April 26th: Whew! What a night! We were glued to the Weather Channel yesterday evening watching a very ominous line of strong thunderstorms work their way towards us. Around 2:00 a.m., the wind picked up, and the weather map showed a dark red squall front right on top of us. Heard what sounded like a loud nearby explosion (probably an electric transformer). That was it. We decided to slog to the fortified cinder block shelter of the men's room. Guess we were a little paranoid, as no one else came in. Things began to calm down after about a half hour, so we headed back to the trailer. We were able to sleep until 7:00 as Cooper was good to us. (Still felt very tired in the morning.) True adventure!
We had fun today scouting out the Grand Ole Opry House and grounds. Luckily, it is only a couple of miles from our RV park, and the parking is free! It is a beautifully landscaped site with plenty of open space around it. The facility (reminds me of the Redding Civic Auditorium) was extensively repaired in the past few months after a devastating flood ruined the lower floors, and destroyed many valuable musical instruments. A huge, lavish shopping mall located next to the Opry is entirely closed and fenced off, undergoing renovations due to the flood.
Next, we headed through a maze of freeways to Downtown Nashville, which is studded with some very distinctive skyscrapers, including the Bat Building (looks like Batman's helmet), that AT&T built. We took a self-guided tour of the Ryman Auditorium, built in 1891 as a church, and later converted to an acoustically perfect performance venue that became the home of the Grand Ole Opry for 40 years. The place has a fascinating history, complete with some very unique characters. The entire history of Country Music is on display here, complete with original costumes. Very interesting!
We walked around the corner to the most famous of the Nashville Honky Tonks, Tootisie's Orchid Lounge. This is where many famous artists got their start. Frankly, the place is about as far from an orchid as Nashville is from Moscow – Russia, not Idaho, that is! This place is the real deal. It is dark, dank and foreboding. The tin ceiling is coal-black from the smoke residue of countless cigarettes. The unpainted wooden floors are as black as the ceiling. Its walls are entirely covered with yellowing personally signed posters, and pictures of Country Music greats. A signed picture of a very young-looking Merle Haggard was right next to our table, which was covered with graffiti, as was the wood framing on the walls. A country band tuned up, conducted endless sound checks, and finally got going with a rousing set that was really good! Next, we are off to a performance at the Grand Ole Opry tonight at 7:00. I'll fill you in! The thunderstorms are holding off until late tonight, thank heavens.
April 25th: Drove to Nashville on the last 144 miles of the Natchez Trace. Honestly, we are about “traced-out” as the scenery is very nice, but is quite uniform from mile to mile. We can't wait to get away from those bugs!
We came across the death and grave site of Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition. He was shot under mysterious circumstances in a small cabin that is still on the site.
Along the way, we stopped at a very well-known roadhouse on the outskirts of town known as the Loveless Motel and Cafe. I doubt if it is really a loveless motel, especially since it has been around for about 60 years. Really, though, the place is reputed to have some of the best Southern food it is possible to get. The place really is special. Everything is made from scratch, and it has been featured on the Food Network. It was absolutely outstanding!! (And inexpensive, too.!) The menu has not changed since 1951, and features fried chicken, pulled pork, ham, collard greens, grits, fried green tomatoes, banana pudding, and coconut cream pie. The biscuits are warm and steaming from the oven, and are the best I have ever eaten. The recipe is secret, of course. They serve homemade jams along with those.
Now, we are ensconced in an RV park dealing with a severe thunderstorm watch. It is ominous when the first thing the clerk says to you at check-in is how to hole up in the restroom in the event of a severe storm. There have been tornadoes this evening in Little Rock Arkansas, and the front is predicted to come though here tonight. No tornadoes are expected, thank God, but golf-ball sized hail would not be appreciated. Our truck would be well-pocked if that happened! It's just part of the adventure, though.
Tomorrow, we will explore Nashville, weather permitting. We will attend the Grand Ole Opry tomorrow night, and maybe a few honky tonks, too.
Here we are in Tishomingo State Park in MS. It's near the town of the same name, which was named for an Indian chief. Once again, we have a lakeside campsite that is truly beautiful; however, we have never before experienced an attack by an army of wood ticks. They are literally everywhere – on us, in our beds, on our clothes, on the dog, and even on the wall above the bed's headboard! We took 9 of them off of Cooper in one day. I lost count of the number I pulled off myself. Enough.
We visited the National Military Park at Shiloh, TN, after stopping at a very elaborate Civil War visitor center in Corinth. Once again, we are reminded of how much grief our country has experienced, and the ultimate result of profound ideological divisions. It is very sobering to walk the ground on which 23,000 men met gruesome and untimely death in only two days.
There are miles of trails in Tishomingo Park. The one we walked started on a somewhat rickety WPA wooden-decked suspension bridge, vintage 1939. The trail climbed steeply to overhanging outcroppings of sandstone, which we walked beneath. There were several waterfalls and springs along the way that were truly beautiful. In retrospect, we know this is where the 9 ticks Cooper acquired came from. Interesting factoid: Tishomingo county is entirely “dry”, that is, there are no sales of alcohol, whatsoever, either in stores or restaurants and bars. Prohibition still exists, and so does bootlegging, which is still a problem in these here parts. Matter a fact, a supervisor around here was recently busted for moonshinin'! Imagine that!! Folks have started circulatin' a petition to repeal prohibition. But, there are those who are afraid that all that booze will set off a crime wave. We'll see.
Trace State Park is a beautiful spot; we scored a very nice lakeside campsite that was ideal, except for the ravaging tick population.
Today we visited the Tupelo National Battlefield, which is a small city park commemorating an 1862 battle in which the Union prevailed. Then, we headed up the trace, stopping at several interesting spots, including Confederate gravesites, a valley of 100 year-old dogwood trees, and ancient burial mounds c. 100 BCE to 200 AD. It was very cool and foggy for a change, with the temperature never exceeding 63 degrees. Tomorrow, temperatures in the high 80's plus high humidity will return. We head for Tishomingo State Park in the morning – only 50 miles away!
PS: Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis Presley, and his childhood home is practically a shrine. We didn't visit it.
We can't get over how friendly the people are in Mississippi. People sitting on their front porches wave at you as you drive by. In one incident, we pulled off the Trace to view a historical exhibit when a woman in a car pulled up next to us. She said she had seen we were from California, and told us not to miss lunch in the restaurant at French Camp, and to eat at a place called the Loveless Cafe near Nashville. She had stopped just for us! There certainly is a refreshingly different mind set around here! We aren't in California anymore!!
One hundred-seventy more miles of sylvan landscapes, smooth roads, and history. The highlights of the day were visits to the Mississippi Craft Center, and French Camp. The Craft Center is a modern building in which artisans create unique, exquisitely wrought pieces - everything from quilts, to furnishings to ceramics and glass. French Camp has the authentic flavor of a vintage 1849 Trace “stand”, or inn. We had a great lunch which included very rich “Mississippi Mud Pie” in a restaurant situated in a 160 year-old log cabin. (Almost expected Ma and Pa Clampett to come out and greet us!) French Camp is an original village, complete with post office, blacksmith shop, and a bed-and-breakfast. It is now owned and operated by a private K-12 academy. The food was wonderful, and the atmosphere was amazing.
We stopped in the town of Kosciusko for gas. This is the birthplace and childhood home of Oprah Winfrey. It's a very typical rural Southern town with old homes fronted by broad porches with their rocking chairs.
We also hiked through a cypress swamp (on raised walkways), where the trees were growing out of the water, which was sprinkled with floating blossoms that looked like snow. There was even an alligator basking on a log!
After arriving at a beautiful lake side campsite at the Trace State Park near Tupelo, MS, it began to rain, then the wind picked up, and warnings were issued for flash floods, damaging winds, and hail. At least, there were no tornado watches in effect. The storm hit with incredible fury. I disconnected our electricity to prevent damage to the trailer in case the grid was hit by lightning. For hours we were pummeled by thunder and blasting rain. Luckily, there were no leaks in the trailer!
