinner on Beale Street and the Peabody Ducks. We had eaten, but I still wanted to see some live music. That could happen anytime. It was happening now, but the Peabody Ducks had a hard and fast time; 5 PM. But we needed to be there no later than 4 PM to have a shot at seat to see the action.
We had some time to kill before the ducks, so we walked around Beale Street. One of the first thing to catch our eye was a street show that was going on. The Beale Street Flippers are an institution, that has been around since the 1980s. They consist of a group of young, fit, and athletic black males who will do various acrobatic maneuvers, usually over chosen bystanders. They put on a nice show.
We saw the tail end of one short performance, and when the next one was about to start, they “chose” both Jayme and I. There were two or three other people brought out. We were given very specific instructions on where to stand and how far to bend over. I turned by head so I did not see him coming, but I could hear the fall of his feet, and out of the corner of my eye, the take off. Margo captured the whole thing on video. They quickly passed the hat to collect tips for their performance, starting with us, who got to be part of the show. They knew how to get money out of the crowd. We wandered a few of the shops, but it was starting to get close to 4 PM and we needed to be on our way.
I guess I should explain about the Peabody Ducks. The Peabody Hotel is a five-star, historic hotel, dating back to 1925. Sometime in the 1930’s the general manager, returning from a duck hunting trip, decided it would be funny (alcohol was likely involved) to put his live decoys (legal then) into the hotel’s lobby fountain. Rather than be disgusted by having ducks in the fountain, the guests were greatly amused. The ducks stayed. Over the years, a program developed where at 11 AM, the ducks, who have a pen up on the roof, are elevatored down to the lobby, marched down a red carpet to their daytime home. Then at 5 PM the process is reversed.
The Peabody is not far from Beale Street so we walked. Pam is also hurting. She has a bad back, resulting from a fall and runover by a mule team, and sore feet and legs. Margo’s back starts to hurt from her being overweight and compensating for her bad ankle. So even though it was close, three out of the four of us are in pain when we walk. But we were not here to whine. We were her to see the sights.
We made it there, figured out where to enter in, and found a table which would give us a partial view. Even at a bit before 4 PM the prime viewing areas were gone. They have a rule against people standing in front of the tables, so we hoped our view would not be blocked.
Margo and Pam had both noticed a drink which had a tiny duck floating in it, and were enamored. As it turned out, most of the cocktails could have that duck put in it. They both ordered a fruit juice-based concoction, which went down pretty easy. Pam ended up with two of them, which should have softened her pains. I had an Angry Orchard and Jayme, his standard Bud Light. Jayme, who had a sweet tooth even greater than mine, saw a duck dessert on the menu. It was a white chocolate duck, filled with chocolate mousse. Jayme at most of it, but made sure that we all got some. I ended up finishing it off. It was delicious.
The show began at 4:45, with the Duckmaster (red jacket and all) telling us the story of the duck and explaining what was going happen. We also watched him enforce the no standing rule, and also watched certain entitled people continually try to circumvent the rules. He explained that there are 5 ducks, one male and four females, and that they are rotated out every four months. The show started and ended in less than a minute. The ducks moved slower than I thought they would, walking in a single file. My vantage point did not allow a great view once they were out of the fountain, but it was still cute. Everyone got a kick out of it. When the bill for dessert and drinks arrived a few minutes later, it was evident why the tradition continues. We spent $80, and we were far from the only people in the room, drinking.
We spend maybe 45 minutes in the hotel shops getting various trinkets, including a quacking, stuffed duck for Jackie. The Peabody is all about ducks. It is their brand. During the show, we were told that even though they have a French restaurant on premise, duck was not allowed to be on the menu.
We decided on BB Kings for dinner and music. The food was OK. I tired at catfish sandwich. It had a mushy feel to it, and I did not care for it at all. I still ate about half of it, more for the experience than the sustenance. Jayme usually ends up ordering a burger, and is rarely happy with what he gets. He is very, very particular. It should be a single quarter pound patty, no cheese, well done. The fries should not be coated or battered. I think he had to take a patty off this one. I don’t recall what Pam or Margo had, but I don’t remember any complaints.
We sat in for the last set of a band, whose name I did not catch. They played blues, but more popular stuff. I think we only heard about three of four songs. It was definitely loud. We paid a $10 per head just to be seated. Next up was the BB King All Stars, the house band. We enjoyed the few songs we listened to, but in truth this was not the music we grew up with, so we did not know it well enough to really enjoy. We left and went back to Beale Street
It was dark now, and we all wanted a few pictures with the light. I can never seem to get a good night picture. Between me not knowing how to use the camera to its maximum efficiency, and the limitation of the camera, I just never seen to get a great pic. But, whatever, it was still a great experience. I doubt we will ever be back, as there are other things in Tennessee that I would rather see or repeat. But I am glad we did it.
We fought the construction going around the area a bit, and made our way across the Mississippi to our hotel in West Memphis, AK. We were staying at the La Quinta there. Pam and Jayme checked in yesterday, we had not checked in yet. They had our room ready for us. The hotel’s Wi-Fi was down. They lady working the lobby counter was exceptional, and let us know that it would probably be out all night, even though she had a call in to get it fixed. My computer could not connect anyway. My phone could, but in truth, I was tired. I made my notes for the day, and we went to bed. Tomorrow would be a very full day
|
|
|
|
|
Day Four--Wednesday, September 14, 2022
thI was up at 7 AM. Margo was up before me, which is her custom. We all met downstairs a bit before 8 AM. I had tried to book hotels that had hot breakfasts to save us both time and money. The trouble is that not all hot breakfasts are created equal. I always hope for bacon and properly cooked scrambled eggs. When a hotel provides a hot breakfast there is usually sausage. That was the case today. Eggs, sausage, biscuits, gravy, potatoes, bread, yogurt, muffins, and cold cereal. I was happy enough.
The first thing we had on tap for the day was Graceland, home of Elvis Presley. Margo, Jayme and I had all been to Graceland, back in 1994. Things will have changed a lot. Pam has never been, but expressed a lifelong desire to see it. We would be taking the Ultimate VIP tour. This tour comes with a guide, gets us access to places other tours won’t see, and we get to hold a genuine Elvis artifact. And lunch at Vernon’s Smokehouse.
We arrived a full hour before our tour, and after getting instructions we were told we could tour the museum area of Graceland. We were all given special lanyards, without all access pass, so we could just walk up to a gate, and be waved through.
We started at the mockup of the set of a short-lived TV series called Sun Records. I think the sign said it went for eight episodes. It was pretty spread out and looked like it could have had enough room for camera and crew. The next exhibit showed Elvis’ love of football. He loved to play and went those who played with him took it easy on him, he would let them know that on the field he was just one of the guys. He even drew up his own plays, many of which were on display.
Bu now, it was close enough to see about our tour. We walked over and found that we were 4 of a 10-person tour. We were directed to small bus and went right up to the mansion. From 1994, I have only a few memories of Graceland, parts of the mansion are in those memories. This time I took better pictures, and won’t lose them.
We saw the living room with the peacock windows, and the jungle room. I don’t remember the jungle room the same way, but the guide says it has been changed very much since Elvis passed. I am sure I took pictures back in 1994, but about have that trip has been lost. Maybe they are still in a box somewhere, but I have not seen them in nearly 30 years.
The guide told us it would like stepping back into a time machine, and he was right. Shag carpeting, avocado appliances, etc. 40 years ago this was state of the art. Elvis could afford the best and was fond of gagets. He had the latest in electronics, including a microwave. I don’t think we got our first microwave oven until the 1980s.
I remembered his TV room differently. I thought the TVs were over top of each other, or at least one of them was. But, nope, side by side. It is still cool that Elvis had three TVs rigged up to watch three football games at once. He was a sports bar, about 20 years ahead of his time
I don’t really remember the Billiard Room and all that folded fabric or the story about the rip in the pool table felt. One of his friends caused the rip, trying to do a trick shot, but would not own up to it. Before he could have it fixed, he died. Then everyone in the room claimed to be the one who ripped the cloth.
We got to see Vernon Presley’s office. Vernon was Elvis’ father and basically ran Elvis’ life. I don’t know the story of Colonel Tom Parker, but our guide made it clear that the Elvis team does not like him, and barely mentions him on the tour. There is a new Elvis movie out, which I should see. It was mentioned numerous times on the tour.
We saw the grounds. Lisa Marie’s swing/slide set stand out. It has a bullet hole in it. The swing set is right in front of the smokehouse (Vernon used to raise and smoke pigs). Elvis and his friends would set up targets in the door of the smokehouse and shoot at them from the second floor of the mansion. Elvis who had training in the Army as a sharpshooter, was credits with the bullet hole in the lower part of the slide.
We saw the racquet ball room where there is a lounge set up. Elvis played racquetball and then sang with his friends on the night he died. We moved on to the Meditation Garden, which is where Elvis is buried. He was originally buried in a public cemetery, but after an attempt to steal Elvis’s body it was moved to Graceland. His mother, father, grandmother, and grandson are all buried there. His twin brother who died at birth has a monument, but his unknown grave is still in Mississippi.
Our last stop on the tour took us to our VIP area, where we got to see some artifacts not on display, like his mother’s purse, Col Tom Parker’s leather brief case, and Elvis’s motorcycle helmet. He was not fond of wearing it, but did on the occasion of a roman candle fight he had with friends. The facemask shows a glancing blow, which would have burned the King.
The final part of the VIP tour was the opportunity to hold the belt on one of Elvis’ jumpsuit costumes. He gave us the name, but I don’t recall which costume it was. All I remember was that we were told only the cape that goes with it is on display in the museum.
The guide then took us over the museum area and pointed out the car area and an area in the museum that was interactive. We could be put on an Elvis album cover (it did not work very well) or have Elvis serenade you. This one would video the song with you and Elvis, and then send it you back home. Margo did this one.
That was the last stop on the tour. We were dropped off near where we started and we had our lunch at Vernon’s Smokehouse. The food was better than expected, as the place looked like a school cafeteria.
We wandered the various exhibits, with both Pam and I really liking his military days. He achieved the rank of E-5, Staff Sargent, the same rank Dad had in the Air Force. Jayme, unexpectedly, like the automobile section.
By now we were getting tired and it was after 3:30. We wanted to take a tour over at Sun Studios. The last tour of the day was at 4:30, and there was no guarantee there would be tickets left. They only sell tour tickets the day of, and they did not open until 10, so getting them before Graceland was not practical. We were all in agreement that we should be going. We had not seen every single thing, but we had seen a lot and enough.
It was not a bad drive to Sun Studios, maybe 15 minutes. I did have trouble finding the right place to park. After we found it, Jayme helpfully pointed out that painted on the top of the building, it said Free Parking in Back.
After parking, we went inside and got four tickets. Score! Sun Studios bills itself as the birthplace of Rock and Roll. I don’t know how they come to that conclusion. I’m not disputing it, but I have more than one reason for wanting to visit.
Obviously, Sun Records was very important, giving Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, BB King, Howlin Wolf and other black artists. But, for me, it was also an almost forgotten piece of my childhood
Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dad was still in the Air Force, and we were stationed in Warner Robbins, GA. I recall a portable, combination record player and radio. The turntable would fold out and we could play records in the backyard as we played. My recollection was that we played Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire, over and over again. My memory is also very clear that this record was on the Sun label. Their emblem, is distinctive, with its bright yellow design and the word SUN across the top.
Modern day Sun Studios sells old Sun 45s, so I immediately looked for Ring of Fire, and could not find it. When I asked, I was told that this song was recorded on the Columbia label, and I must be mistaken. My guess is that the record I recall was I Walk the Line, which I also remember hearing, and that I am confusing that over 50 years in the past, the two memories. That’s OK. It is nice to know what really happened. I have no idea what happened to those records. I know I got a lot of Dad’s stuff. I wonder if my other siblings could have ended up with the record.
The tour itself was very good. It started upstairs, much to Margo and Pam’s discomfort. Stairs are the bane of their existence. They made it, and we were let to a room with displays, behind glass, lining either side of the room. Zoe are guide explained each and their impact on Sun Records and the artists of the early and mid-1950s.
One the ones I remember in detail is the actual broadcast booth from Daddy O Dewey Phillips and broadcaster from the 1950s. He was a character. He would play a record and if he thought it sucked would berate it over the air in a most enthusiastic way, rip the record from the turn table and smash it to bits on the floor. He played Elvis’s “That’s All-Right Mama” in 1954, and got an overwhelmingly positive response from his listeners. He called Elvis in and interviewed him live on the air. This launched Elvis and really propelled Sun Records to prominence.
Sam Phillips, owner of Sun Records, sold Elvis’ contract for $30,000, a very large sum for the day. Suns first million sale record was not from Elvis, but was Carl Perkins' “Blue Suede Shoes”. That dovetails into another child hood memory with my Dad. He told me that when I was very little, just learning to talk, he spend some time teaching me to say “Go, Cat, Go”. The opening lyrics for Blue Suede Shoes are.
“Its one for the money. Two for show. Three to get ready, now go cat, go”
Those must have been among my first words. I know music was very important to Dad, and this tour was giving me at least a glimpse of the pleasure the early rock and roll artists gave him.
After Zoe, who was very good, and a recording engineer at Sun, took us downstairs to see the actual recording studio. She explained that this building was not the continuous home of Sun Studios. After Elvis’ contract was sold, Sam Phillips, needed a bigger more modern studio and moved to another building. In the ‘60s, 70s, and into the 80s it had several other businesses in it, including a barber shop and waterbed store. It was resurrected in 1987.
Zoe gave us the history and showed us the studio instruments, including a microphone that was used in the early days. We got to pose and take pictures with it. Pam and I did more than just stand in front of it, we worked it. The other two were cowards.
This was the end of the tour. We were walking past Zoe, who was holding court with a group of the tourists. She was talking about June Carter, and did not hold a very high opinion of her at all, claiming she was more of an opportunist that the movie showed. I don’t know. Movies are not documentaries. Even documentaries are not documentaries. They just seemed liked they were meant for each other.
We were all wanting something from the gift shop. I usually hunt for a polo shirt, which are now as common as honest politicians. Finding none, I settled for a t-shirt with the classic Sun logo. Margo, Pam, and Jayme found their own souvenirs, and we closed out our time at Sun with a bottle of pop from the Sun Café.
It was 5:30 and the day was not done. I had one last thing on our Memphis Must Do List, and that was the Bass Pro Shop. Huh, Bass Pro Shop you ask? Well, when it is housed in the 10th largest pyramid in the world, it becomes worth visiting.
Memphis was named after a city in Egypt. Egypt has Pyramids, so when the NBA team needed a home, they built them an arena in the shape of a pyramid. It was there in 1994, but things did not work with the basketball team. The pyramid had several other uses until Bass Pro Shop decided to dump several million dollars into and turn it into the most unique Bass Pro Shop you will ever see.
We arrived parked and walked in. The lower floor is set up to look like a swamp, complete with artificial cypress trees, water, and fish. Intermingled with all of this was the actual store, which covered two floors. Margo’s feet and ankle are still bothering her so she found a pair of sandals to try, plus a bag to serve as her purse. She can never seem to find the perfect purse; one that is comfortable, organizes the stuff, and had room. Maybe that bag does not exist.
Pam and Jayme each found stuff, including the shooting arcade. Pam won the shooting contest, with Jayme commenting on how badly the guns were sighted. He is a good shot, so I am sure he is right.
There is an elevator that takes you to the top of the pyramid where there is an expensive, foo-foo restaurant, and two viewing areas, outside. We all wanted to see the view from the top of the pyramid, so we bought our tickets and up we went. It was a pretty good view. We checked out both platforms, took plenty of pictures, and then went back down to discuss dinner.
No one felt like searching for a restaurant, so we ate at the Pyramid, Wahlburger, a restaurant owned by the Wahlburg brothers, former singers and actors. I had a bison burger, which was under cooked. I could not finish it. The fries were seasoned, something none of were crazy about. But it was food. We were back at the hotel by 8:45. We had to get up early tomorrow, so we all were in bed not long after.
The first thing we had on tap for the day was Graceland, home of Elvis Presley. Margo, Jayme and I had all been to Graceland, back in 1994. Things will have changed a lot. Pam has never been, but expressed a lifelong desire to see it. We would be taking the Ultimate VIP tour. This tour comes with a guide, gets us access to places other tours won’t see, and we get to hold a genuine Elvis artifact. And lunch at Vernon’s Smokehouse.
We arrived a full hour before our tour, and after getting instructions we were told we could tour the museum area of Graceland. We were all given special lanyards, without all access pass, so we could just walk up to a gate, and be waved through.
We started at the mockup of the set of a short-lived TV series called Sun Records. I think the sign said it went for eight episodes. It was pretty spread out and looked like it could have had enough room for camera and crew. The next exhibit showed Elvis’ love of football. He loved to play and went those who played with him took it easy on him, he would let them know that on the field he was just one of the guys. He even drew up his own plays, many of which were on display.
Bu now, it was close enough to see about our tour. We walked over and found that we were 4 of a 10-person tour. We were directed to small bus and went right up to the mansion. From 1994, I have only a few memories of Graceland, parts of the mansion are in those memories. This time I took better pictures, and won’t lose them.
We saw the living room with the peacock windows, and the jungle room. I don’t remember the jungle room the same way, but the guide says it has been changed very much since Elvis passed. I am sure I took pictures back in 1994, but about have that trip has been lost. Maybe they are still in a box somewhere, but I have not seen them in nearly 30 years.
The guide told us it would like stepping back into a time machine, and he was right. Shag carpeting, avocado appliances, etc. 40 years ago this was state of the art. Elvis could afford the best and was fond of gagets. He had the latest in electronics, including a microwave. I don’t think we got our first microwave oven until the 1980s.
I remembered his TV room differently. I thought the TVs were over top of each other, or at least one of them was. But, nope, side by side. It is still cool that Elvis had three TVs rigged up to watch three football games at once. He was a sports bar, about 20 years ahead of his time
I don’t really remember the Billiard Room and all that folded fabric or the story about the rip in the pool table felt. One of his friends caused the rip, trying to do a trick shot, but would not own up to it. Before he could have it fixed, he died. Then everyone in the room claimed to be the one who ripped the cloth.
We got to see Vernon Presley’s office. Vernon was Elvis’ father and basically ran Elvis’ life. I don’t know the story of Colonel Tom Parker, but our guide made it clear that the Elvis team does not like him, and barely mentions him on the tour. There is a new Elvis movie out, which I should see. It was mentioned numerous times on the tour.
We saw the grounds. Lisa Marie’s swing/slide set stand out. It has a bullet hole in it. The swing set is right in front of the smokehouse (Vernon used to raise and smoke pigs). Elvis and his friends would set up targets in the door of the smokehouse and shoot at them from the second floor of the mansion. Elvis who had training in the Army as a sharpshooter, was credits with the bullet hole in the lower part of the slide.
We saw the racquet ball room where there is a lounge set up. Elvis played racquetball and then sang with his friends on the night he died. We moved on to the Meditation Garden, which is where Elvis is buried. He was originally buried in a public cemetery, but after an attempt to steal Elvis’s body it was moved to Graceland. His mother, father, grandmother, and grandson are all buried there. His twin brother who died at birth has a monument, but his unknown grave is still in Mississippi.
Our last stop on the tour took us to our VIP area, where we got to see some artifacts not on display, like his mother’s purse, Col Tom Parker’s leather brief case, and Elvis’s motorcycle helmet. He was not fond of wearing it, but did on the occasion of a roman candle fight he had with friends. The facemask shows a glancing blow, which would have burned the King.
The final part of the VIP tour was the opportunity to hold the belt on one of Elvis’ jumpsuit costumes. He gave us the name, but I don’t recall which costume it was. All I remember was that we were told only the cape that goes with it is on display in the museum.
The guide then took us over the museum area and pointed out the car area and an area in the museum that was interactive. We could be put on an Elvis album cover (it did not work very well) or have Elvis serenade you. This one would video the song with you and Elvis, and then send it you back home. Margo did this one.
That was the last stop on the tour. We were dropped off near where we started and we had our lunch at Vernon’s Smokehouse. The food was better than expected, as the place looked like a school cafeteria.
We wandered the various exhibits, with both Pam and I really liking his military days. He achieved the rank of E-5, Staff Sargent, the same rank Dad had in the Air Force. Jayme, unexpectedly, like the automobile section.
By now we were getting tired and it was after 3:30. We wanted to take a tour over at Sun Studios. The last tour of the day was at 4:30, and there was no guarantee there would be tickets left. They only sell tour tickets the day of, and they did not open until 10, so getting them before Graceland was not practical. We were all in agreement that we should be going. We had not seen every single thing, but we had seen a lot and enough.
It was not a bad drive to Sun Studios, maybe 15 minutes. I did have trouble finding the right place to park. After we found it, Jayme helpfully pointed out that painted on the top of the building, it said Free Parking in Back.
After parking, we went inside and got four tickets. Score! Sun Studios bills itself as the birthplace of Rock and Roll. I don’t know how they come to that conclusion. I’m not disputing it, but I have more than one reason for wanting to visit.
Obviously, Sun Records was very important, giving Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, BB King, Howlin Wolf and other black artists. But, for me, it was also an almost forgotten piece of my childhood
Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dad was still in the Air Force, and we were stationed in Warner Robbins, GA. I recall a portable, combination record player and radio. The turntable would fold out and we could play records in the backyard as we played. My recollection was that we played Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire, over and over again. My memory is also very clear that this record was on the Sun label. Their emblem, is distinctive, with its bright yellow design and the word SUN across the top.
Modern day Sun Studios sells old Sun 45s, so I immediately looked for Ring of Fire, and could not find it. When I asked, I was told that this song was recorded on the Columbia label, and I must be mistaken. My guess is that the record I recall was I Walk the Line, which I also remember hearing, and that I am confusing that over 50 years in the past, the two memories. That’s OK. It is nice to know what really happened. I have no idea what happened to those records. I know I got a lot of Dad’s stuff. I wonder if my other siblings could have ended up with the record.
The tour itself was very good. It started upstairs, much to Margo and Pam’s discomfort. Stairs are the bane of their existence. They made it, and we were let to a room with displays, behind glass, lining either side of the room. Zoe are guide explained each and their impact on Sun Records and the artists of the early and mid-1950s.
One the ones I remember in detail is the actual broadcast booth from Daddy O Dewey Phillips and broadcaster from the 1950s. He was a character. He would play a record and if he thought it sucked would berate it over the air in a most enthusiastic way, rip the record from the turn table and smash it to bits on the floor. He played Elvis’s “That’s All-Right Mama” in 1954, and got an overwhelmingly positive response from his listeners. He called Elvis in and interviewed him live on the air. This launched Elvis and really propelled Sun Records to prominence.
Sam Phillips, owner of Sun Records, sold Elvis’ contract for $30,000, a very large sum for the day. Suns first million sale record was not from Elvis, but was Carl Perkins' “Blue Suede Shoes”. That dovetails into another child hood memory with my Dad. He told me that when I was very little, just learning to talk, he spend some time teaching me to say “Go, Cat, Go”. The opening lyrics for Blue Suede Shoes are.
“Its one for the money. Two for show. Three to get ready, now go cat, go”
Those must have been among my first words. I know music was very important to Dad, and this tour was giving me at least a glimpse of the pleasure the early rock and roll artists gave him.
After Zoe, who was very good, and a recording engineer at Sun, took us downstairs to see the actual recording studio. She explained that this building was not the continuous home of Sun Studios. After Elvis’ contract was sold, Sam Phillips, needed a bigger more modern studio and moved to another building. In the ‘60s, 70s, and into the 80s it had several other businesses in it, including a barber shop and waterbed store. It was resurrected in 1987.
Zoe gave us the history and showed us the studio instruments, including a microphone that was used in the early days. We got to pose and take pictures with it. Pam and I did more than just stand in front of it, we worked it. The other two were cowards.
This was the end of the tour. We were walking past Zoe, who was holding court with a group of the tourists. She was talking about June Carter, and did not hold a very high opinion of her at all, claiming she was more of an opportunist that the movie showed. I don’t know. Movies are not documentaries. Even documentaries are not documentaries. They just seemed liked they were meant for each other.
We were all wanting something from the gift shop. I usually hunt for a polo shirt, which are now as common as honest politicians. Finding none, I settled for a t-shirt with the classic Sun logo. Margo, Pam, and Jayme found their own souvenirs, and we closed out our time at Sun with a bottle of pop from the Sun Café.
It was 5:30 and the day was not done. I had one last thing on our Memphis Must Do List, and that was the Bass Pro Shop. Huh, Bass Pro Shop you ask? Well, when it is housed in the 10th largest pyramid in the world, it becomes worth visiting.
Memphis was named after a city in Egypt. Egypt has Pyramids, so when the NBA team needed a home, they built them an arena in the shape of a pyramid. It was there in 1994, but things did not work with the basketball team. The pyramid had several other uses until Bass Pro Shop decided to dump several million dollars into and turn it into the most unique Bass Pro Shop you will ever see.
We arrived parked and walked in. The lower floor is set up to look like a swamp, complete with artificial cypress trees, water, and fish. Intermingled with all of this was the actual store, which covered two floors. Margo’s feet and ankle are still bothering her so she found a pair of sandals to try, plus a bag to serve as her purse. She can never seem to find the perfect purse; one that is comfortable, organizes the stuff, and had room. Maybe that bag does not exist.
Pam and Jayme each found stuff, including the shooting arcade. Pam won the shooting contest, with Jayme commenting on how badly the guns were sighted. He is a good shot, so I am sure he is right.
There is an elevator that takes you to the top of the pyramid where there is an expensive, foo-foo restaurant, and two viewing areas, outside. We all wanted to see the view from the top of the pyramid, so we bought our tickets and up we went. It was a pretty good view. We checked out both platforms, took plenty of pictures, and then went back down to discuss dinner.
No one felt like searching for a restaurant, so we ate at the Pyramid, Wahlburger, a restaurant owned by the Wahlburg brothers, former singers and actors. I had a bison burger, which was under cooked. I could not finish it. The fries were seasoned, something none of were crazy about. But it was food. We were back at the hotel by 8:45. We had to get up early tomorrow, so we all were in bed not long after.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Day Five--Thursday, September 15, 2022
I was up at 5:30 AM with breakfast scheduled for 6:15. We needed to get an early start as we have a lot on our agenda for today. This trip is very much what I call a Type A vacation. It is one filled to the max with things to see and do. It is planned down to the minute, with what we want to do, how long it will take, where to go, how to get there, where to park, where to get the tickets, where to stay, and on and on. The downside to this is it takes a lot out of you.
We were on the road a little after 7 AM, with our destination being the Patsy Cline crash site. We said good bye to Memphis and I recall thinking that I would likely never return. There is nothing else in Memphis calling be, and I have a lot of other places on my list to visit. We were listening to Loretta Lynn’s book, Patsy and Me, which was a good choice based on our first two destinations. I know that people say that getting there is half the fun, but I have always hated road trips. Sure, you get to see the scenery and sites along the way, but you tire of seeing the same thing over and over, pretty quickly. Being there is the fun.
I would drive this whole trip, with Margo beside me helping to navigate. Jayne set behind her and kept an eye on the GPS, which came in handy multiple times on the trip. Pam was along for the ride. We made a stop after we exited off of I-40 for a quick bathroom break. When I don’t take my insulin regularly it effects my bladder. I was already missing shots. The others were also grateful for the break, even though we had only been in the car for almost 1 ½ hours.
About an hour later we were outside of Camden, TN, where in March of 1963, Patsy Cline, her manager (& pilot) Randy Hughes, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins were all killed when their plane crashed in bad weather. There is a memorial stone at the bottom of little hill. At the top is a gazebo (with electricity) and a cross with the date. Behind the monument at the bottom is a small circle of stone. It was not marked as to what those were there for.
We didn’t stay long. As we had made our way down, another car pulled in and parked above us. We thought that they might like the place to themselves. We passed them on the way back up. Margo observed while we were there, that both of our Moms were pregnant with us, when the crash happened.
Back to the car, and on our way to the Loretta Lynn Ranch in Hurricane Mills, TN. We arrived at 11:15, just in time for the next tour at 11:30. If wish I could say I timed this out, but it was chance. If we would have had to wait, we would have toured the museum while waiting, but no need.
Our first stop was to hike up the hill to the prominently displayed replica of Loretta’s home in Van Lear, KY. It was an incline walkway up to the house and then a few steps to get in. I was finding that even this little bit was causing me to be a little winded. When we get home, I am going to have to have the doctor check my asthma.
Anyway, our guide explained the house, who slept where, how many kids they had, and so on. Loretta was the 2nd child and oldest daughter. This birth order position had her caring for her younger siblings. Margo and I have seen the cabin in Van Lear (Butcher Holler) twice, so a lot of the things in this one were of no surprise. The small size of the home is It is amazing that 10 people could live there.
From the mansion, we boarded a bus and were taken to the mansion. Loretta has not lived in the mansion for years. She lives on property and you can easily see her home from the kitchen window. Our guide pointed it out. She says that at 90, Loretta is still independent and cares for herself, but has a personal assistant to help her out.
The mansion is more modern than Graceland, but this is because she is still alive. But her and Mooney moved out in 1988. Do they really only have about 15 years on Elvis, décor-wise. The place is still beautiful. We found out that Loretta collects Avon and has various things from her fans put up around the home. This included a print of a pair of mules. The artist is someone who Pam was very familiar with. Mooney liked this print so much he commissioned a second one to pair with the one the artist gifted.
We saw the kitchen where Loretta’s Crisco commercials were filmed. We saw Mooney’s gun collections, or at least a small part. We saw the clothes he would normally wear; jeans, short sleeve Wrangler work shirt and a weather-worn white felt hat. He was comfortable in his own skin, that is for sure.
We moved on the museum section of her ranch, which has everything. Dresses, album covers, awards, letters, family photos, photos of her with celebrities, many of which were her friends. There were cars, like a 74 Jaguar and a Mercedes. Along with the Golden Eagle Jeep from Coal Miner’s Daughter. It has a dent in the driver’s side fender, which in Loretta’s own handwriting, said came when Tommy Lee Jones wrecked it. That museum went on forever. This lady never threw anything away. She would get along with my wife, just fine.
They had two of Loretta’s tour buses on site, on of which was set up for us to go through. You enter through the back and exit by the driver. There were no signs saying we could not sit, so as the bus was empty (at least for a few seconds), I had Margo sit down, and she gave me a big smile as I took her picture.
We went back to the general store area, where Margo got a few souvenirs and we took a quick tour of a mock up of a coal mine. I thought it a little carnival, but it was filled with real artifacts and narrated by Lorretta. One thing had me confused. Loretta mentioned a mine accident that killed 35 people in her talk. I wondered is she meant the Van Lear mine explosion of 1935, which killed nine, including my grandfather and granduncle. There have been plenty of mine accidents, so maybe she said what she meant.
We were on the road at 3:15, and we were all very hungry. Pam had asked about a place to eat and was told about the Log Cabin Restaurant, which was supposed to be Loretta’s favorite. If it was good enough for Loretta, it was good enough for us. We spent about 45 minutes eating and resting. We were all tired from the walking and early start. But we still had another 90 minutes worth of drive until Nashville.
We hit Nashville at rush hour and the traffic sucked. What should have been 10 minutes took us a half hour. But we finally made it and checked in. Margo was saying she was tired and spent. I wasn’t that far from her. I texted Pam and Jayme that would we would rest for an hour, until 6:30 and then head to Broadway Street and all the big honky Tonks.
Jayme was OK with that as it gave him a chance to put up his leg. He had strained his calf, badly, a few weeks ago, trying to move some heavy steel. He had gotten behind it, gave a might shove (like Big John in the song by Jimmy Dean), but instead of a light up above, his calf muscle kind of snapped. He was not in a ton of pain at first, but it would make up for that shortly. He said that rest and stretching helped.
We made it to Broadway St about 7:30. This is Thursday night, in late September. I expected this place to be kind of dead. It was insane. People everywhere. It was loud with the music spilling out of a dozen of more buildings, some from multiple levels. This part of the trip was Pam’s idea. So, I asked her where she wanted to go. Annoyingly, she said she did not care. So, I picked AJs, which was both close and on the short list of places she wanted to visit. I have no idea who the band was, but they played good music.
There was no where to sit on the first floor. We were about to head up when this guy, who was alone, but appeared to be saving seats, motioned Jayme to come over. The guy, Adam, rearranged and all of a sudden there were four seats. Score!
Adam was a very quiet guy, at first. I tried to engage him with where he was from (Salem, OR) and what he did for a living (large farm and ranch), but he only gave me the basics. Then I asked what the biggest problem he was facing. I expected something about finding labor or market prices. But his answer was “Kate Brown”. She is the governor of Oregon.
I had hit a nerve. He proceeded to tell me his stance on work ethic and loving your country and Trump. I agreed with most everything he said (I am not an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump). Adam bought us a round, but decline all offers of reciprocation. Jayme bought him one anyway. His partner, work partner, came down from an upper floor and the moved on to another bar. We wished each other well and we enjoyed our drinks for a bit.
It was never our plan to sit at one bar all night. This might be the only time we would ever be on Broadway. I knew the places that Pam wanted to hit, so our next stop was Miranda Lambert’s place, Casa Rosa. About half of the honky tonks on Broadway are fronted by a big-name country star. AJs, the one we just left, is Alan Jackson’s place. Garth Brooks will have one next year. Dierks Bentley and Jason Aldean had places we would walk by.
None of thought the music was as good, but the scenery was better. We had seats across from bar and watch all of the pretty ladies come and go. I am sure our ladies noticed an occasional guy. Personally, I did not notice a single one.
Hunger drove us to look for some place to eat. Adam had warned us that most kitchens shut down by 9 PM. He mentioned one place, Rippy’s, but we headed the exact wrong direction. I wish we had found it, because we ended up at Acme Feed and Seed. It was an old feed store, more like warehouse, but is now a honky tonk. We ended up on a floor which housed the Nashville Underground. Today, it was home to every Kansas City Chiefs fan in the state of Tennessee. It was louder than Beale Street or Broadway. Jayme and I had flatbread pizza, which was edible. I don’t remember what the girls had. The game was over before we finished and it did get quieter. But that was because they were trying to close. If you care, the Chiefs beat the Chargers. I didn’t catch the final score, but I think it ended at a three-point game.
We had time to go to Ole Red, which is Blake Shelton’s place. It was on Pam’s list, so we made it her call. I don’t know if she did not want to go, or was just feeling like everyone else was tired, but she said we should go back to the hotel. It was after 11 and we had a full day again tomorrow.
We were on the road a little after 7 AM, with our destination being the Patsy Cline crash site. We said good bye to Memphis and I recall thinking that I would likely never return. There is nothing else in Memphis calling be, and I have a lot of other places on my list to visit. We were listening to Loretta Lynn’s book, Patsy and Me, which was a good choice based on our first two destinations. I know that people say that getting there is half the fun, but I have always hated road trips. Sure, you get to see the scenery and sites along the way, but you tire of seeing the same thing over and over, pretty quickly. Being there is the fun.
I would drive this whole trip, with Margo beside me helping to navigate. Jayne set behind her and kept an eye on the GPS, which came in handy multiple times on the trip. Pam was along for the ride. We made a stop after we exited off of I-40 for a quick bathroom break. When I don’t take my insulin regularly it effects my bladder. I was already missing shots. The others were also grateful for the break, even though we had only been in the car for almost 1 ½ hours.
About an hour later we were outside of Camden, TN, where in March of 1963, Patsy Cline, her manager (& pilot) Randy Hughes, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins were all killed when their plane crashed in bad weather. There is a memorial stone at the bottom of little hill. At the top is a gazebo (with electricity) and a cross with the date. Behind the monument at the bottom is a small circle of stone. It was not marked as to what those were there for.
We didn’t stay long. As we had made our way down, another car pulled in and parked above us. We thought that they might like the place to themselves. We passed them on the way back up. Margo observed while we were there, that both of our Moms were pregnant with us, when the crash happened.
Back to the car, and on our way to the Loretta Lynn Ranch in Hurricane Mills, TN. We arrived at 11:15, just in time for the next tour at 11:30. If wish I could say I timed this out, but it was chance. If we would have had to wait, we would have toured the museum while waiting, but no need.
Our first stop was to hike up the hill to the prominently displayed replica of Loretta’s home in Van Lear, KY. It was an incline walkway up to the house and then a few steps to get in. I was finding that even this little bit was causing me to be a little winded. When we get home, I am going to have to have the doctor check my asthma.
Anyway, our guide explained the house, who slept where, how many kids they had, and so on. Loretta was the 2nd child and oldest daughter. This birth order position had her caring for her younger siblings. Margo and I have seen the cabin in Van Lear (Butcher Holler) twice, so a lot of the things in this one were of no surprise. The small size of the home is It is amazing that 10 people could live there.
From the mansion, we boarded a bus and were taken to the mansion. Loretta has not lived in the mansion for years. She lives on property and you can easily see her home from the kitchen window. Our guide pointed it out. She says that at 90, Loretta is still independent and cares for herself, but has a personal assistant to help her out.
The mansion is more modern than Graceland, but this is because she is still alive. But her and Mooney moved out in 1988. Do they really only have about 15 years on Elvis, décor-wise. The place is still beautiful. We found out that Loretta collects Avon and has various things from her fans put up around the home. This included a print of a pair of mules. The artist is someone who Pam was very familiar with. Mooney liked this print so much he commissioned a second one to pair with the one the artist gifted.
We saw the kitchen where Loretta’s Crisco commercials were filmed. We saw Mooney’s gun collections, or at least a small part. We saw the clothes he would normally wear; jeans, short sleeve Wrangler work shirt and a weather-worn white felt hat. He was comfortable in his own skin, that is for sure.
We moved on the museum section of her ranch, which has everything. Dresses, album covers, awards, letters, family photos, photos of her with celebrities, many of which were her friends. There were cars, like a 74 Jaguar and a Mercedes. Along with the Golden Eagle Jeep from Coal Miner’s Daughter. It has a dent in the driver’s side fender, which in Loretta’s own handwriting, said came when Tommy Lee Jones wrecked it. That museum went on forever. This lady never threw anything away. She would get along with my wife, just fine.
They had two of Loretta’s tour buses on site, on of which was set up for us to go through. You enter through the back and exit by the driver. There were no signs saying we could not sit, so as the bus was empty (at least for a few seconds), I had Margo sit down, and she gave me a big smile as I took her picture.
We went back to the general store area, where Margo got a few souvenirs and we took a quick tour of a mock up of a coal mine. I thought it a little carnival, but it was filled with real artifacts and narrated by Lorretta. One thing had me confused. Loretta mentioned a mine accident that killed 35 people in her talk. I wondered is she meant the Van Lear mine explosion of 1935, which killed nine, including my grandfather and granduncle. There have been plenty of mine accidents, so maybe she said what she meant.
We were on the road at 3:15, and we were all very hungry. Pam had asked about a place to eat and was told about the Log Cabin Restaurant, which was supposed to be Loretta’s favorite. If it was good enough for Loretta, it was good enough for us. We spent about 45 minutes eating and resting. We were all tired from the walking and early start. But we still had another 90 minutes worth of drive until Nashville.
We hit Nashville at rush hour and the traffic sucked. What should have been 10 minutes took us a half hour. But we finally made it and checked in. Margo was saying she was tired and spent. I wasn’t that far from her. I texted Pam and Jayme that would we would rest for an hour, until 6:30 and then head to Broadway Street and all the big honky Tonks.
Jayme was OK with that as it gave him a chance to put up his leg. He had strained his calf, badly, a few weeks ago, trying to move some heavy steel. He had gotten behind it, gave a might shove (like Big John in the song by Jimmy Dean), but instead of a light up above, his calf muscle kind of snapped. He was not in a ton of pain at first, but it would make up for that shortly. He said that rest and stretching helped.
We made it to Broadway St about 7:30. This is Thursday night, in late September. I expected this place to be kind of dead. It was insane. People everywhere. It was loud with the music spilling out of a dozen of more buildings, some from multiple levels. This part of the trip was Pam’s idea. So, I asked her where she wanted to go. Annoyingly, she said she did not care. So, I picked AJs, which was both close and on the short list of places she wanted to visit. I have no idea who the band was, but they played good music.
There was no where to sit on the first floor. We were about to head up when this guy, who was alone, but appeared to be saving seats, motioned Jayme to come over. The guy, Adam, rearranged and all of a sudden there were four seats. Score!
Adam was a very quiet guy, at first. I tried to engage him with where he was from (Salem, OR) and what he did for a living (large farm and ranch), but he only gave me the basics. Then I asked what the biggest problem he was facing. I expected something about finding labor or market prices. But his answer was “Kate Brown”. She is the governor of Oregon.
I had hit a nerve. He proceeded to tell me his stance on work ethic and loving your country and Trump. I agreed with most everything he said (I am not an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump). Adam bought us a round, but decline all offers of reciprocation. Jayme bought him one anyway. His partner, work partner, came down from an upper floor and the moved on to another bar. We wished each other well and we enjoyed our drinks for a bit.
It was never our plan to sit at one bar all night. This might be the only time we would ever be on Broadway. I knew the places that Pam wanted to hit, so our next stop was Miranda Lambert’s place, Casa Rosa. About half of the honky tonks on Broadway are fronted by a big-name country star. AJs, the one we just left, is Alan Jackson’s place. Garth Brooks will have one next year. Dierks Bentley and Jason Aldean had places we would walk by.
None of thought the music was as good, but the scenery was better. We had seats across from bar and watch all of the pretty ladies come and go. I am sure our ladies noticed an occasional guy. Personally, I did not notice a single one.
Hunger drove us to look for some place to eat. Adam had warned us that most kitchens shut down by 9 PM. He mentioned one place, Rippy’s, but we headed the exact wrong direction. I wish we had found it, because we ended up at Acme Feed and Seed. It was an old feed store, more like warehouse, but is now a honky tonk. We ended up on a floor which housed the Nashville Underground. Today, it was home to every Kansas City Chiefs fan in the state of Tennessee. It was louder than Beale Street or Broadway. Jayme and I had flatbread pizza, which was edible. I don’t remember what the girls had. The game was over before we finished and it did get quieter. But that was because they were trying to close. If you care, the Chiefs beat the Chargers. I didn’t catch the final score, but I think it ended at a three-point game.
We had time to go to Ole Red, which is Blake Shelton’s place. It was on Pam’s list, so we made it her call. I don’t know if she did not want to go, or was just feeling like everyone else was tired, but she said we should go back to the hotel. It was after 11 and we had a full day again tomorrow.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Day Six---Friday, September 16, 2022
Friday, September 16, 2022
This was going to be a long day. Another one of those Type A days that I inevitable plan and while I don’t regret it, it sure does tap your energy reserves.
I was up at 6:30. We were all at breakfast at 7:15 AM. This hotel was a Best Western Plus, and the breakfast was about the same as the La Quinta we had left, so I was happy. We were on the road by 8:15 and pulled into the same parking garage we used last night, which not coincidently was directly across from the Ryman Auditorium.
We had arrived at about 8:30 and the box office did not open until 9 AM. This was by design. I wanted to tour as early as possible so we had time at the end of the day for either the Johnny Cash Museum or the Patsy Cline Museum, which are in the same building. But, more on that later.
We, as in Jayme and I immediately started wandering around the sides of the Ryman taking pictures of the statues and the building. We saw the alley entrance that star used to use to go from the Ryman to Tootsie’s to have a drink between performances. It was in the book Me and Patsy that we had listened to most of yesterday.
When Jayme and I go back a line had formed to the box office. We had been about the first people to arrive and I was regretting not putting someone in line. But it worked out. We were close enough to the front that I could hear the cashier tell the first person in line that they were offering guided tours. I had tried to buy those before we left and they were not for sale. The box for them was grayed out. Turns out they don’t know until the day of, if they will have guided tours, so we lucked out. I bought our four tickets for the 9:30 (first of the day) tour and we milled about taking more pictures.
The tour began by taking us upstairs, we took the elevator, and into a room that looked like it contained several of the famous arches. We were told we would see a short film about the history of the Ryman. Margo and I have seen dozens of these through the years. They are usually very informative, but vary in production quality. This one started out in a black and white documentary style, but quickly changed into an almost 3-D production, with an actress playing Lula Naff, who basically ran the Ryman from 1913 until she was basically forced to retire in 1955.
The video told of early Nashville with lots o bars and lots of evangelists trying to convert them to Jesus. One, who was particularly effective was Sam Jones. A river boat captain, per the video, was going over to one of Jones tent shows to try to run him out town and stop ruining everyone else’s fun. Trouble was Captain Thomas Ryman was converted himself. Seven years later in 1892 the Union Gospel Tabernacle had been built. When Thomas Ryman died in 1904, it was renamed in his honor.
We saw dressing rooms (no pictures allowed), the balcony, and the pews. The highlight was to be taking your picture in front of the mic, on the stage where 100 years of legends had stood. But our real highlight was the little girl with her father, who was getting their picture taken. The little girl was also making her Ryman singling debut with an acapella version of the ABC song. It was the cutest thing I have seen in years. We joined the rest of the tour by applauding her performance.
When it was Jayme and mine turn at the mic (with our spouses) we also sang the first few words of the song. We were greeted with elbows, instead of applause. After this we picked up out pictures and shopped for souvenirs
Next stop on today’s Nashville tour, was the Country Music Hall of Fame. Overall, I was not as impressed as I hoped to be. It felt like it was laid out funny. There was so much to see. It started on the third floor, but almost as soon as we got there, I started doing some math, and figured if we did not eat now, we would not eat until 5 PM. That would be a long time since our hotel dinner. So down we rode and got something at their little kitchen. The food was actually half decent.
Our real tour started with a temp exhibit featuring Bill Anderson. I learned a few things, not the least of which is that he wrote the song Cincinnati, Ohio. That would be more interesting later. The museum was basically set up chronologically, which works, but it still felt off.
There were plenty of memorable things to see. The most unexpected was Webb Pierce’s tricked out 1962 Pontiac Bonneville. It has a silver-plated Winchester mounted on the trunk. The door handles are Colt revolvers. The interior is saddle leather. There is a small saddle for the console. Everywhere you look there was something that had been customize. He spent $20,000 in 1962 to have Nudie Cohn. He was a famous tailer, who made a lot of the rhinestone suits you saw back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. He also did cars. He has, or at least someone uses his name, a honky tonk on Broadway.
The last part of the museum was their Hall of Fame, where the busts of the members are located. Both Margo and I took pictures. I was interesting to see who we each chose. Even though we are both fans of the same people, our overlap in pictures was only a few.
We finished up in time to walk to the Johnny Cash Museum, getting there about 3 PM. Both Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline have their museum in the same building. Two museums, two admission charges, and only time to do one. We chose the Man in Black.
I liked the Johnny Cash Museum. He has as much or more stuff as Loretta Lynn. I knew he had been in the military, Air Force. I learned that when he went in, he actually chose the name John. When he was born, he was named JR, but military would not accept initials as a name. I had heard, but was reminded that while he was in service, he was a Morse Intercept Operator. As such he was in position to be the first to hear of Josef Stalin’s death in Russia. Kinda Cool.
They had a listening station set up where you could hear the song “Get Rhythm”, played in the various audio formats. Cash’s career spanned such a long time that this song appeared on 78s, 45s, LPs, Reel to Reel, 8 track, cassettes, CDs, and they even had his demo tape in the queue. I though the demo was too slow, and that remastered version was the best. I hated the cassette, with the audio hiss. It was amazing how prominent it was. I hardly noticed it 40 years ago.
We might have done some shopping, but their system was down. We had actually bought our tickets online, in the ticket line queue, and scanned the barcode to get in. I wished we had time for the Patsy Cline Museum, but we didn’t. It was off to dinner and then the Grand Ole Opry.
We drove to Paula Deen’s place at the Opry Mills mall. Margo and I had eaten at her flagship restaurant, Lady and Sons, in Savannah, GA several years back. We liked the food, and Pam was more than willing to try one of the celebrity chefs on TV. Jayme would have been happy with a hamburger.
Paula Deen’s serves their meals, family-style. That means what you order comes in a big dish and everyone helps themselves. So, you had to agree on the entrée and the sides. We decided on the option that would give us three different entrée items (Fried Chicken, Meatloaf, and Roast Beef over Rice), and four sides (Green Beans, Tomato & Cucumber Salad, Creamed Corn and Mac n Cheese).
The food was OK. I liked the Fried Chicken. The meatloaf was OK. The Roast Beef tasted off to me, and the rest agreed. As for the sides, I did not try the mac n cheese. I have never liked that as a side dish. The Creamed Corn and Green Beans, were good, but nothing special. The T/C salad was way too vinegary. They needed to cut it with some water. I think this meal cost about $160 with tip. It came with dessert and her Banana Pudding was the best part of the meal. Very good.
The Grand Ole Opry is on the other side of the mall, so we drove around and parked. We got in and we were in our seats pretty quicky, just soaking up the ambiance of the place. We had 2nd row seats, so we would be missing nothing. We were scheduled to see; Mark Wills, Spencer Crandall, Caylee Hammack, Mandy Barnett, Don Schlitz, Ryders in the Sky and Brad Paisley. Really, all I knew were Brad Paisley, Ryders in the Sky and Mark Wills. Mandy Barnett and Don Schlitz were added to the lineup, so late I did not even have time to look them up. Crandall and Hammack are both new. I liked what little of Caylee Hammack music that I Found. Crandall is from Colorado.
Mark Wills started the show with 1970 something, on of just two songs of his, I could remember. Jacob’s Ladder was the other and he sang that, too. He told the story of being a new grandpa and too young to have that title hung on him. So, he proclaimed he would go by “Dude”, and someone made him a leather guitar strap with his moniker embossed on it.
Apparently, Don Schlitz had something come up, so he was replaced with Connie Smith. She sang Cincinnati, Ohio. This was an icon song, written by Bill Anderson. It came full circle, didn’t it? I recall listening to this song when I was very young, and I considered it a privilege to hear her sing it in person.
She is married to Marty Stuart, who is 17 years younger than she is. The story goes that his mother took him to see her when he was about 12. He proclaimed that he would marry her some day (she was really cute when she was young. At 81 she is regal). He did. They have been together for 24 years.
Spencer Crandall was next, and when introduced we found out he was making his Opry debut. She sang two of his songs, My Person and More. I had not heard of either, but they were heavily downloaded, and he was given some sort of award on stage for those milestones. This was after the crowd had given him a standing ovation after his second and final song. He was fighting to hold back the tears.
The
Mandy Barnet followed Spencer Crandall. Like, I said I had not heard of her, and at the time did not even know she was to perform. But, Oh My God, does this lady have a set of pipes. She was the lady who played Patsy Cline, in the play, Always Patsy, at the Ryman, no less. You have to have voice to sing Patsy, and she did. She sang Walking After Midnight to close, and she killed it.
We had a fifteen minute intermission, which was great, because I had to pee. I was doing a log to that with all of the soda I was drinking, and all of the insulin I was not taking. But, I was having a really good time.
Caylee Hammack brought us back from intermission, and while I hoped she would sing Redhead, which I later found out that she sang with Reba McIntire on her debut album, but she didn’t. She sang Forged in Fire, Folsom Prison Blues and Only Good Things. She poured everthing she had into each one. I don’t know who she can do a whole show at that pace.
Ryders in the Sky was more than I expected. I had never seen them before, not even at our two prior Grand Ole Opry shows, but I knew they were a western band. They opened with Ghost Riders in the Sky, and then Autumn on the Trail. We were then introduced to the group, singling out Woody Paul, who is a member of the Fiddlers Hall of Fame. We were treated to a short medley, Liberty, Golden Slippers, and what they called The Other One. I think it was Fisher’s Hornpipe, because they have played that medley in the past. They ended their set with Happy Trails to You.
These guys are also comedians, especially the bass fiddle player Fred LaBour. At one point he let out a classic whistle and said YAW, in classic cattle drive fashion, saying it could live’n up any song. To prove his point one of the other boys began singing Danny Boy, a slow, sad song. Too Slim (LaBour) did his whistle/YAW, and the absurdity of if had us all laughing. It was at that point that they pointed out the signer, who was translating for the deaf in attendance. He wondered out loud how she was signing that. About that time she raised and whipped her right arm, like she was snapping a bullwhip. More laugher. They had been yodeling right before the Whistle/YAW part, and some on commented that the lady likely sprained a thumb. Much funnier when they are delivering the line, than me typing it. Really enjoyed them
Finishing up the show was Brad Paisley. I was hoping for Celebrity, my favorite Paisley song. I didn’t get it, but he sang Mud on the Tires, Wrapped Around, Check You For Ticks, Whiskey Lullaby, and Alcohol.
When Pam and Jayme had seen Brad Paisley at the Greeley Stampede this past summer, Jayme was completely underwhelmed. Not the least of his complaints was that when he sang Whiskey Lullaby, Allison Krause’s part was just omitted. Maybe Paisley sang it himself. But, I was wondering what he would do here on the most famous stage in country music. He was alone on stage. When the female part was gearing up, out walks Caylee Hammack walks out filling in. She did a great job.
I am not sure, but I think we witnessed a Peyton Manning practical joke on Brad Paisley. For the final song, BP announced that to help Nationwide Insurance (Manning is a spokesman) for a charity, Brad Paisley agreed to auction off a duet to be performed on stage at the Grand Ole Opry. Pretty cool, huh? Someone would get to sing on stage with BP, and tonight was that night.
Now Pam thinks she saw Peyton Manning poke his head out from behind the curtains. I didn’t see anything, but I was not looking there. After BP tells us about the promotion he procedes to give the most unflattering introduction of a charity patron I have ever heard. Things like “I don’t know what to expect” and “This is likely to suck” or “I don’t even know if this guy can sing”. Pam, at least is expecting Peyton Manning to come out on stage, and this would make sense, given the intro. But, out comes, this five foot nothing dude kid of about 20, who looks like he would rather be taking a final exam. I missed Paisley’s reaction, but Pam also said she thought, after BP told us they would be singing Alcohol, the college kid mouthed “I don’t know the words”. That was not to matter, as the only part the kid got to sing was “Alcohol!” when the chorus came up. I never even heard him sing that much, but by the last time he got to sing the word, he was getting into it. He was smiling and confident to the point of almost missing his last “alcohol”, while hold his mic in a rested postion. I have looked on the internet, but so far I found no back story.
I had no idea what to do for the Backstage tour which we had also paid for in advance. They had people up front, so I asked the nearest one. We, along with the other 60 or so people who were taking the tour, were hearded to the middle seating area, in front the stage. It was obvious that they had to kill some time, to give the performers time to gather their things and vacate. Most of them, likely don’t want to deal with any more fans, and just want to go home. I am sure it also complicates the tour if it has to be stopped to interact with the tourists.
You could tell by the improvised nature of some of things they were doing, that after the canned portion of their beginning speech, with us all still in seats, that they were waiting for some word from the earpiece they all had. When I say all, there were way too many for one tour, so they would split us up into five or six groups and each start at a different part of the same tour. Kind of like a shotgun start during a golf tournament.
Not that it matters but we started at the Jimmy Capps Music room. Why doesn’t it matter, because I can’t remember much of anything, other than the room was named after someone from the Opry community and there is some sort of Nashville numbering system for music to make it easier to for hour musician to play, or something like that. By now I was getting tired and while I was interested to see the behind the scenes working, the nuts and bolts were lost on me.
We saw about six or eight dressing rooms, starting with basic ones, and moving to the ones the big boys and girls get to use. Brad Pasiley had left some chocolate cake. If only we had a few extra minutes, I might have had a snack.
We saw the Opry Post Office, where each member to the Grand Ole Opry has their own box. Our guide pointed out Brad Paisley’s which had been overflowing, but was now empty. She said he went away with a bag full of mail. She pointed out several other boxes, which all had numbers, and no names. She said if you write to an artist care of the Grand Ole Opry, they will get it to them.
The second to last stop we saw a video where Darius Rucker was asked to join the Opry. This is a very big deal for an artist, and they never know in advance when their notification will come. It is often done in a public forum, so their candid reaction can be caught.
In Darius Rucker’s he was performing at the Opry, and at the end of the set they said they were trying something new, a Q & A, session. Lady gets up and asks some question and Darius handles it, like he had done a few hundred times before. Then the move to another section of the audience and up stands Brad Paisley, a good fried of Darius Rucker. Rucker is grinning and wondering what Paisley is up to. Paisley say he has two questions, the first being if Rucker is still terrible at poker. They joke around a bit, with Rucker confessing he sucks at it. The with Rucker all relaxed he asks him ‘ Do you want to become the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry?”
Rucker is stunned and all he can do is say “Wow”, over and over. I think he finally answered Yes and that was the end of it. It was fun to watch
Out last stop was to get out picture taken on the Grand Ole Opry stage. I got an elbow again from Margo when I began the ABC song for the second time in the day. Little did I know that just minutes later I would get to sing a full song, backstage. For real. Sort of. We were killing time again, and our guide had information that one of tour guests had a birthday, so we all sang Happy Birthday to her, backstage, at the Grand Ole Opry. How ‘bout that?
It was getting late. We got back to the hotel about 11:30 PM. I had a snack while I typed up notes for the day and went to bed about 12:30 AM. We had jam packed this day and I was more than ready for bed.
This was going to be a long day. Another one of those Type A days that I inevitable plan and while I don’t regret it, it sure does tap your energy reserves.
I was up at 6:30. We were all at breakfast at 7:15 AM. This hotel was a Best Western Plus, and the breakfast was about the same as the La Quinta we had left, so I was happy. We were on the road by 8:15 and pulled into the same parking garage we used last night, which not coincidently was directly across from the Ryman Auditorium.
We had arrived at about 8:30 and the box office did not open until 9 AM. This was by design. I wanted to tour as early as possible so we had time at the end of the day for either the Johnny Cash Museum or the Patsy Cline Museum, which are in the same building. But, more on that later.
We, as in Jayme and I immediately started wandering around the sides of the Ryman taking pictures of the statues and the building. We saw the alley entrance that star used to use to go from the Ryman to Tootsie’s to have a drink between performances. It was in the book Me and Patsy that we had listened to most of yesterday.
When Jayme and I go back a line had formed to the box office. We had been about the first people to arrive and I was regretting not putting someone in line. But it worked out. We were close enough to the front that I could hear the cashier tell the first person in line that they were offering guided tours. I had tried to buy those before we left and they were not for sale. The box for them was grayed out. Turns out they don’t know until the day of, if they will have guided tours, so we lucked out. I bought our four tickets for the 9:30 (first of the day) tour and we milled about taking more pictures.
The tour began by taking us upstairs, we took the elevator, and into a room that looked like it contained several of the famous arches. We were told we would see a short film about the history of the Ryman. Margo and I have seen dozens of these through the years. They are usually very informative, but vary in production quality. This one started out in a black and white documentary style, but quickly changed into an almost 3-D production, with an actress playing Lula Naff, who basically ran the Ryman from 1913 until she was basically forced to retire in 1955.
The video told of early Nashville with lots o bars and lots of evangelists trying to convert them to Jesus. One, who was particularly effective was Sam Jones. A river boat captain, per the video, was going over to one of Jones tent shows to try to run him out town and stop ruining everyone else’s fun. Trouble was Captain Thomas Ryman was converted himself. Seven years later in 1892 the Union Gospel Tabernacle had been built. When Thomas Ryman died in 1904, it was renamed in his honor.
We saw dressing rooms (no pictures allowed), the balcony, and the pews. The highlight was to be taking your picture in front of the mic, on the stage where 100 years of legends had stood. But our real highlight was the little girl with her father, who was getting their picture taken. The little girl was also making her Ryman singling debut with an acapella version of the ABC song. It was the cutest thing I have seen in years. We joined the rest of the tour by applauding her performance.
When it was Jayme and mine turn at the mic (with our spouses) we also sang the first few words of the song. We were greeted with elbows, instead of applause. After this we picked up out pictures and shopped for souvenirs
Next stop on today’s Nashville tour, was the Country Music Hall of Fame. Overall, I was not as impressed as I hoped to be. It felt like it was laid out funny. There was so much to see. It started on the third floor, but almost as soon as we got there, I started doing some math, and figured if we did not eat now, we would not eat until 5 PM. That would be a long time since our hotel dinner. So down we rode and got something at their little kitchen. The food was actually half decent.
Our real tour started with a temp exhibit featuring Bill Anderson. I learned a few things, not the least of which is that he wrote the song Cincinnati, Ohio. That would be more interesting later. The museum was basically set up chronologically, which works, but it still felt off.
There were plenty of memorable things to see. The most unexpected was Webb Pierce’s tricked out 1962 Pontiac Bonneville. It has a silver-plated Winchester mounted on the trunk. The door handles are Colt revolvers. The interior is saddle leather. There is a small saddle for the console. Everywhere you look there was something that had been customize. He spent $20,000 in 1962 to have Nudie Cohn. He was a famous tailer, who made a lot of the rhinestone suits you saw back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. He also did cars. He has, or at least someone uses his name, a honky tonk on Broadway.
The last part of the museum was their Hall of Fame, where the busts of the members are located. Both Margo and I took pictures. I was interesting to see who we each chose. Even though we are both fans of the same people, our overlap in pictures was only a few.
We finished up in time to walk to the Johnny Cash Museum, getting there about 3 PM. Both Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline have their museum in the same building. Two museums, two admission charges, and only time to do one. We chose the Man in Black.
I liked the Johnny Cash Museum. He has as much or more stuff as Loretta Lynn. I knew he had been in the military, Air Force. I learned that when he went in, he actually chose the name John. When he was born, he was named JR, but military would not accept initials as a name. I had heard, but was reminded that while he was in service, he was a Morse Intercept Operator. As such he was in position to be the first to hear of Josef Stalin’s death in Russia. Kinda Cool.
They had a listening station set up where you could hear the song “Get Rhythm”, played in the various audio formats. Cash’s career spanned such a long time that this song appeared on 78s, 45s, LPs, Reel to Reel, 8 track, cassettes, CDs, and they even had his demo tape in the queue. I though the demo was too slow, and that remastered version was the best. I hated the cassette, with the audio hiss. It was amazing how prominent it was. I hardly noticed it 40 years ago.
We might have done some shopping, but their system was down. We had actually bought our tickets online, in the ticket line queue, and scanned the barcode to get in. I wished we had time for the Patsy Cline Museum, but we didn’t. It was off to dinner and then the Grand Ole Opry.
We drove to Paula Deen’s place at the Opry Mills mall. Margo and I had eaten at her flagship restaurant, Lady and Sons, in Savannah, GA several years back. We liked the food, and Pam was more than willing to try one of the celebrity chefs on TV. Jayme would have been happy with a hamburger.
Paula Deen’s serves their meals, family-style. That means what you order comes in a big dish and everyone helps themselves. So, you had to agree on the entrée and the sides. We decided on the option that would give us three different entrée items (Fried Chicken, Meatloaf, and Roast Beef over Rice), and four sides (Green Beans, Tomato & Cucumber Salad, Creamed Corn and Mac n Cheese).
The food was OK. I liked the Fried Chicken. The meatloaf was OK. The Roast Beef tasted off to me, and the rest agreed. As for the sides, I did not try the mac n cheese. I have never liked that as a side dish. The Creamed Corn and Green Beans, were good, but nothing special. The T/C salad was way too vinegary. They needed to cut it with some water. I think this meal cost about $160 with tip. It came with dessert and her Banana Pudding was the best part of the meal. Very good.
The Grand Ole Opry is on the other side of the mall, so we drove around and parked. We got in and we were in our seats pretty quicky, just soaking up the ambiance of the place. We had 2nd row seats, so we would be missing nothing. We were scheduled to see; Mark Wills, Spencer Crandall, Caylee Hammack, Mandy Barnett, Don Schlitz, Ryders in the Sky and Brad Paisley. Really, all I knew were Brad Paisley, Ryders in the Sky and Mark Wills. Mandy Barnett and Don Schlitz were added to the lineup, so late I did not even have time to look them up. Crandall and Hammack are both new. I liked what little of Caylee Hammack music that I Found. Crandall is from Colorado.
Mark Wills started the show with 1970 something, on of just two songs of his, I could remember. Jacob’s Ladder was the other and he sang that, too. He told the story of being a new grandpa and too young to have that title hung on him. So, he proclaimed he would go by “Dude”, and someone made him a leather guitar strap with his moniker embossed on it.
Apparently, Don Schlitz had something come up, so he was replaced with Connie Smith. She sang Cincinnati, Ohio. This was an icon song, written by Bill Anderson. It came full circle, didn’t it? I recall listening to this song when I was very young, and I considered it a privilege to hear her sing it in person.
She is married to Marty Stuart, who is 17 years younger than she is. The story goes that his mother took him to see her when he was about 12. He proclaimed that he would marry her some day (she was really cute when she was young. At 81 she is regal). He did. They have been together for 24 years.
Spencer Crandall was next, and when introduced we found out he was making his Opry debut. She sang two of his songs, My Person and More. I had not heard of either, but they were heavily downloaded, and he was given some sort of award on stage for those milestones. This was after the crowd had given him a standing ovation after his second and final song. He was fighting to hold back the tears.
The
Mandy Barnet followed Spencer Crandall. Like, I said I had not heard of her, and at the time did not even know she was to perform. But, Oh My God, does this lady have a set of pipes. She was the lady who played Patsy Cline, in the play, Always Patsy, at the Ryman, no less. You have to have voice to sing Patsy, and she did. She sang Walking After Midnight to close, and she killed it.
We had a fifteen minute intermission, which was great, because I had to pee. I was doing a log to that with all of the soda I was drinking, and all of the insulin I was not taking. But, I was having a really good time.
Caylee Hammack brought us back from intermission, and while I hoped she would sing Redhead, which I later found out that she sang with Reba McIntire on her debut album, but she didn’t. She sang Forged in Fire, Folsom Prison Blues and Only Good Things. She poured everthing she had into each one. I don’t know who she can do a whole show at that pace.
Ryders in the Sky was more than I expected. I had never seen them before, not even at our two prior Grand Ole Opry shows, but I knew they were a western band. They opened with Ghost Riders in the Sky, and then Autumn on the Trail. We were then introduced to the group, singling out Woody Paul, who is a member of the Fiddlers Hall of Fame. We were treated to a short medley, Liberty, Golden Slippers, and what they called The Other One. I think it was Fisher’s Hornpipe, because they have played that medley in the past. They ended their set with Happy Trails to You.
These guys are also comedians, especially the bass fiddle player Fred LaBour. At one point he let out a classic whistle and said YAW, in classic cattle drive fashion, saying it could live’n up any song. To prove his point one of the other boys began singing Danny Boy, a slow, sad song. Too Slim (LaBour) did his whistle/YAW, and the absurdity of if had us all laughing. It was at that point that they pointed out the signer, who was translating for the deaf in attendance. He wondered out loud how she was signing that. About that time she raised and whipped her right arm, like she was snapping a bullwhip. More laugher. They had been yodeling right before the Whistle/YAW part, and some on commented that the lady likely sprained a thumb. Much funnier when they are delivering the line, than me typing it. Really enjoyed them
Finishing up the show was Brad Paisley. I was hoping for Celebrity, my favorite Paisley song. I didn’t get it, but he sang Mud on the Tires, Wrapped Around, Check You For Ticks, Whiskey Lullaby, and Alcohol.
When Pam and Jayme had seen Brad Paisley at the Greeley Stampede this past summer, Jayme was completely underwhelmed. Not the least of his complaints was that when he sang Whiskey Lullaby, Allison Krause’s part was just omitted. Maybe Paisley sang it himself. But, I was wondering what he would do here on the most famous stage in country music. He was alone on stage. When the female part was gearing up, out walks Caylee Hammack walks out filling in. She did a great job.
I am not sure, but I think we witnessed a Peyton Manning practical joke on Brad Paisley. For the final song, BP announced that to help Nationwide Insurance (Manning is a spokesman) for a charity, Brad Paisley agreed to auction off a duet to be performed on stage at the Grand Ole Opry. Pretty cool, huh? Someone would get to sing on stage with BP, and tonight was that night.
Now Pam thinks she saw Peyton Manning poke his head out from behind the curtains. I didn’t see anything, but I was not looking there. After BP tells us about the promotion he procedes to give the most unflattering introduction of a charity patron I have ever heard. Things like “I don’t know what to expect” and “This is likely to suck” or “I don’t even know if this guy can sing”. Pam, at least is expecting Peyton Manning to come out on stage, and this would make sense, given the intro. But, out comes, this five foot nothing dude kid of about 20, who looks like he would rather be taking a final exam. I missed Paisley’s reaction, but Pam also said she thought, after BP told us they would be singing Alcohol, the college kid mouthed “I don’t know the words”. That was not to matter, as the only part the kid got to sing was “Alcohol!” when the chorus came up. I never even heard him sing that much, but by the last time he got to sing the word, he was getting into it. He was smiling and confident to the point of almost missing his last “alcohol”, while hold his mic in a rested postion. I have looked on the internet, but so far I found no back story.
I had no idea what to do for the Backstage tour which we had also paid for in advance. They had people up front, so I asked the nearest one. We, along with the other 60 or so people who were taking the tour, were hearded to the middle seating area, in front the stage. It was obvious that they had to kill some time, to give the performers time to gather their things and vacate. Most of them, likely don’t want to deal with any more fans, and just want to go home. I am sure it also complicates the tour if it has to be stopped to interact with the tourists.
You could tell by the improvised nature of some of things they were doing, that after the canned portion of their beginning speech, with us all still in seats, that they were waiting for some word from the earpiece they all had. When I say all, there were way too many for one tour, so they would split us up into five or six groups and each start at a different part of the same tour. Kind of like a shotgun start during a golf tournament.
Not that it matters but we started at the Jimmy Capps Music room. Why doesn’t it matter, because I can’t remember much of anything, other than the room was named after someone from the Opry community and there is some sort of Nashville numbering system for music to make it easier to for hour musician to play, or something like that. By now I was getting tired and while I was interested to see the behind the scenes working, the nuts and bolts were lost on me.
We saw about six or eight dressing rooms, starting with basic ones, and moving to the ones the big boys and girls get to use. Brad Pasiley had left some chocolate cake. If only we had a few extra minutes, I might have had a snack.
We saw the Opry Post Office, where each member to the Grand Ole Opry has their own box. Our guide pointed out Brad Paisley’s which had been overflowing, but was now empty. She said he went away with a bag full of mail. She pointed out several other boxes, which all had numbers, and no names. She said if you write to an artist care of the Grand Ole Opry, they will get it to them.
The second to last stop we saw a video where Darius Rucker was asked to join the Opry. This is a very big deal for an artist, and they never know in advance when their notification will come. It is often done in a public forum, so their candid reaction can be caught.
In Darius Rucker’s he was performing at the Opry, and at the end of the set they said they were trying something new, a Q & A, session. Lady gets up and asks some question and Darius handles it, like he had done a few hundred times before. Then the move to another section of the audience and up stands Brad Paisley, a good fried of Darius Rucker. Rucker is grinning and wondering what Paisley is up to. Paisley say he has two questions, the first being if Rucker is still terrible at poker. They joke around a bit, with Rucker confessing he sucks at it. The with Rucker all relaxed he asks him ‘ Do you want to become the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry?”
Rucker is stunned and all he can do is say “Wow”, over and over. I think he finally answered Yes and that was the end of it. It was fun to watch
Out last stop was to get out picture taken on the Grand Ole Opry stage. I got an elbow again from Margo when I began the ABC song for the second time in the day. Little did I know that just minutes later I would get to sing a full song, backstage. For real. Sort of. We were killing time again, and our guide had information that one of tour guests had a birthday, so we all sang Happy Birthday to her, backstage, at the Grand Ole Opry. How ‘bout that?
It was getting late. We got back to the hotel about 11:30 PM. I had a snack while I typed up notes for the day and went to bed about 12:30 AM. We had jam packed this day and I was more than ready for bed.
Day Seven--Saturday, September 17, 2022
Our seventh day of vacation began at 7:15 AM, so a bit less than 7 hours of sleep. About what I usually get at home on a week day. We repeated the pattern we have developed since Wednesday of having breakfast at the hotel. We have been lucky in that the food has been pretty consistent. Not great, but pretty good for being free. We had checked into the Best Western Plus on Thursday and were done with lunch by 9 AM, easy.
We had a lot of miles in front of us, with our first stop being local, to check out Antique Archeology, the store associated with the realty show American Pickers. I don’t watch much TV, but I have seen bits of a couple of shows. Two guys finding people who are either hoarders or collectors, and have lots of old stuff, that the guys try to buy. I like old stuff, so I figured this place might be somewhat like a museum.
We got there about 9:30, and the place does not open until 10 AM. After about 15 minutes of sitting in the Pacifica, we got out. Someone probably needed to pee. Jayme has a nose for anything automotive, and even though I knew this was called Marathon Motors, it did not register that there might be a reason and something to explore. Jayme had no such limitations, and discovered that this place had a free museum dedicated to Marathon Motors, a Nashville based car company from just before the first World War.
It wasn’t anything fancy, but it has four of five cars from the period, with signage that explained the history of that individual car. These five cars came from all of the world. It sounds like there are less than 10 known examples of Marathon Cars left anywhere. Jayme, Pam, and I explored and until about 10:15 or so. Like I said it was small.
We all toured Antique Archeology, and it was about what I though. Overpriced, and most of the stuff was in questionable condition. There was some history, but nothing interesting enough for me take a picture of or remember.
Next door was a Jack Daniel store of some sort. They sold souvenirs and such. Maybe liquor, it did not look. I was more interested in the back rooms, which were open to the public. Those appear to have been part, as was this whole area, of Marathon Motors. They had things like an old safe and an old crank telephone, with the guts still in it. I have never seen one opened up. They had an old telephone booth, and a steam engine, that probably ran the whole factory. I would probably go back if we were ever in Nashville. Maybe they give guided tours. I certainly enjoyed that more than the antique store.
We were on the road by 11 AM, which was about on schedule. We were on our way to Pigeon Forge, but had one stop to make first. Jayme and my Uncle Adam had moved to Monterey, TN back in the early 2000s, and he had died there. We never knew the story of what happened exactly. He went with a young lady and her family that he more or less adopted as his granddaughter. I do know that 20 years ago when I talked to her, she called him grandpa. Her name was Kathy, and I know she wasn’t related by blood. That is all I really know. The rest of the story will likely always be a mystery.
What I do know is where he was buried, or at least the cemetery. We found it back in 2004 when we were last out that this way. Kathy’s husband had provided detailed directions and they were good enough to find the grave. I saved them and hoped we could duplicate the procedure. I was also curious to see if a headstone had ever been installed. When we were there, he had been dead only about 4 months and only the funeral home marker was there.
We made one pitstop before arriving at the Lovejoy Cemetery outside of Monterey, TN. We drove right to the cemetery, passing Goff Funeral Home. When we got to the cemetery, it looked like a service would start shortly, as a hole was dug, the shade tent was up, and only the guest of honor and mourners were missing. We were not thrilled by this, as to get to this cemetery you had to travel on roads, where two abreast was wishful thinking. We hoped to take care of our business fairly quickly.
We had a photo I had taken 20 years ago and the direction that it was near the only Colorado Blue Spruce at the back of the cemetery. Either the guy who told me this did not really know what a blue spruce looks like, or it had been cut down, because there was no such tree to be found. I told everyone that we would not spend a lot of time on this, because even though it was a small cemetery, it was hot, humid, and we had lunch to get and plenty of driving to do.
I was trying to line up landmarks with Jayme, when Pam sung out that she had found it. She had, but I can’t believe she did. The same funeral home marker from 20 years ago was there, and it was so badly faded that I was almost unreadable. Almost. We paid our respects, but none of us thought to get flowers until we were there. I took better pictures so someone could find it again, and we headed back to town. I am giving consideration to paying for a stone monument. I feel very bad when a person has no chance to be remembered, even though with no direct descendants, who will even look. Still, it bothers me.
We passed a Mexican restaurant, Los Agave’s, when we went through town the first time. So, that seemed like the best idea. The food ended up being pretty good. Jayme was miffed that there was no green chili to smother his burrito. I had to explain that green chili is not a universal thing, and we and the New Mexican’s had it up on everyone else. He was even more miffed when his burrito came smothered in sour cream. Jayme does not lie sour cream. He is a very picky eater. But he was hungry enough to scrape it off and choke down a few bites. Hopefully our dinner would be better.
We were back on the road by about 2 PM, and with the time change, it was about 5:45 PM when we had Pigeon Forge within sight. We were maybe 2 miles from our hotel, which is on the main drag (Parkway) when traffic just stopped. It would not move. It took us an hour to move half a mile. It was maddening. I was beyond frustrated and I had to pee. Same as everyone else.
We got to with half a mile of our hotel, at about 9 PM, when the obvious choice presented itself. The Starliner Diner; food, restroom, and a respite from this traffic. Why the traffic, you ask, because I was too frustrated to mention it? The town holds a Rod Run in both the Spring and Fall. Tonight was the last night for the fall event, and every 16-year-old in a 50-mile radius had their beater in town to show off their pipes or radio. It was literally the worse traffic jam I have ever been in, and I have driven in LA, Chicago, Boston, and Washington DC. At least in those places, the traffic would move.
The food at the Starliner was decent. Jayme was happy with his burger, so all was right in the world. Everyone got to pee, and I had a milk shake. Our waitress was good.
By the time we finished eating, things had improved, but it still took us 15 minutes to go the last 4/10ths of a mile. We were delayed even starting our short journey, when Jayme started a conversation with a guy named Rick, who works for Caterpillar, in West Virginia. He has been coming to the Rod Runs for 20 years or more. He went on for what seemed like 20 years, and we were all too polite to just walk away. He did tell us that we were screwed, with respect to the traffic. Any alternate route he knew would end up taking longer.
I think we talked to him longer than it took to get to the hotel. He was a really nice guy, but he just did not know when to stop talking. We got checked in at the Inn by the River, found we had adjoining rooms, and settled in. I made my noted for the day, and was in bed around midnight. I was tired. Good night.
We had a lot of miles in front of us, with our first stop being local, to check out Antique Archeology, the store associated with the realty show American Pickers. I don’t watch much TV, but I have seen bits of a couple of shows. Two guys finding people who are either hoarders or collectors, and have lots of old stuff, that the guys try to buy. I like old stuff, so I figured this place might be somewhat like a museum.
We got there about 9:30, and the place does not open until 10 AM. After about 15 minutes of sitting in the Pacifica, we got out. Someone probably needed to pee. Jayme has a nose for anything automotive, and even though I knew this was called Marathon Motors, it did not register that there might be a reason and something to explore. Jayme had no such limitations, and discovered that this place had a free museum dedicated to Marathon Motors, a Nashville based car company from just before the first World War.
It wasn’t anything fancy, but it has four of five cars from the period, with signage that explained the history of that individual car. These five cars came from all of the world. It sounds like there are less than 10 known examples of Marathon Cars left anywhere. Jayme, Pam, and I explored and until about 10:15 or so. Like I said it was small.
We all toured Antique Archeology, and it was about what I though. Overpriced, and most of the stuff was in questionable condition. There was some history, but nothing interesting enough for me take a picture of or remember.
Next door was a Jack Daniel store of some sort. They sold souvenirs and such. Maybe liquor, it did not look. I was more interested in the back rooms, which were open to the public. Those appear to have been part, as was this whole area, of Marathon Motors. They had things like an old safe and an old crank telephone, with the guts still in it. I have never seen one opened up. They had an old telephone booth, and a steam engine, that probably ran the whole factory. I would probably go back if we were ever in Nashville. Maybe they give guided tours. I certainly enjoyed that more than the antique store.
We were on the road by 11 AM, which was about on schedule. We were on our way to Pigeon Forge, but had one stop to make first. Jayme and my Uncle Adam had moved to Monterey, TN back in the early 2000s, and he had died there. We never knew the story of what happened exactly. He went with a young lady and her family that he more or less adopted as his granddaughter. I do know that 20 years ago when I talked to her, she called him grandpa. Her name was Kathy, and I know she wasn’t related by blood. That is all I really know. The rest of the story will likely always be a mystery.
What I do know is where he was buried, or at least the cemetery. We found it back in 2004 when we were last out that this way. Kathy’s husband had provided detailed directions and they were good enough to find the grave. I saved them and hoped we could duplicate the procedure. I was also curious to see if a headstone had ever been installed. When we were there, he had been dead only about 4 months and only the funeral home marker was there.
We made one pitstop before arriving at the Lovejoy Cemetery outside of Monterey, TN. We drove right to the cemetery, passing Goff Funeral Home. When we got to the cemetery, it looked like a service would start shortly, as a hole was dug, the shade tent was up, and only the guest of honor and mourners were missing. We were not thrilled by this, as to get to this cemetery you had to travel on roads, where two abreast was wishful thinking. We hoped to take care of our business fairly quickly.
We had a photo I had taken 20 years ago and the direction that it was near the only Colorado Blue Spruce at the back of the cemetery. Either the guy who told me this did not really know what a blue spruce looks like, or it had been cut down, because there was no such tree to be found. I told everyone that we would not spend a lot of time on this, because even though it was a small cemetery, it was hot, humid, and we had lunch to get and plenty of driving to do.
I was trying to line up landmarks with Jayme, when Pam sung out that she had found it. She had, but I can’t believe she did. The same funeral home marker from 20 years ago was there, and it was so badly faded that I was almost unreadable. Almost. We paid our respects, but none of us thought to get flowers until we were there. I took better pictures so someone could find it again, and we headed back to town. I am giving consideration to paying for a stone monument. I feel very bad when a person has no chance to be remembered, even though with no direct descendants, who will even look. Still, it bothers me.
We passed a Mexican restaurant, Los Agave’s, when we went through town the first time. So, that seemed like the best idea. The food ended up being pretty good. Jayme was miffed that there was no green chili to smother his burrito. I had to explain that green chili is not a universal thing, and we and the New Mexican’s had it up on everyone else. He was even more miffed when his burrito came smothered in sour cream. Jayme does not lie sour cream. He is a very picky eater. But he was hungry enough to scrape it off and choke down a few bites. Hopefully our dinner would be better.
We were back on the road by about 2 PM, and with the time change, it was about 5:45 PM when we had Pigeon Forge within sight. We were maybe 2 miles from our hotel, which is on the main drag (Parkway) when traffic just stopped. It would not move. It took us an hour to move half a mile. It was maddening. I was beyond frustrated and I had to pee. Same as everyone else.
We got to with half a mile of our hotel, at about 9 PM, when the obvious choice presented itself. The Starliner Diner; food, restroom, and a respite from this traffic. Why the traffic, you ask, because I was too frustrated to mention it? The town holds a Rod Run in both the Spring and Fall. Tonight was the last night for the fall event, and every 16-year-old in a 50-mile radius had their beater in town to show off their pipes or radio. It was literally the worse traffic jam I have ever been in, and I have driven in LA, Chicago, Boston, and Washington DC. At least in those places, the traffic would move.
The food at the Starliner was decent. Jayme was happy with his burger, so all was right in the world. Everyone got to pee, and I had a milk shake. Our waitress was good.
By the time we finished eating, things had improved, but it still took us 15 minutes to go the last 4/10ths of a mile. We were delayed even starting our short journey, when Jayme started a conversation with a guy named Rick, who works for Caterpillar, in West Virginia. He has been coming to the Rod Runs for 20 years or more. He went on for what seemed like 20 years, and we were all too polite to just walk away. He did tell us that we were screwed, with respect to the traffic. Any alternate route he knew would end up taking longer.
I think we talked to him longer than it took to get to the hotel. He was a really nice guy, but he just did not know when to stop talking. We got checked in at the Inn by the River, found we had adjoining rooms, and settled in. I made my noted for the day, and was in bed around midnight. I was tired. Good night.
Day Eight--Sunday, September 18, 2022
I got to sleep in all the way to 7:45, because Dollywood did not open until 10 AM. We had our standard breakfast, which was enough to get us started. There was plenty to eat, but it wasn’t good enough to warrant stuffing yourself. Still better than shelling out $75 or more for us to eat out. We were on the road by 9:15
We got there, paid $20 to park and were directed to Lot A, where the handicapped parking is. Pam is permanently disabled due to a mule wagon accident. It took a flight for life and some urgent action from doctors to keep her with us. But, even with that Pam decided she did not want to get a mobility scooter. I talked Margo into it, as her ankle and bone spur cause her a lot pain when she walks for any length of time. We would be doing a lot of walking.
Jayme was gung-ho to get to some rides. I told him if we were going to do Lightening Rod, and hot rod themed coaster, and the signature ride in the park, we should do it first. That was good enough for him. Our wives had sense enough to not join us. Not 15 minutes later I wished I had stayed with them.
When we had been in the planning stages of this trip and talking about the rides at Dollywood, Jayme had asked me which coasters I would ride, as he was dead set against a couple of them. I confidently said “I will ride any coaster there.” That thought changed 30 seconds into Lightening Rod.
We ended up in the very back car. I don’t think that matter a heck of a lot, but my anxiety started when they brought the lap/shoulder bar down, snuggly, then came back to push it down another notch, because it wasn’t in the locked position. I did not object, but truthfully, I was having a little trouble getting air.
I had little time contemplate this, as the coaster moved, approached the long hill, and then launched itself up this damn thing. It felt near vertical. It wasn’t, but tell that to my stomach, which was now fighting my lungs for cavity space. The downhill was deceptive, as it did not go down as much as it had gone, up, but the second downhill was an unpleasant surprise, and it move all viral organs to my throat, which was already trying to bring air in, and it built up all of the speed needed for the next series of twists, turns, half twists, and what have you, all with G-forces and air times to make an F-14 pilot happy.
I have never once in my life wondered if I was going to die on a ride. I did now. Not long, mind you. I knew the adrenaline was fighting with my brain for a solution. My brain won, and reminded everyone that the ride was safe, and it would only have a few seconds left, no matter how long they felt.
I saw a glimpse of a building and I thought it was the station. I don’t know what it was, but the Tradesman area, and saw that they had a working blacksmith shop, who was letting guests make their own weapons, knives, out of railroad spikes. We would be doing that tomorrow, at another place, but it was very interesting to see it done here.
The Wings of Prey show was happening at 1 PM, and it was not far from that. It was a show Margo had seen when we here in 2011. It is the entertainment/fund raising arm of Dollywood’s Eagle Mountain Sanctuary. EMS is a home for bald eagles who have become injured and can no longer make it in the wild. EMS cares for them and gives them a home at 400,000 cubic foot sanctuary on the side of a mountain, there in Dollywood.
The also put on a show. We saw a couple of owls, and couple of hawks, and then the finale, a full-grown Bald Eagle, was over 30 years old. He is a veteran of these shows and he would sit quietly while the crowd came up to take a picture with him, and they sold souvenirs as the crowd waited in line. I am sure they did well. I know they got $20 out of me.
Jayme’s appetite for rides could wait no longer, and Blazing Fury, Dollywood’s legacy dark ride, which also dates back to the early days, and is pretty tame, was nearby. There was almost no wait and we got in. As expected, we were underwhelmed.
Daredevil Falls was not far away. It is a log flume type of ride. Margo hates water rides, and sat this one out. I love water rides and even Pam was game for this one. You only got a little wet towards the end. It wasn’t bad. The day was not too hot, but I thought it felt good.
While, we were doing a water ride, River Rampage, a rapids ride was nearby, so I suggested that. We were not walking past any roller coasters on any of this, or maybe I was blocking them out, whatever. Like all rapid rides you get a little damp, or you could come out soaked for a direct hit.
I think we (minus Margo) had the best time on this ride. None of us got soaked, but we all got wet. There was one point where Pam’s back was to the downstream, so she could not see what was coming. I could. Off to her left was a place that squirted a small stream of water, like a super soaker, might. I was triggered by a passing boat, and I saw the boat in front of us activate it. Right as we were coming to it, I helpfully told Pam to look that way, which was right at said super soaker. She did not have time to think why I was asking such a thing of her, and her curiosity won out. She looked and took a direct hit. We all laughed, but Pam’s laugh was punctuated with a few bad words, too.
It was nearly 3 PM and we had to be at the Dolly Parton Stampede, a 5–10-minute drive, by 4:30. Plus we, or at least I, wanted to upgrade our photo package. We went to the entrance/exit area of the park and got in the short line. But our guy was new, needed help, and it took like 20 to get us taken care of. Afterwards we shopped, as we were running out of time, and having a remembrance was mandatory. At least it seems to be.
Pam wanted to ride a wooden coaster we had seen on the train ride. If she wanted to, ride would go try, but it was getting close to 4 PM. In the end, she decided against it. I was not heartbroken. We left right around 4 PM and easily made it to our dinner destination.
I had read many reviews of the Dolly Parton Stampede, and several of them played up the angle, that it had watered itself down, separating itself from a Confederate South vs a Union North. Now it was just North vs South. During the performance the whole competition atmosphere seemed contrived. Except the Master of Ceremonies might have had a bit of a Southern bias. Spoiler Alert the South won, and were in the North.
I had thought that they started serving at 5 PM, but that is just when the doors opened. That gave us time to go upstairs, and get a drink. Which we did when they started letting us in. They would not let us go to our seats until 5:30, but we were fine sitting down in the air-conditioned room having an adult beverage.
5:30 and the gates open and we are led to our section of the arena. It smelled faintly of horse urine, but I got over that quickly. We were told by the announcer that they had a state-of-the-art dust suppression system, that kind of looks like a light fog. I worked, as I don’t recall any dust.
Our server was Sydney and she brought our soup, a creamy vegetable, which I had read was delicious. It was. Even Jayme like it. We got a biscuit shortly after. These served as our appetizer. As the show began the main course was brought out; a roast chicken, half a baked potato, a small slice of pork roast, and half a cob of corn. The pork was a little dry, but I like all of it. Maybe I was just hungry. Pam and Jayme were not impressed, mostly because neither particularly like chicken. Margo said it was good, but I ended up with most of chicken.
The show itself was billed as a competition between the north and south side of the building, with a series of contests, by the performers in the arena (mostly) determining the winning side. The contests that involved horses, it was evident that two young ladies had competed more than a few times in barrel race events, and were very good. Savannah was on our side. Dominique was on the south. It was hard to tell who was better.
The rest of show was a blend of comedy and western themes. They brought our buffalo and longhorn cattle. They had Indian performers, doing choreographed numbers, with costumes, to tell a story. I thought the whole show was well done and worth seeing, at least once. I might go back. It was a little corny at times, but that does not bother me.
The show was over about 7:45 PM, which too early to call it a night, especially since yesterday’s evening plans had been disrupted by traffic. We had planned to go over to The Island, ride Skyfly and look around. The GPS got us right there. It was not far, and was on the Parkway, which is where most everything is. But I get turned around easy, so knowing to turn left or right is big help when I start out.
The Island is not a true island, but it is kind of the commercial hub of Pigeon Forge, filled with shops, and few indoor rides, a very large Ferris wheel, and a fountain that puts on a show every half hour.
We dropped the ladies off by Margaritaville, which is basically the starting point for The Island, and drove to the lot to park. It seemed like a bit of hike to me, so I talked Jayme into waiting a few minutes for the shuttle. It was right call, as it ended up being quicker. We met and immediately went over the Skyfly building.
If you have been to Epcot or Disney’s California Adventure, you have likely ridden their ride called Soarin’. SkyFly is very similar to this. We were all excited to see it. Like Disney, they have video story that tells you all about the steampunk time machine dirigible you are about to ride in. We had no line to deal with. There were others, but not even enough to fill all seats. So, no wait.
The story was OK. We rode the ride twice. I was a bit disappointed. Maybe because we have done Soarin, two or three times, the magic was gone. On the second ride I found myself looking off to the sides, to kind of see the magic. Others really enjoyed it as I heard many, many shrieks, laughs, and screams of delight. That made the ride more fun.
By the time we were done, we saw that it was not long before the next fountain show. We found some vacant chairs, but they were vacant for a reason. There was a guy nearby puffing on some smelly stogie, which none of liked. We moved to another place and had a somewhat obstructed view, but the show was still nice. It was not Bellagio level, but it was still nice to see. The evening was pleasant, and we sitting, listening to music and seeing a water show. That was pretty good, regardless.
Jayme and I both like our ice cream and we ended up with some. We separated to do some shopping, as Jayme and Pam wanted to see the moonshine store, and I had no interest. Margo wanted to see what the other shops had, so I followed her. We went to one shop, Tiki-something-or-other, and I found some Chevrolet Camaro shirts, that I knew would peak Pam’s interest. So, I let them know about it. Pam did end up with a Camaro shirt.
We watched one more water show and went back to the car, via their tram. Same routine when we got back to the car. I don’t like the TV on when get back, as I find it distracting even when I am just writing notes. Margo is usually tired and maybe after a few minutes on her iPad, she is out. It did not take long for either of us.
We got there, paid $20 to park and were directed to Lot A, where the handicapped parking is. Pam is permanently disabled due to a mule wagon accident. It took a flight for life and some urgent action from doctors to keep her with us. But, even with that Pam decided she did not want to get a mobility scooter. I talked Margo into it, as her ankle and bone spur cause her a lot pain when she walks for any length of time. We would be doing a lot of walking.
Jayme was gung-ho to get to some rides. I told him if we were going to do Lightening Rod, and hot rod themed coaster, and the signature ride in the park, we should do it first. That was good enough for him. Our wives had sense enough to not join us. Not 15 minutes later I wished I had stayed with them.
When we had been in the planning stages of this trip and talking about the rides at Dollywood, Jayme had asked me which coasters I would ride, as he was dead set against a couple of them. I confidently said “I will ride any coaster there.” That thought changed 30 seconds into Lightening Rod.
We ended up in the very back car. I don’t think that matter a heck of a lot, but my anxiety started when they brought the lap/shoulder bar down, snuggly, then came back to push it down another notch, because it wasn’t in the locked position. I did not object, but truthfully, I was having a little trouble getting air.
I had little time contemplate this, as the coaster moved, approached the long hill, and then launched itself up this damn thing. It felt near vertical. It wasn’t, but tell that to my stomach, which was now fighting my lungs for cavity space. The downhill was deceptive, as it did not go down as much as it had gone, up, but the second downhill was an unpleasant surprise, and it move all viral organs to my throat, which was already trying to bring air in, and it built up all of the speed needed for the next series of twists, turns, half twists, and what have you, all with G-forces and air times to make an F-14 pilot happy.
I have never once in my life wondered if I was going to die on a ride. I did now. Not long, mind you. I knew the adrenaline was fighting with my brain for a solution. My brain won, and reminded everyone that the ride was safe, and it would only have a few seconds left, no matter how long they felt.
I saw a glimpse of a building and I thought it was the station. I don’t know what it was, but the Tradesman area, and saw that they had a working blacksmith shop, who was letting guests make their own weapons, knives, out of railroad spikes. We would be doing that tomorrow, at another place, but it was very interesting to see it done here.
The Wings of Prey show was happening at 1 PM, and it was not far from that. It was a show Margo had seen when we here in 2011. It is the entertainment/fund raising arm of Dollywood’s Eagle Mountain Sanctuary. EMS is a home for bald eagles who have become injured and can no longer make it in the wild. EMS cares for them and gives them a home at 400,000 cubic foot sanctuary on the side of a mountain, there in Dollywood.
The also put on a show. We saw a couple of owls, and couple of hawks, and then the finale, a full-grown Bald Eagle, was over 30 years old. He is a veteran of these shows and he would sit quietly while the crowd came up to take a picture with him, and they sold souvenirs as the crowd waited in line. I am sure they did well. I know they got $20 out of me.
Jayme’s appetite for rides could wait no longer, and Blazing Fury, Dollywood’s legacy dark ride, which also dates back to the early days, and is pretty tame, was nearby. There was almost no wait and we got in. As expected, we were underwhelmed.
Daredevil Falls was not far away. It is a log flume type of ride. Margo hates water rides, and sat this one out. I love water rides and even Pam was game for this one. You only got a little wet towards the end. It wasn’t bad. The day was not too hot, but I thought it felt good.
While, we were doing a water ride, River Rampage, a rapids ride was nearby, so I suggested that. We were not walking past any roller coasters on any of this, or maybe I was blocking them out, whatever. Like all rapid rides you get a little damp, or you could come out soaked for a direct hit.
I think we (minus Margo) had the best time on this ride. None of us got soaked, but we all got wet. There was one point where Pam’s back was to the downstream, so she could not see what was coming. I could. Off to her left was a place that squirted a small stream of water, like a super soaker, might. I was triggered by a passing boat, and I saw the boat in front of us activate it. Right as we were coming to it, I helpfully told Pam to look that way, which was right at said super soaker. She did not have time to think why I was asking such a thing of her, and her curiosity won out. She looked and took a direct hit. We all laughed, but Pam’s laugh was punctuated with a few bad words, too.
It was nearly 3 PM and we had to be at the Dolly Parton Stampede, a 5–10-minute drive, by 4:30. Plus we, or at least I, wanted to upgrade our photo package. We went to the entrance/exit area of the park and got in the short line. But our guy was new, needed help, and it took like 20 to get us taken care of. Afterwards we shopped, as we were running out of time, and having a remembrance was mandatory. At least it seems to be.
Pam wanted to ride a wooden coaster we had seen on the train ride. If she wanted to, ride would go try, but it was getting close to 4 PM. In the end, she decided against it. I was not heartbroken. We left right around 4 PM and easily made it to our dinner destination.
I had read many reviews of the Dolly Parton Stampede, and several of them played up the angle, that it had watered itself down, separating itself from a Confederate South vs a Union North. Now it was just North vs South. During the performance the whole competition atmosphere seemed contrived. Except the Master of Ceremonies might have had a bit of a Southern bias. Spoiler Alert the South won, and were in the North.
I had thought that they started serving at 5 PM, but that is just when the doors opened. That gave us time to go upstairs, and get a drink. Which we did when they started letting us in. They would not let us go to our seats until 5:30, but we were fine sitting down in the air-conditioned room having an adult beverage.
5:30 and the gates open and we are led to our section of the arena. It smelled faintly of horse urine, but I got over that quickly. We were told by the announcer that they had a state-of-the-art dust suppression system, that kind of looks like a light fog. I worked, as I don’t recall any dust.
Our server was Sydney and she brought our soup, a creamy vegetable, which I had read was delicious. It was. Even Jayme like it. We got a biscuit shortly after. These served as our appetizer. As the show began the main course was brought out; a roast chicken, half a baked potato, a small slice of pork roast, and half a cob of corn. The pork was a little dry, but I like all of it. Maybe I was just hungry. Pam and Jayme were not impressed, mostly because neither particularly like chicken. Margo said it was good, but I ended up with most of chicken.
The show itself was billed as a competition between the north and south side of the building, with a series of contests, by the performers in the arena (mostly) determining the winning side. The contests that involved horses, it was evident that two young ladies had competed more than a few times in barrel race events, and were very good. Savannah was on our side. Dominique was on the south. It was hard to tell who was better.
The rest of show was a blend of comedy and western themes. They brought our buffalo and longhorn cattle. They had Indian performers, doing choreographed numbers, with costumes, to tell a story. I thought the whole show was well done and worth seeing, at least once. I might go back. It was a little corny at times, but that does not bother me.
The show was over about 7:45 PM, which too early to call it a night, especially since yesterday’s evening plans had been disrupted by traffic. We had planned to go over to The Island, ride Skyfly and look around. The GPS got us right there. It was not far, and was on the Parkway, which is where most everything is. But I get turned around easy, so knowing to turn left or right is big help when I start out.
The Island is not a true island, but it is kind of the commercial hub of Pigeon Forge, filled with shops, and few indoor rides, a very large Ferris wheel, and a fountain that puts on a show every half hour.
We dropped the ladies off by Margaritaville, which is basically the starting point for The Island, and drove to the lot to park. It seemed like a bit of hike to me, so I talked Jayme into waiting a few minutes for the shuttle. It was right call, as it ended up being quicker. We met and immediately went over the Skyfly building.
If you have been to Epcot or Disney’s California Adventure, you have likely ridden their ride called Soarin’. SkyFly is very similar to this. We were all excited to see it. Like Disney, they have video story that tells you all about the steampunk time machine dirigible you are about to ride in. We had no line to deal with. There were others, but not even enough to fill all seats. So, no wait.
The story was OK. We rode the ride twice. I was a bit disappointed. Maybe because we have done Soarin, two or three times, the magic was gone. On the second ride I found myself looking off to the sides, to kind of see the magic. Others really enjoyed it as I heard many, many shrieks, laughs, and screams of delight. That made the ride more fun.
By the time we were done, we saw that it was not long before the next fountain show. We found some vacant chairs, but they were vacant for a reason. There was a guy nearby puffing on some smelly stogie, which none of liked. We moved to another place and had a somewhat obstructed view, but the show was still nice. It was not Bellagio level, but it was still nice to see. The evening was pleasant, and we sitting, listening to music and seeing a water show. That was pretty good, regardless.
Jayme and I both like our ice cream and we ended up with some. We separated to do some shopping, as Jayme and Pam wanted to see the moonshine store, and I had no interest. Margo wanted to see what the other shops had, so I followed her. We went to one shop, Tiki-something-or-other, and I found some Chevrolet Camaro shirts, that I knew would peak Pam’s interest. So, I let them know about it. Pam did end up with a Camaro shirt.
We watched one more water show and went back to the car, via their tram. Same routine when we got back to the car. I don’t like the TV on when get back, as I find it distracting even when I am just writing notes. Margo is usually tired and maybe after a few minutes on her iPad, she is out. It did not take long for either of us.
Day Nine--Monday, September 19, 2022
Monday, September 19, 2022
Our morning routine was now, well, routine. The only that changed was when we started. Today we bet at 8:30 for breakfast. Our first destination would be Iron Mountain Metal Craft, which is basically, a blacksmith shop. We would be making knives our of ordinary iron object. Yea for us!
We were scheduled for 10 AM and arrived at 9:30. By 9:45 we were ready to start. Iron Mountain Metal Craft is run by Robby Bowman, a participant and 3rd place finisher is the reality show Forged by Fire. I’ve never seen an episode but Jayme and Pam had. They liked it. I don’t they said if they saw him on TV.
Robby would not be assisting us in our task of turning iron into something useful. He’s the boss and had several people to this for him. I am embarrassed to say I do not remember our guy’s name, but he gave very good instruction, and he did the best he could with a group of people who were as skilled at blacksmithing as he was at building rocketships.
The have modern forges, which heat up the metal, without benefit of bellows, in less than a minute. He had all four of us together, and as the metal heated for the other three, the fourth would be pounding away, with two hands, on our piece of iron, trying to get it into the shape of a knife. Jayme and I started with a standard railroad spike, Pam was using half of a horse shoe, and Margo had half of a pony shoe.
The pounding was hard on the shoulders, but I was so excited I did not notice. Jayme and I, as we started with the same type of iron implement, were going one after the other, so we got to see how the other was doing. We all got to see each other, but I guess I was paying more attention to Jayme’s. I think he ended up with a better shape than I did. Jayme and I got to twist ours, in a vice to give it a twisty handle, which looks cool
But, it kind of did not matter. Our blacksmith pounded each into a better approximation, and then turned the knife-ish pieces of metal over to a couple of guys with grinding belts. They made the blade gleem and put the edge on it. When they were done, they looked like knives. Mine seemed to be a bit short on the blade, but it still turned out well.
After we were done, we were told that, if we wanted they could laser engrave a design, date, or name on the blade. We all opted for something. I added and eagle. Margo added her name and the date. As we were doing this a couple with a pink stroller and long-haired daschund rolled in. Margo was missing her little monster, so getting to pet him, made her morning. She calls it “getting her puppy fix.”
After we had paid, we were also told there was a leathersmith, two doors down, who could add some personalization to the leather sheaths, which came with our newly made weapons. Well, of course, we wanted to turn this already $100 knife into something more expensive.
I say this a lot, but “we were on vacation”. I work very hard all year, and when we go on one of these trips, I don’t want to worry about money. So, I make sure I don’t have to. If I want to spend a extra $20 here or there, or even an extra $500 if it is for something really special, I do, and I will have the ability to pay for it. As long as I am working, I should be able to do that. When I am retired, probably not. But, I also won’t be putting in 50 plus of stressful hours, so maybe the vacation won’t be needed, so much as just wanted.
I had my name stamped on mine, and the others had theirs personalized as well. It was fun, and the conversations of immediately after, and even later in the day, mentioned not packing the knives in our carry on. We chuckled, but if we had made that mistake, TSA would not be laughing.
When Margo and I were here about 10 years ago, we staying the Smokey Mountains, on the North Carolina side. We spend time in the national park, and I thought it would be borderline criminal not to get Jayme and Pam there, if even just for a few minutes. My plan was to drive to the Sugarlands Visitors Center in Great Smokey Mountains National Park, which was about 20-25 minutes away, and then take this very easy hike to Cataract Falls.
Thing went according to plan. When we began this trip, and even before, my biggest fear was that something was going to screw us up. I plan these things and try to reduce the likelihood for something to go wrong, by knowing when things are busy, when things are closed, having reservations made and tickets purchased. By knowing what the weather is usually like, have addresses programmed into the GPS and written down. By understanding as many details as I can, weighing the pluses and minuses, and planning for the minuses. But, shit happens, as the t-shirt says. So far on this trip, it has been minor shit. Knock on wood.
We pulled in, found a place to park, and walked to the visitors center. I knew Margo was not going to hike, her ankle was going to be fused next month, and for good reason. It hurts. She was in no hurry to aggravate it unneccesarily. Pam could have bowed out, too. But, I think her pride won’t let her show weakness. She trudges along, not matter what we are doing, but she gets there. Margo found a place to relax in the shade. It was warm, but not too hot, and thankfully, not a lot of bugs.
The hike to the falls was short and mostly flat. There was a short climb at the end. There were trees everywhere, so we walked in the shade, and Fighting Creek, which ran beside us, added to the tranquil ambiance. It was very a very pleasant stoll. We stopped one or twice to take some pictures, in spots that were above average in the scenery department.
The falls themselves were a little disappointing, but we had asked someone making the trek back about their condition, and he advised us to “manage our expectations”. I had not expected a gushing falls this time of the year, so this was expected. There were plenty of people all ready there, but they were all respectful. In that they did not linger around the best photo taking spot for any longer that needed. Several seemed to be illiterate, as there was warning signs about not climbing, exactly where they were climbing. These signs were not out of respect for some endangered species of moss, or something. Nope. The sides of the falls were steep, rocky, and wet in places. Even in my young, stupid years, I wouldn’t have climbed up. Well, not unless peer pressure had been involved. I was young and stupid, once.
The hike back was almost as pleasant. I was getting tired on this easy hike. Before I fell back in March of 2021, I could go an hour easy on flat to moderately flat terrain, and barely notice a hill. Now 30 minutes on a flat plain is enough. This walk was about 45 minutes with a rest in the middle. Still as green and pleasant to look at. Still better than being at work. Work was a very distant 2nd.
Margo had found more dogs to pet and coo over. I did not get to meet those, but she does have a way of attracting them. It is like God provides them to her, so she does not miss her little dog so much. We wandered their gift shop for a few minutes, and may have left empty-handled. Likley not. But I don’t remember a purchase. We were on our way back to Pigeon Forge by 1:30
Breakfast had long since worn off and we were all hungry I suggested the Old Mill restaurant. It has a good reputation and I knew where it was at. No one had a better idea, so I set the GPS to the address of the blacksmith we had left, and knew that our lunch destination was just across the way.
Many people had the same idea and we had about a 20 minute wait even at close to 2 PM. The food was good. I have no idea what anyone ordered, except Jayme, who had a burger. He is as consistent as the sunrise. By the time we cot done it was about 3 PM.
All of our Pigeon Forge days were going to be packed. If we wanted to see half of what we had liked during research, that was the only way to do. That did not mean that we had the stamina required. Midafternoon is when I start to hit the wall, and today was no exception. I would have almost, repeat, almost, have preferred a nap. But, our next destination was the Alcatraz East Crime Museum.
I am true crime junkie, as is Pam. When I watch TV, most of the time it is some true crime documentary. There are exception, but I always come back to it sooner or later. Pam and I were going to be in hog heaven. Margo and Jayme would enjoy it, because who doesn’t like hearing the stories of crimes, infamous or previously unknown.
There is only a little bit about Alcatraz, because the museum really is about crime and law enforcement. Naming it for the most famous prision in US history, and having a inmate (mannican) escaping down the side of the building was just to bring people in. Today the crowds were light. We were not relegated to dodging tweens, teens, or preens.
We say displays concerning every famous crime or criminal you can think of. All the big serial killers were represented; Gacy, Dahlmer, Holmes, Bundy, ect. Ect. School shootings, the old west, Prohibition, the Mob, bombings, everything. I was not disappointed in anything except my energy level. We took a few gag pictures and made it to the final room.
The final room was kind of their trophy room, as it OJ Simpson’s white Ford Bronco, one of the VW Beetles used by Ted Bundy, the bullet riddled Ford Touring car used in the movie Bonnie and Clyde and an Essex Terraplane used by John Dillinger when he was on the run. Cool, huh. I bought a t-shirt here, something I don’t usually do. I have tons of t-shirts. I will buy a polo shirt any gift shop where I can find them. I just can’t find them. But, I don’t add a t-shirt unless I really enjoyed the place. So along the Ryman and the Grand Ole Opry, I purchased a East Alcatraz shirt.
I was about 6 PM and our choices were back to the hotel (not likely), dinner (no one hungry), or the last item on today’s itinerary; Wonderworks. Wonderworks is like a children’s museum where adults get to play, too. It has the added twist that it looks like it was built in a upside down building. That is quite the draw from the street.
During the busy times it is swarmed with children ranging from mannered to monster. Today it was not busy. That had been a theme we recognized at everywhere we had gone in Pigeon Forge. When we planned this for September, we had hoped it would be the case. We had hoped the weather would be tame. The travel gods had smiled on us in both causes.
We arrived and began our exploration. The very first thing you do is go through a vortex tunnel. This is a tunnel that looks like the roof and sides are spinning around the tunnel. It’s not really an optical illusion, as the it really does spin. You used to go through one on the Universal Studios Back Lot tour and I can remember one being used in one episode of the The Six Million Dollar Man, back in the 70s. I told Jayme that it would be impossible for him to walk from one side to the other without using the handrail. He was “Challenge Accepted”. He got it on the second try, but walking fast, looking down, and fighting the urge to fall. I got that on video.
We next made it into what I will call the Weather Room, because you got to experience both an Earthquake and a Hurricane. In the context of building where you knew what was going one, they were tame. But, if took a step back, especially with the earthquake and imagine that it was not just your little section that was shaking, but the whole building, and suddenly you can imagine a piece of building falling and ruining your whole day.
They had a Bed of Nails set up. Margo climbed up on this, which started out like just a flatbed-size board. The employee pressed a button, or something and the nails all started to come up, uniformly through the holes in the bed. Margo was moved about 2 inches off the bed, being supported by hundreds of nails. She said it did not hurt at all.
Pam and Jayme got on this machine, which you pedaled, and with great assistance from the machine itself, you could go in a complete circle. Jayme went all the way around, at least twice. Pam only made it to 180 degrees, which is upside down. Margo and I decided against it. Me, mostly because I am still touchy about stressing my hip, though I bet I would have
been OK.
They had a lot of places to take photos. I wiggled into the back part of a space suit. There was an infrared/thermographic area, and we all took a group shot. I was the hottest. Margo is rolling her eyes right now. We had a good time. But it would not have been nearly so if it had been crowded.
By now we were tired. I recalled someone during the planning stage mentioned a diner they wanted to stop by. I did not recall which one, and no one seemed to remember, but I did recall seeing Mel’s Diner, so I asked Google and was pointed in the right direction. We got there at 8:30 PM and the food was good. We spent about an hour there, went back to the hotel, and I was in bed by 10:30
Our morning routine was now, well, routine. The only that changed was when we started. Today we bet at 8:30 for breakfast. Our first destination would be Iron Mountain Metal Craft, which is basically, a blacksmith shop. We would be making knives our of ordinary iron object. Yea for us!
We were scheduled for 10 AM and arrived at 9:30. By 9:45 we were ready to start. Iron Mountain Metal Craft is run by Robby Bowman, a participant and 3rd place finisher is the reality show Forged by Fire. I’ve never seen an episode but Jayme and Pam had. They liked it. I don’t they said if they saw him on TV.
Robby would not be assisting us in our task of turning iron into something useful. He’s the boss and had several people to this for him. I am embarrassed to say I do not remember our guy’s name, but he gave very good instruction, and he did the best he could with a group of people who were as skilled at blacksmithing as he was at building rocketships.
The have modern forges, which heat up the metal, without benefit of bellows, in less than a minute. He had all four of us together, and as the metal heated for the other three, the fourth would be pounding away, with two hands, on our piece of iron, trying to get it into the shape of a knife. Jayme and I started with a standard railroad spike, Pam was using half of a horse shoe, and Margo had half of a pony shoe.
The pounding was hard on the shoulders, but I was so excited I did not notice. Jayme and I, as we started with the same type of iron implement, were going one after the other, so we got to see how the other was doing. We all got to see each other, but I guess I was paying more attention to Jayme’s. I think he ended up with a better shape than I did. Jayme and I got to twist ours, in a vice to give it a twisty handle, which looks cool
But, it kind of did not matter. Our blacksmith pounded each into a better approximation, and then turned the knife-ish pieces of metal over to a couple of guys with grinding belts. They made the blade gleem and put the edge on it. When they were done, they looked like knives. Mine seemed to be a bit short on the blade, but it still turned out well.
After we were done, we were told that, if we wanted they could laser engrave a design, date, or name on the blade. We all opted for something. I added and eagle. Margo added her name and the date. As we were doing this a couple with a pink stroller and long-haired daschund rolled in. Margo was missing her little monster, so getting to pet him, made her morning. She calls it “getting her puppy fix.”
After we had paid, we were also told there was a leathersmith, two doors down, who could add some personalization to the leather sheaths, which came with our newly made weapons. Well, of course, we wanted to turn this already $100 knife into something more expensive.
I say this a lot, but “we were on vacation”. I work very hard all year, and when we go on one of these trips, I don’t want to worry about money. So, I make sure I don’t have to. If I want to spend a extra $20 here or there, or even an extra $500 if it is for something really special, I do, and I will have the ability to pay for it. As long as I am working, I should be able to do that. When I am retired, probably not. But, I also won’t be putting in 50 plus of stressful hours, so maybe the vacation won’t be needed, so much as just wanted.
I had my name stamped on mine, and the others had theirs personalized as well. It was fun, and the conversations of immediately after, and even later in the day, mentioned not packing the knives in our carry on. We chuckled, but if we had made that mistake, TSA would not be laughing.
When Margo and I were here about 10 years ago, we staying the Smokey Mountains, on the North Carolina side. We spend time in the national park, and I thought it would be borderline criminal not to get Jayme and Pam there, if even just for a few minutes. My plan was to drive to the Sugarlands Visitors Center in Great Smokey Mountains National Park, which was about 20-25 minutes away, and then take this very easy hike to Cataract Falls.
Thing went according to plan. When we began this trip, and even before, my biggest fear was that something was going to screw us up. I plan these things and try to reduce the likelihood for something to go wrong, by knowing when things are busy, when things are closed, having reservations made and tickets purchased. By knowing what the weather is usually like, have addresses programmed into the GPS and written down. By understanding as many details as I can, weighing the pluses and minuses, and planning for the minuses. But, shit happens, as the t-shirt says. So far on this trip, it has been minor shit. Knock on wood.
We pulled in, found a place to park, and walked to the visitors center. I knew Margo was not going to hike, her ankle was going to be fused next month, and for good reason. It hurts. She was in no hurry to aggravate it unneccesarily. Pam could have bowed out, too. But, I think her pride won’t let her show weakness. She trudges along, not matter what we are doing, but she gets there. Margo found a place to relax in the shade. It was warm, but not too hot, and thankfully, not a lot of bugs.
The hike to the falls was short and mostly flat. There was a short climb at the end. There were trees everywhere, so we walked in the shade, and Fighting Creek, which ran beside us, added to the tranquil ambiance. It was very a very pleasant stoll. We stopped one or twice to take some pictures, in spots that were above average in the scenery department.
The falls themselves were a little disappointing, but we had asked someone making the trek back about their condition, and he advised us to “manage our expectations”. I had not expected a gushing falls this time of the year, so this was expected. There were plenty of people all ready there, but they were all respectful. In that they did not linger around the best photo taking spot for any longer that needed. Several seemed to be illiterate, as there was warning signs about not climbing, exactly where they were climbing. These signs were not out of respect for some endangered species of moss, or something. Nope. The sides of the falls were steep, rocky, and wet in places. Even in my young, stupid years, I wouldn’t have climbed up. Well, not unless peer pressure had been involved. I was young and stupid, once.
The hike back was almost as pleasant. I was getting tired on this easy hike. Before I fell back in March of 2021, I could go an hour easy on flat to moderately flat terrain, and barely notice a hill. Now 30 minutes on a flat plain is enough. This walk was about 45 minutes with a rest in the middle. Still as green and pleasant to look at. Still better than being at work. Work was a very distant 2nd.
Margo had found more dogs to pet and coo over. I did not get to meet those, but she does have a way of attracting them. It is like God provides them to her, so she does not miss her little dog so much. We wandered their gift shop for a few minutes, and may have left empty-handled. Likley not. But I don’t remember a purchase. We were on our way back to Pigeon Forge by 1:30
Breakfast had long since worn off and we were all hungry I suggested the Old Mill restaurant. It has a good reputation and I knew where it was at. No one had a better idea, so I set the GPS to the address of the blacksmith we had left, and knew that our lunch destination was just across the way.
Many people had the same idea and we had about a 20 minute wait even at close to 2 PM. The food was good. I have no idea what anyone ordered, except Jayme, who had a burger. He is as consistent as the sunrise. By the time we cot done it was about 3 PM.
All of our Pigeon Forge days were going to be packed. If we wanted to see half of what we had liked during research, that was the only way to do. That did not mean that we had the stamina required. Midafternoon is when I start to hit the wall, and today was no exception. I would have almost, repeat, almost, have preferred a nap. But, our next destination was the Alcatraz East Crime Museum.
I am true crime junkie, as is Pam. When I watch TV, most of the time it is some true crime documentary. There are exception, but I always come back to it sooner or later. Pam and I were going to be in hog heaven. Margo and Jayme would enjoy it, because who doesn’t like hearing the stories of crimes, infamous or previously unknown.
There is only a little bit about Alcatraz, because the museum really is about crime and law enforcement. Naming it for the most famous prision in US history, and having a inmate (mannican) escaping down the side of the building was just to bring people in. Today the crowds were light. We were not relegated to dodging tweens, teens, or preens.
We say displays concerning every famous crime or criminal you can think of. All the big serial killers were represented; Gacy, Dahlmer, Holmes, Bundy, ect. Ect. School shootings, the old west, Prohibition, the Mob, bombings, everything. I was not disappointed in anything except my energy level. We took a few gag pictures and made it to the final room.
The final room was kind of their trophy room, as it OJ Simpson’s white Ford Bronco, one of the VW Beetles used by Ted Bundy, the bullet riddled Ford Touring car used in the movie Bonnie and Clyde and an Essex Terraplane used by John Dillinger when he was on the run. Cool, huh. I bought a t-shirt here, something I don’t usually do. I have tons of t-shirts. I will buy a polo shirt any gift shop where I can find them. I just can’t find them. But, I don’t add a t-shirt unless I really enjoyed the place. So along the Ryman and the Grand Ole Opry, I purchased a East Alcatraz shirt.
I was about 6 PM and our choices were back to the hotel (not likely), dinner (no one hungry), or the last item on today’s itinerary; Wonderworks. Wonderworks is like a children’s museum where adults get to play, too. It has the added twist that it looks like it was built in a upside down building. That is quite the draw from the street.
During the busy times it is swarmed with children ranging from mannered to monster. Today it was not busy. That had been a theme we recognized at everywhere we had gone in Pigeon Forge. When we planned this for September, we had hoped it would be the case. We had hoped the weather would be tame. The travel gods had smiled on us in both causes.
We arrived and began our exploration. The very first thing you do is go through a vortex tunnel. This is a tunnel that looks like the roof and sides are spinning around the tunnel. It’s not really an optical illusion, as the it really does spin. You used to go through one on the Universal Studios Back Lot tour and I can remember one being used in one episode of the The Six Million Dollar Man, back in the 70s. I told Jayme that it would be impossible for him to walk from one side to the other without using the handrail. He was “Challenge Accepted”. He got it on the second try, but walking fast, looking down, and fighting the urge to fall. I got that on video.
We next made it into what I will call the Weather Room, because you got to experience both an Earthquake and a Hurricane. In the context of building where you knew what was going one, they were tame. But, if took a step back, especially with the earthquake and imagine that it was not just your little section that was shaking, but the whole building, and suddenly you can imagine a piece of building falling and ruining your whole day.
They had a Bed of Nails set up. Margo climbed up on this, which started out like just a flatbed-size board. The employee pressed a button, or something and the nails all started to come up, uniformly through the holes in the bed. Margo was moved about 2 inches off the bed, being supported by hundreds of nails. She said it did not hurt at all.
Pam and Jayme got on this machine, which you pedaled, and with great assistance from the machine itself, you could go in a complete circle. Jayme went all the way around, at least twice. Pam only made it to 180 degrees, which is upside down. Margo and I decided against it. Me, mostly because I am still touchy about stressing my hip, though I bet I would have
been OK.
They had a lot of places to take photos. I wiggled into the back part of a space suit. There was an infrared/thermographic area, and we all took a group shot. I was the hottest. Margo is rolling her eyes right now. We had a good time. But it would not have been nearly so if it had been crowded.
By now we were tired. I recalled someone during the planning stage mentioned a diner they wanted to stop by. I did not recall which one, and no one seemed to remember, but I did recall seeing Mel’s Diner, so I asked Google and was pointed in the right direction. We got there at 8:30 PM and the food was good. We spent about an hour there, went back to the hotel, and I was in bed by 10:30
Day Ten--Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Normal routine again today, with the realization that today would be the last real day of vacation. Tomorrow, Wednesday, would be mostly a road day, with one stop, and Thursday we would fly home. But that was tomorrow, today was still going to be great. We were down for breakfast at 8:15 and then at our first stop of the day at 9 AM.
What was our first stop of the day? The largest Titanic Museum in the world, complete with real artifacts in a building shaped like the ship. This was on Margo’s to-do list, but Pam & Jayme had also expressed interest when we were planning. Margo and I had taken a quick tour the last time we wee in the area, but today we would be able to take our time
They let us in a 9:30, but not with out first passing out our passenger cards and going over the rules. The passenger cards were our tickets, but they also had the name of an actual passenger on the Titanic. At the end of the museum there would be a display that listed the fate of each passenger. Jayme and I were, appropriately, given the cards of two brothers who had traveled together. I can’t remember Pam’s, and I remember about Margo’s was that she was a 3rd class female passenger. 3rd class did not fare well. Jayme and I were in 2nd class, but overall, males did not survive in great numbers. Women and Children First, was the rule of the day.
The rules were, aside from the normal museum stuff about not touching, or you could touch this, were about taking photos. They were so proud of themselves, on the website, that they were now allowing pictures to be taken. I like that, but then they told us that the first floor, until we got to the Grand Staircase, was off limits to picture. I get that they have some artifacts that might be sensitive to light, but A) the room they are housed in is well lit and B) why not allow non flash pictures. The rooms were lit well enough that the flash would not be activated anyway.
I don’t want to say all the cool stuff was in the restricted area, but there were things I wanted to take a picture of. We toured the museum and saw the bridge, and put our hands in 28-degree water. They had a place where they set up three sloping decks, to represent what it was like to try to stand on the deck as the ship sank. 12 degrees you could stand with your hands free. 30 degrees you need the hand rail for support. At 45 degrees you needed the rail to keep you from falling back, and to use your arms to move forward. I remembered this museum as being better. Maybe it is because we left wanting more, the first time. It was still worth visiting
When we got to the end the last exhibit was a huge Lego Titanic model. It was 26 feet long and built by a 10-year-old Icelandic boy. His grandfather designed it and he created a YouTube video to generate interest and funds. Margo was looking on line before we got out of the building. She also loves Legos and was looking for a set of her own.
The very last exhibit we discovered the fate of our passenger. Jayme and I both survived, but one of died within a few years of some unrelated illness. Pam lived. Margo went down with the ship. Money also went down with the ship, as we passed through the gift shop.
It was lunch time when we got out. Somehow, we decided on a place called Mama’s Farmhouse Family Style. One thing this trip has taught me is that I don’t like family style dining. You party has to agree on which entre or entrees you want, agree on the sides, and then request when you want more. But the reviews sounded good, with the caveat that all of the entrees listed on the website are not available each day. We ended up with Fried Chicken and turkey. Our sides were Mac n Cheese, Chicken and dumplings, Coleslaw and Mashed Potatoes. It was a good meal.
This was the part of the trip that I did not scripted. We had time allotted to do Go Carts, Mini Golf, and/or Mountain Coasters. Jayme likes cars more than hamburgers, so I knew he wanted a place where he could ride go carts. We ended up at a place called The Track. This place had mini golf, go carts, an arcade, bumper boats, and bumper cars. We had about two hours we spend her, and that ended up being about the right amount of time.
Margo was happy to play the push machines at the arcade. Jayme and the rest of us went to ride the go carts. The carts are fairly equal, so we started in the same order we finished. I was able to hold off Pam, but I could not catch Jayme, who pulled away.
The bumper boats looked fun. Not only could you bounce off someone, they came with a water gun. It was hard to get in a position to really soak someone, but we all tried. The bumper cars were the same as any you see, except we were not given any direction to avoid head on collisions. I think there was one of those.
We talked Margo in mini golf and had a good time. Margo had taken to playing crochet style and is pretty good at it. I continue my never-ending streak of not being able to read a green. I don’t recall anyone having a hole in one, but it was fun.
The Track has two tracks, and Jayme wanted a crack at the second one. I had my fill of trying to get in and out of these kid size conveyances, so I volunteered to be the photographer. It looked like he had a lot of fun and I got one or two half decent shots.
Margo was back inside and had accumulated about 1000 points. But, rather than cash them in on some little trinket she gave them a girl of around 10. It made that little girl’s day. Jayme had also discovered the push machines and was shooting coins onto the board. I don’t know what he did with his points. I do know that if we ever all make it to Boondocks, back home, but I am sure Jayme will be beside my wife playing those pusher machines.
We had tickets for the dinner show at the Hatfield and McCoy theater. It looked like a fun show. The only similarity to the real Hatfield and McCoy feud, was the name. There was to be singing, dancing, comedy, and pretty girls. Somehow, they were going to work a water show into it as well.
It was good. It might even be worth doing a second time. Our seats were not great. There isn’t a bad seat, but the further you are away, the harder it is to see. If we do it again, I am going to see how to get better seats. It wasn’t clear, or maybe I did not look hard enough, on how to get up front. Anyway, it was fun. We laughed. I think the only souvenir we bought was a bag of their creamy vegetable soup. It was the same soup we had Sunday at the Dolly Parton Stampede.
We drove over to a Publix supermarket and some ice and other road trip necessities and went back to our rooms. We had toyed with the idea of going to the Island, but we all needed to pack and it would be an early day, as we had about 7 hours on the road tomorrow. We were back to the hotel by 7:45.
What was our first stop of the day? The largest Titanic Museum in the world, complete with real artifacts in a building shaped like the ship. This was on Margo’s to-do list, but Pam & Jayme had also expressed interest when we were planning. Margo and I had taken a quick tour the last time we wee in the area, but today we would be able to take our time
They let us in a 9:30, but not with out first passing out our passenger cards and going over the rules. The passenger cards were our tickets, but they also had the name of an actual passenger on the Titanic. At the end of the museum there would be a display that listed the fate of each passenger. Jayme and I were, appropriately, given the cards of two brothers who had traveled together. I can’t remember Pam’s, and I remember about Margo’s was that she was a 3rd class female passenger. 3rd class did not fare well. Jayme and I were in 2nd class, but overall, males did not survive in great numbers. Women and Children First, was the rule of the day.
The rules were, aside from the normal museum stuff about not touching, or you could touch this, were about taking photos. They were so proud of themselves, on the website, that they were now allowing pictures to be taken. I like that, but then they told us that the first floor, until we got to the Grand Staircase, was off limits to picture. I get that they have some artifacts that might be sensitive to light, but A) the room they are housed in is well lit and B) why not allow non flash pictures. The rooms were lit well enough that the flash would not be activated anyway.
I don’t want to say all the cool stuff was in the restricted area, but there were things I wanted to take a picture of. We toured the museum and saw the bridge, and put our hands in 28-degree water. They had a place where they set up three sloping decks, to represent what it was like to try to stand on the deck as the ship sank. 12 degrees you could stand with your hands free. 30 degrees you need the hand rail for support. At 45 degrees you needed the rail to keep you from falling back, and to use your arms to move forward. I remembered this museum as being better. Maybe it is because we left wanting more, the first time. It was still worth visiting
When we got to the end the last exhibit was a huge Lego Titanic model. It was 26 feet long and built by a 10-year-old Icelandic boy. His grandfather designed it and he created a YouTube video to generate interest and funds. Margo was looking on line before we got out of the building. She also loves Legos and was looking for a set of her own.
The very last exhibit we discovered the fate of our passenger. Jayme and I both survived, but one of died within a few years of some unrelated illness. Pam lived. Margo went down with the ship. Money also went down with the ship, as we passed through the gift shop.
It was lunch time when we got out. Somehow, we decided on a place called Mama’s Farmhouse Family Style. One thing this trip has taught me is that I don’t like family style dining. You party has to agree on which entre or entrees you want, agree on the sides, and then request when you want more. But the reviews sounded good, with the caveat that all of the entrees listed on the website are not available each day. We ended up with Fried Chicken and turkey. Our sides were Mac n Cheese, Chicken and dumplings, Coleslaw and Mashed Potatoes. It was a good meal.
This was the part of the trip that I did not scripted. We had time allotted to do Go Carts, Mini Golf, and/or Mountain Coasters. Jayme likes cars more than hamburgers, so I knew he wanted a place where he could ride go carts. We ended up at a place called The Track. This place had mini golf, go carts, an arcade, bumper boats, and bumper cars. We had about two hours we spend her, and that ended up being about the right amount of time.
Margo was happy to play the push machines at the arcade. Jayme and the rest of us went to ride the go carts. The carts are fairly equal, so we started in the same order we finished. I was able to hold off Pam, but I could not catch Jayme, who pulled away.
The bumper boats looked fun. Not only could you bounce off someone, they came with a water gun. It was hard to get in a position to really soak someone, but we all tried. The bumper cars were the same as any you see, except we were not given any direction to avoid head on collisions. I think there was one of those.
We talked Margo in mini golf and had a good time. Margo had taken to playing crochet style and is pretty good at it. I continue my never-ending streak of not being able to read a green. I don’t recall anyone having a hole in one, but it was fun.
The Track has two tracks, and Jayme wanted a crack at the second one. I had my fill of trying to get in and out of these kid size conveyances, so I volunteered to be the photographer. It looked like he had a lot of fun and I got one or two half decent shots.
Margo was back inside and had accumulated about 1000 points. But, rather than cash them in on some little trinket she gave them a girl of around 10. It made that little girl’s day. Jayme had also discovered the push machines and was shooting coins onto the board. I don’t know what he did with his points. I do know that if we ever all make it to Boondocks, back home, but I am sure Jayme will be beside my wife playing those pusher machines.
We had tickets for the dinner show at the Hatfield and McCoy theater. It looked like a fun show. The only similarity to the real Hatfield and McCoy feud, was the name. There was to be singing, dancing, comedy, and pretty girls. Somehow, they were going to work a water show into it as well.
It was good. It might even be worth doing a second time. Our seats were not great. There isn’t a bad seat, but the further you are away, the harder it is to see. If we do it again, I am going to see how to get better seats. It wasn’t clear, or maybe I did not look hard enough, on how to get up front. Anyway, it was fun. We laughed. I think the only souvenir we bought was a bag of their creamy vegetable soup. It was the same soup we had Sunday at the Dolly Parton Stampede.
We drove over to a Publix supermarket and some ice and other road trip necessities and went back to our rooms. We had toyed with the idea of going to the Island, but we all needed to pack and it would be an early day, as we had about 7 hours on the road tomorrow. We were back to the hotel by 7:45.
Day Eleven--September 21, 2022
We went to bed early enough that the 6 AM alarm was not a great surprise. Still, I am not a morning person. We were eating at 7 AM and on the road by 7:45. I had tour tickets for the Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg, TN. That was four-hour drive if you did not stop. We would be stopping. Between weak bladders, enlarged prostrates, old age, and medications, we couldn’t drive four hours with out diapers. Getting old sucks. Not as bad as the alternative, but it still sucks.
My schedule built in an extra hour, and the laws of physics, the railroads, and the 1918 Standard Time Act added a time zone change that gave us even more buffer. I was still a little concerned. In my early days of planning these trips I did not often give us a lot of time between events. I’ve grown more cautious.
We started the trip by listening to the Mike Rowe’s book which Margo and I had enjoyed in Mississippi. I don’t think Pam or Jayme really enjoyed it, but they did not say anything. I switched to music as soon as I noticed. We did hear some good country. We stumbled across a station that paid a lot of old stuff, 60s & 70s, that you just don’t hear anymore. It helped pass the time.
We stopped about an hour and a half into our trip and then again just after Chattanooga. I wish we had tome to stop in Chattanooga. I knew the song Chattanooga Choo-Choo, but not the story behind it. Still don’t, but I’ll bet I would have found out in the city. I also knew that the Battle of Chickamauga was fought in the area, and I heard about a very scenic overlook, in general. I am certain that we could have filled two days there, but we really didn’t have two more days anyway.
Margo checked us in for our flight home, tomorrow, while we were still on the road. That was at 10:40 AM. Thirty minutes later we drove past our turn off into the distillery. We drove past because we were early enough that we could ear first. I had left that task up to how quickly we made it to Lynchburg. We were all hungry. The only place I knew about as called Mama Bobo’s which I new was popular. It turned out to have nothing available until 1 PM, which was when we were booked for our tour.
We had driven past the tiny downtown of Lynchburg and I saw a place to eat. We turned about and went there. It was called the BBQ Caboose Café. I saw it described as quirky, on line. That fit. It was small, but would host live music. I think at one time it had a radio station on site. The menu had a bit of variety, including pizza. Jayme and tried the pizza. It was not very good, with the crust very cracker-like, which ruined the rest. Margo had potato salad and baked beans. Pam had the Piggy Mac n Cheese, which is mac and cheese, with a dollop of BBQ pulled pork in the center. They liked theirs, but I think Pam picked around the meat.
It was still early for our tour, but we saw no harm in getting there early and having a peak around. That turned out to be unnecessary, as when I went to check in at 12:20, the lady rebooked us on the 12:30 tour. Cool.
I had read a bit about what we would see, and was ready to get to it. One of the first things that Jack Daniel’s is a Tennessee Whiskey, duh? The State of Tennessee has a law on the books defining what a Tennessee Whiskey is. It has to be made of 51% corn, filtered through charcoal, and aged in freshly charred oak barrels. Jack Daniel’s is also technically a bourbon whiskey.
Through the tour we learned that Jack Daniel put his distillery in Lynchburg because he found an artesian spring that was free of iron. Iron makes whiskey bitter. The water here ends up being filtered, by nature, through layers of limestone which removes the iron and other impurities.
We saw where they make their own charcoal. They were done for the day, but we did get to see a time lapse video. To start the fire, they don’t use lighter fluid or gas. That would end up in the whiskey. They use the 140-proof alcohol that comes out the still, before it gets filtered. The 140-proof stuff is flammable, which was also why we could take pictures in certain areas. They were very worried about a spark.
The aforementioned oak barrels are made off site, and used only once. After the whiskey had been removed they are sold to hot sauce makers, brewers, and a place that I already knew about Scotch makers in Scotland. The documentary I remember seeing, says that there was plenty of sugars, and whatever to help age the Scotch. So those fancy Scotches get an assist from Jack and other American whiskey distillers. I don’t recall seeing that on their labels.
We saw the cave where the water comes from, sorta. The water they use for the whiskey comes from the same aquifer as the spring that feeds the cave we saw, but the distiller had tapped directly into it for their water.
The cave is cooled by the water which is a constant 56 degrees. That made for a very pleasant stop on this hot Tennessee afternoon. We have actually been very lucky on this trip. We have been on this trip for 11 days now, and while there has been an occasional hot day, none have been very humid, and none unbearable at all.
The Still House is impressive because there is a constant steam of whiskey, which at this point is the 140-proof clear liquid that they use for starting the Sugar Maple charcoal fire. The pipe it comes out of is 2 ½”, which is the size of a firehose. The pipe feeds into a series of pipes which eventually goes over large vats of the charcoal we saw earlier. It takes two to three days for the whiskey to filter through the 10-foot-tall vats of charcoal.
The stills, there are six of them, are fed by 64 fermenters. The fermenters are where the water, corn (80%), barley (12%), and rye (12%), and some of a previous mash are put to begin, well, fermenting. Anywhere there was raw whiskey we could not take pictures. Everywhere else on the property was fair game.
After the vats the whiskey is put into the oak barrels and put in one of 88-barrel houses, where the whiskey is left to age for several years. The time can vary because the position in the barrel house can speed up or slow down the process. As temps rise and fall, the whiskey is drawn in or forced out the wood in the barrels. This process imparts the color and flavor for the whiskey. It takes Master Tasters who check the barrels to see which ones are ready to be bottled and sold.
There is much more back science and other distilling process or bottling things that we either did not see, or I can’t recall. But, I found the whole thing fascinating and worth the trip.
I forgot to mention that our guide, Angelo, was the nephew of Angelo Lucchese. Angelo Lucchese was the first salesman for Jack Daniel’s back in the 50s. He was friends with, and made sure that Frank Sinatra, always had a case of Jack at his ready, so he could pour a glass on stage. Now that is a salesman.
Angelo told us everything about the above, and about Legacy Employees. It is common for several generations of the same family to work at Jack Daniels, and they are proud of that. Jack was a bachelor and had no children, but he learned whiskey making from an enslaved person named Nearest Green, who managed the still of Dan Call. Nearest taught Jack everything he knew and is recognized as the first master distiller of Jack Daniel’s whiskey. There have only been nine, counting both Nearest and Jack, himself.
The last stop of the day is the taste testing. Our tour is called the Angel’s Share. I learned what that means on the prior mentioned documentary about Scotch Whiskey. When whiskey is aged in a barrel a small amount is lost through evaporation, through the wood casket. Distillers have named that the Angel’s Share of the brew.
Anyway, what it meant for us, is that at then end we would be conducting a taste test, call a Flight of Jack. There were would be three whiskeys and three liqueurs. I am not a whiskey driver and truth be told would have signed up for The Dry County tour, but the others in my party would have condemned me to the Coward of the County tour.
Our whiskeys were: Old #7, Gentlemen Jack, Rye, Tennessee Honey, Tennessee Fire, and Tennessee Apple. I did not try the Rye or the Fire. Rye is a special kind of alcoholic torture I was not going to subject myself to. Fire is cinnamon, and I have hated cinnamon candy for its fire taste since I was a kind. Gentlemen Jack was like drinking a smoother version of kerosene. Jack is the aforementioned kerosene. The Honey was closest thing I would call drinkable. With the apple being distinctive only for having an apple finish. But, rest assured I will not be ordering any of these for myself, and would likely only drink whiskey when already inebriated and my defenses down.
I think the other three all tried the others. Props to my brother, who is also not a whiskey drinker and also not know for trying anything new. He didn’t much care for any of them either, and also thought the Honey was only thing he might do again. I did not hear Pam’s reaction to any of them. Margo said she liked most of them, but she also likes an occasional whiskey drink.
That was it for the tour. I tipped Angelo $20, as it was among the most informative and interesting tours I had ever taken,
The gift shop for the distillery is not on site. It was back where we ate lunch, but they do have a bottle shop. This is a place where you can buy Jack Daniel’s bottles, which are not like what you get at your local liquor store. The bottles come filled with whiskey. So, you see, you are really only buying a bottle and the whiskey is free. Did I mention that Lynchburg is located in Moore County, which is a dry county. Like Angelo said, the distillery has good lawyers. The millions they and prestige they pump into Tennessee probably has something to do with it as well.
Jayme and Pam bought a special bottle for Brandon and Shontae, who are getting married in November. Jack has engravers on site, who will personalize the bottle for such an occasion, so they paid to have that done.
While we were waiting, we drove over to the aforementioned gift shop to get our requisite remembrances. I usually stick to shirts or a book. I was not going to get a Jack t-shirt; I would feel too much like a hypocrite. I did not look very hard for a book, as I still have a stack from other trips, I would like to read, including the one I picked up in Mississippi.
I was more interested in the barrels they had for sale. They ranged in price but a nice looking one was about $300 with another $200 cost to ship them. I didn’t have a place to put one anyway. About the time we were leaving one of the bathrooms flooded. It’s an old building and shit happens.
There was an ice cream shop real close. The only person in the family who likes ice cream more than me, is Jayme. So, it was already an even vote, when I suggested it. As hot as the day was, the vote was unanimous. We had out treat and we went back to the distillery to pick up Brandon’s gift. They had the engravers add another quick touch to the bottle, and then we were on our way.
Except, I asked if they wanted to take a few minutes to visit Jack Daniel’s grave. I like to visit cemeteries. To me it is like being one with history. It is the end of someone’s story and you are there to pay tribute to it with your presence. So, when I have the opportunity, I do. The girls didn’t care, but Jayme’s interest was piqued. I knew where the cemetery was, as Lynchburg is a tiny town, but not exactly where the grave was. I was not going to spend a lot of time searching for it, because it was just too warm, and we were tired. After a few passes down some roads (we were still in the car), I was ready to give up. Jayme spotted it behind us. Good eye. We parked beside it, and paid our respects. Then it was on our way to Nashville.
The first hour, maybe hour and fifteen minutes of the drive to Nashville was pleasant. We made good time and everyone, though tired, had enjoyed our afternoon at the distillery. The we hit the rush hour traffic. In case I haven’t mentioned it, I hate traffic. There is no bigger waste of time then sitting on a highway, not moving. The best you can do is listen to music, which at best helps you to calm down, or some sort of podcast or audio book. While those add knowledge, you are usually too distracted to pay much attention.
We were tired and hungry when we got to our hotel, the same Best western Plus we had stayed at days ago. There was a Cracker Barrell close by. Jayme and Pam had a bad experience at the one in Memphis, before we had met up, but no one had a better idea. It turned out to be one of the best meals of the trip.
We started back to the hotel. I was having trouble seeing the road, it seemed too dark. When someone flagged us down and told us that our tail lights were out, we pulled over. Pam needed something from Walgreens, so that was where we went. We figured out in less than a minute that the light switch was not set to auto. I can’t believe it took us the whole trip to figure this out. Margo packed. I typed. Then we went to bed. Except for our flight home, tomorrow. Our vacation was over. Bummer.
My schedule built in an extra hour, and the laws of physics, the railroads, and the 1918 Standard Time Act added a time zone change that gave us even more buffer. I was still a little concerned. In my early days of planning these trips I did not often give us a lot of time between events. I’ve grown more cautious.
We started the trip by listening to the Mike Rowe’s book which Margo and I had enjoyed in Mississippi. I don’t think Pam or Jayme really enjoyed it, but they did not say anything. I switched to music as soon as I noticed. We did hear some good country. We stumbled across a station that paid a lot of old stuff, 60s & 70s, that you just don’t hear anymore. It helped pass the time.
We stopped about an hour and a half into our trip and then again just after Chattanooga. I wish we had tome to stop in Chattanooga. I knew the song Chattanooga Choo-Choo, but not the story behind it. Still don’t, but I’ll bet I would have found out in the city. I also knew that the Battle of Chickamauga was fought in the area, and I heard about a very scenic overlook, in general. I am certain that we could have filled two days there, but we really didn’t have two more days anyway.
Margo checked us in for our flight home, tomorrow, while we were still on the road. That was at 10:40 AM. Thirty minutes later we drove past our turn off into the distillery. We drove past because we were early enough that we could ear first. I had left that task up to how quickly we made it to Lynchburg. We were all hungry. The only place I knew about as called Mama Bobo’s which I new was popular. It turned out to have nothing available until 1 PM, which was when we were booked for our tour.
We had driven past the tiny downtown of Lynchburg and I saw a place to eat. We turned about and went there. It was called the BBQ Caboose Café. I saw it described as quirky, on line. That fit. It was small, but would host live music. I think at one time it had a radio station on site. The menu had a bit of variety, including pizza. Jayme and tried the pizza. It was not very good, with the crust very cracker-like, which ruined the rest. Margo had potato salad and baked beans. Pam had the Piggy Mac n Cheese, which is mac and cheese, with a dollop of BBQ pulled pork in the center. They liked theirs, but I think Pam picked around the meat.
It was still early for our tour, but we saw no harm in getting there early and having a peak around. That turned out to be unnecessary, as when I went to check in at 12:20, the lady rebooked us on the 12:30 tour. Cool.
I had read a bit about what we would see, and was ready to get to it. One of the first things that Jack Daniel’s is a Tennessee Whiskey, duh? The State of Tennessee has a law on the books defining what a Tennessee Whiskey is. It has to be made of 51% corn, filtered through charcoal, and aged in freshly charred oak barrels. Jack Daniel’s is also technically a bourbon whiskey.
Through the tour we learned that Jack Daniel put his distillery in Lynchburg because he found an artesian spring that was free of iron. Iron makes whiskey bitter. The water here ends up being filtered, by nature, through layers of limestone which removes the iron and other impurities.
We saw where they make their own charcoal. They were done for the day, but we did get to see a time lapse video. To start the fire, they don’t use lighter fluid or gas. That would end up in the whiskey. They use the 140-proof alcohol that comes out the still, before it gets filtered. The 140-proof stuff is flammable, which was also why we could take pictures in certain areas. They were very worried about a spark.
The aforementioned oak barrels are made off site, and used only once. After the whiskey had been removed they are sold to hot sauce makers, brewers, and a place that I already knew about Scotch makers in Scotland. The documentary I remember seeing, says that there was plenty of sugars, and whatever to help age the Scotch. So those fancy Scotches get an assist from Jack and other American whiskey distillers. I don’t recall seeing that on their labels.
We saw the cave where the water comes from, sorta. The water they use for the whiskey comes from the same aquifer as the spring that feeds the cave we saw, but the distiller had tapped directly into it for their water.
The cave is cooled by the water which is a constant 56 degrees. That made for a very pleasant stop on this hot Tennessee afternoon. We have actually been very lucky on this trip. We have been on this trip for 11 days now, and while there has been an occasional hot day, none have been very humid, and none unbearable at all.
The Still House is impressive because there is a constant steam of whiskey, which at this point is the 140-proof clear liquid that they use for starting the Sugar Maple charcoal fire. The pipe it comes out of is 2 ½”, which is the size of a firehose. The pipe feeds into a series of pipes which eventually goes over large vats of the charcoal we saw earlier. It takes two to three days for the whiskey to filter through the 10-foot-tall vats of charcoal.
The stills, there are six of them, are fed by 64 fermenters. The fermenters are where the water, corn (80%), barley (12%), and rye (12%), and some of a previous mash are put to begin, well, fermenting. Anywhere there was raw whiskey we could not take pictures. Everywhere else on the property was fair game.
After the vats the whiskey is put into the oak barrels and put in one of 88-barrel houses, where the whiskey is left to age for several years. The time can vary because the position in the barrel house can speed up or slow down the process. As temps rise and fall, the whiskey is drawn in or forced out the wood in the barrels. This process imparts the color and flavor for the whiskey. It takes Master Tasters who check the barrels to see which ones are ready to be bottled and sold.
There is much more back science and other distilling process or bottling things that we either did not see, or I can’t recall. But, I found the whole thing fascinating and worth the trip.
I forgot to mention that our guide, Angelo, was the nephew of Angelo Lucchese. Angelo Lucchese was the first salesman for Jack Daniel’s back in the 50s. He was friends with, and made sure that Frank Sinatra, always had a case of Jack at his ready, so he could pour a glass on stage. Now that is a salesman.
Angelo told us everything about the above, and about Legacy Employees. It is common for several generations of the same family to work at Jack Daniels, and they are proud of that. Jack was a bachelor and had no children, but he learned whiskey making from an enslaved person named Nearest Green, who managed the still of Dan Call. Nearest taught Jack everything he knew and is recognized as the first master distiller of Jack Daniel’s whiskey. There have only been nine, counting both Nearest and Jack, himself.
The last stop of the day is the taste testing. Our tour is called the Angel’s Share. I learned what that means on the prior mentioned documentary about Scotch Whiskey. When whiskey is aged in a barrel a small amount is lost through evaporation, through the wood casket. Distillers have named that the Angel’s Share of the brew.
Anyway, what it meant for us, is that at then end we would be conducting a taste test, call a Flight of Jack. There were would be three whiskeys and three liqueurs. I am not a whiskey driver and truth be told would have signed up for The Dry County tour, but the others in my party would have condemned me to the Coward of the County tour.
Our whiskeys were: Old #7, Gentlemen Jack, Rye, Tennessee Honey, Tennessee Fire, and Tennessee Apple. I did not try the Rye or the Fire. Rye is a special kind of alcoholic torture I was not going to subject myself to. Fire is cinnamon, and I have hated cinnamon candy for its fire taste since I was a kind. Gentlemen Jack was like drinking a smoother version of kerosene. Jack is the aforementioned kerosene. The Honey was closest thing I would call drinkable. With the apple being distinctive only for having an apple finish. But, rest assured I will not be ordering any of these for myself, and would likely only drink whiskey when already inebriated and my defenses down.
I think the other three all tried the others. Props to my brother, who is also not a whiskey drinker and also not know for trying anything new. He didn’t much care for any of them either, and also thought the Honey was only thing he might do again. I did not hear Pam’s reaction to any of them. Margo said she liked most of them, but she also likes an occasional whiskey drink.
That was it for the tour. I tipped Angelo $20, as it was among the most informative and interesting tours I had ever taken,
The gift shop for the distillery is not on site. It was back where we ate lunch, but they do have a bottle shop. This is a place where you can buy Jack Daniel’s bottles, which are not like what you get at your local liquor store. The bottles come filled with whiskey. So, you see, you are really only buying a bottle and the whiskey is free. Did I mention that Lynchburg is located in Moore County, which is a dry county. Like Angelo said, the distillery has good lawyers. The millions they and prestige they pump into Tennessee probably has something to do with it as well.
Jayme and Pam bought a special bottle for Brandon and Shontae, who are getting married in November. Jack has engravers on site, who will personalize the bottle for such an occasion, so they paid to have that done.
While we were waiting, we drove over to the aforementioned gift shop to get our requisite remembrances. I usually stick to shirts or a book. I was not going to get a Jack t-shirt; I would feel too much like a hypocrite. I did not look very hard for a book, as I still have a stack from other trips, I would like to read, including the one I picked up in Mississippi.
I was more interested in the barrels they had for sale. They ranged in price but a nice looking one was about $300 with another $200 cost to ship them. I didn’t have a place to put one anyway. About the time we were leaving one of the bathrooms flooded. It’s an old building and shit happens.
There was an ice cream shop real close. The only person in the family who likes ice cream more than me, is Jayme. So, it was already an even vote, when I suggested it. As hot as the day was, the vote was unanimous. We had out treat and we went back to the distillery to pick up Brandon’s gift. They had the engravers add another quick touch to the bottle, and then we were on our way.
Except, I asked if they wanted to take a few minutes to visit Jack Daniel’s grave. I like to visit cemeteries. To me it is like being one with history. It is the end of someone’s story and you are there to pay tribute to it with your presence. So, when I have the opportunity, I do. The girls didn’t care, but Jayme’s interest was piqued. I knew where the cemetery was, as Lynchburg is a tiny town, but not exactly where the grave was. I was not going to spend a lot of time searching for it, because it was just too warm, and we were tired. After a few passes down some roads (we were still in the car), I was ready to give up. Jayme spotted it behind us. Good eye. We parked beside it, and paid our respects. Then it was on our way to Nashville.
The first hour, maybe hour and fifteen minutes of the drive to Nashville was pleasant. We made good time and everyone, though tired, had enjoyed our afternoon at the distillery. The we hit the rush hour traffic. In case I haven’t mentioned it, I hate traffic. There is no bigger waste of time then sitting on a highway, not moving. The best you can do is listen to music, which at best helps you to calm down, or some sort of podcast or audio book. While those add knowledge, you are usually too distracted to pay much attention.
We were tired and hungry when we got to our hotel, the same Best western Plus we had stayed at days ago. There was a Cracker Barrell close by. Jayme and Pam had a bad experience at the one in Memphis, before we had met up, but no one had a better idea. It turned out to be one of the best meals of the trip.
We started back to the hotel. I was having trouble seeing the road, it seemed too dark. When someone flagged us down and told us that our tail lights were out, we pulled over. Pam needed something from Walgreens, so that was where we went. We figured out in less than a minute that the light switch was not set to auto. I can’t believe it took us the whole trip to figure this out. Margo packed. I typed. Then we went to bed. Except for our flight home, tomorrow. Our vacation was over. Bummer.
Day Twelve--September 22, 2022
We were up at 6:30 PM and had breakfast at 7:15 AM. We needed to get a fairly early start, with returning a rental car and all the potential hazards of going through TSA. We were on our way at 7:45. It took us ten minutes, which included me missing my turn at the airport, and having to circle around.
It has now become routine for me to have to go through the Body Scanner. I set off the magnetometer every time. When I do, it off to the other scanner. About this time, I wised up and just let them know that I have metal, so I don’t have to go through two lines. It’s annoying, because my blood sugar monitor will sometimes, and sometimes not, get picked up by the body scanner. TSA. Keeping you safe from the physically infirmed.
Our gate was C-25, literally the furthest from the terminal. We got there and I typed, trying to get a head start on this blog. With this being the second longest trip we have ever taken (1994 Cross Country was 13 days), I am estimating that this travelogue will be well over 20,000 words. From experience I know it takes me about an hour to write 1500 words.
Margo still had one more souvenir to pick up, so she went about that task. It did not take long and soon we were aboard the plane, and in the air. Things had gone smoothly. Unlike our flight into Memphis, we had a direct flight home. It would take about three hours. Margo took a pain pill, and as she expected, it knocked her out, and when she woke up, we were in Denver.
Pam and Jayme will usually strike up a conversation with their seat mate. They have a gift for that, which I don’t possess. I have a gift for making people pass by when I sit in the aisle, and have an open middle seat. I think I have a naturally dour and uninviting look, plus I am wide enough that other options likely look better. More than once we have been told it was a full flight, and Margo and I end up with no one between us. I’m not complaining.
I wanted to read. I had the book I bought in Mississippi out, and got a good start on that. I got some sleep, too. Always a good thing on a flight, because it is like time travel. You wake up and distance has disappeared.
Our luggage took long enough we wondered if we were either at the wrong spot or if the luggage was on its way to Dallas. But, we eventually got everything and the four of us boarded our shuttle and went to the lot. We waited to make sure the old S-10 of dad’s started up. Jayme said it had been acting up, and he was not sure he got to the bottom of the issue. But, it cranked a time or two and fired up.
That is it. What about next year? Sally wants us to go on a cruise with her and Chuck. Pam mentioned a Beach Boys cruise. They happen at nearly the same time. If push comes to shove, we would go with family.
We are going to see Sister Stephanie in the summer. So maybe turning that into the much-postponed San Francisco trip. I have a Utah/Arizona trip I have wanted to take for several years. Then there is Michigan, our last of the 50 states.
Lots of choices. But, as always, time and money will dictate.
It has now become routine for me to have to go through the Body Scanner. I set off the magnetometer every time. When I do, it off to the other scanner. About this time, I wised up and just let them know that I have metal, so I don’t have to go through two lines. It’s annoying, because my blood sugar monitor will sometimes, and sometimes not, get picked up by the body scanner. TSA. Keeping you safe from the physically infirmed.
Our gate was C-25, literally the furthest from the terminal. We got there and I typed, trying to get a head start on this blog. With this being the second longest trip we have ever taken (1994 Cross Country was 13 days), I am estimating that this travelogue will be well over 20,000 words. From experience I know it takes me about an hour to write 1500 words.
Margo still had one more souvenir to pick up, so she went about that task. It did not take long and soon we were aboard the plane, and in the air. Things had gone smoothly. Unlike our flight into Memphis, we had a direct flight home. It would take about three hours. Margo took a pain pill, and as she expected, it knocked her out, and when she woke up, we were in Denver.
Pam and Jayme will usually strike up a conversation with their seat mate. They have a gift for that, which I don’t possess. I have a gift for making people pass by when I sit in the aisle, and have an open middle seat. I think I have a naturally dour and uninviting look, plus I am wide enough that other options likely look better. More than once we have been told it was a full flight, and Margo and I end up with no one between us. I’m not complaining.
I wanted to read. I had the book I bought in Mississippi out, and got a good start on that. I got some sleep, too. Always a good thing on a flight, because it is like time travel. You wake up and distance has disappeared.
Our luggage took long enough we wondered if we were either at the wrong spot or if the luggage was on its way to Dallas. But, we eventually got everything and the four of us boarded our shuttle and went to the lot. We waited to make sure the old S-10 of dad’s started up. Jayme said it had been acting up, and he was not sure he got to the bottom of the issue. But, it cranked a time or two and fired up.
That is it. What about next year? Sally wants us to go on a cruise with her and Chuck. Pam mentioned a Beach Boys cruise. They happen at nearly the same time. If push comes to shove, we would go with family.
We are going to see Sister Stephanie in the summer. So maybe turning that into the much-postponed San Francisco trip. I have a Utah/Arizona trip I have wanted to take for several years. Then there is Michigan, our last of the 50 states.
Lots of choices. But, as always, time and money will dictate.