Even if I had a house in Nashville, I would probably still come down to this hostel to occasionally stay. When I was there, so were 12 people from England, 2 French guys, 1 girl from Belgium and 1 guy from Japan. This place seems to attract travellers from everywhere and every night seemed to attract a different group of local musicians who would come down and jam on the lawn. The owners and operators of the hostel were all wonderful people as well. They knew the city and would guide us to some of the best places around. Besides that, they genuinely cared about the condition of the place. The rooms were very clean. Staying there was a memorable experience. Part of that were the people staying there, the other part was how great the hostel itself was.

Slept in and then headed back to downtown Nashville.  Stopped in the Country Music Hall of Fame and took a drive through a neighborhood where all the houses had been converted into mini music studios... kinda cool.  Headed back on the road to Memphis!

Well it's a cold Sunday night in January so I wasn't expecting a whole lot of night life in Nashville.  We walked around for a bit and checked out a few bars.  Everything is music related and most of it is country music (ugh).  I asked where the locals hang out when they punch out and we were directed to a cool little basement dive bar with a great selection of cheap beers.  Played some fooseball and went back to the hotel and crashed HARD.

After an extended stay at my friends, I am will be leaving Nashville first thing in the morning and heading for Columbia, Mo. with a stop in St. Louis in the afternoon.

Today I decided to get out and see the sites.  Nashville is probably best known for its country music, but I found a couple of other interesting things too. 

One of things that I want to do that I haven't talked about is see every NFL stadium.  I'm not sure why, but I have always found them fascinating; the architecture and size is an amazing feat.   After checking out the stadium where the Titans play, I decided to head downtown to check out the Country Music Hall of Fame.  I'm not a big fan of country music, but I can really appreciate the history of it and walking around downtown Nashville gave me an even greater sense of how much the music is part of Americana.

I spent a good couple of hours walking around the strip that host people from all over the world trying to make it big in the music business. If you want to listen to live music, you can a start as early as 11:00am here.  Musicians trying to become the next big thing start early here and try to work their way up the ladder to a better time slot.

Second to the music scene in Nashville is probably the Civil War history.  Around every corner lies the site of a past battle, fortification, or cemetery.  I saw one of these key fortifications along the river downtown.  Fort Nashborough.  It was small, but it gave me a feel for what it must have been like 200 years ago along the river.

On the way to my last point of interest, The Parthenon, I saw some billowing smoke and heard screaming sirens coming from every direction.  I had to check things out.  I weaved my way around areas of town that were completely unfamiliar and I'll probably never see again, but I was too curious to let it slip by without further investigation.  I came upon a blocked off street with emergency lights lined up for a quarter mile. The police diverted me off into another direction, but I was ok with that since I need more exercise if I am ever going to lose this weight.

I parked about a 1/2 mile away and loaded up my camera and camcorder, and proceed to hike up the street.  I didn't feel so determined or special once I arrived at the site and realized how many others had done the same thing as me.  Either way, it was interesting to see the news cameras, fire fighters, and police all work together with such a good size audience.  The story's ending isn't too tragic, which is good. The fire may have destroyed the building, but the building was empty of people and/or business.

My final stop was the Parthenon, a museum that is an exact replica of the original Parthenon in Greece.  I haven't been able to go inside of the museums and this was no different.  I am on a strict budget and there will be a lot of things that are cheap by themselves, but collectively would add up to be quite a cost.  So, I didn't go inside.

The museum from the outside was impressive and it left me thinking about future travels to Europe.  Outside the museum was a large park filled with geese, joggers, and picnickers from neighboring Vanderbilt.  The weather here is 70 degrees with a perfectly slight breeze.  The weather couldn't have been any better than it has been here in Nashville the last couple of days. It reminds me of December and January in Tampa. This is the kind of weather that got me to move to Florida in the first place.  Right now in Tampa, the weather is surely miserably hot, sticky, and unbearable, but as all Floridians know....it'll be nice soon.  For now...for me... this weather is great and the geese and I were enjoying the breeze together while a fountain sprayed water 30 feet into the air from a nearby pond as the joggers trotted through the trees that decorate the trail throughout the park. I could envision myself taking a nap in this park

Now it's off to the plan as it was in the beginning: Move swiftly as possilbe.  I only have so many days to get through all the states.  Next stop Columbia, MO. via St. Louis

see more at www.ericsdream.com

First and foremost, let me apologize for being slow at updating the site until now.  I have been trying to find a groove out here and it has proved to be tougher than expected.

Saturday was an up and down day for me.  It truly was a roller coaster of confusion and emotions.  I spent an extra night in Mobile with 1,000's of evacuees form Louisiana and Texas.  I planned on following the storm on the news stations

to see if I should change my schedule for Texas.  I planned on being in Houston in less than a week. After seeing the devastation that Ike left behind in the Houston area, I decided to wait.  I realize that I could have just bypassed Houston or even stopped to see the power that Ike inflicted on the area, but I opted not to.  Ike is making me rethink my fears of the weather getting in the way of this adventure.  Mainly in the Rockies.

I wanted to begin this entire trip earlier to avoid the winter storms that would inevitably hit the Rockies of Canada and America.  My greatest fear is being stuck in a snow storm, not just because of the danger, but because of time and money running out. While I left a month later than planned, I guess I was still being hopeful and optimistic that I could beat any potential storms, but Ike has gotten me to rethink this entire idea.  I can't afford to be sitting in someone's house for days on end waiting for roads to be cleared of snow. So, with all the aforementioned thoughts in mind, I headed north of Mobile to Nashville, where I am staying with a couple of friends while I regroup.  I am rerouting my trip to head straight to the Rockies.  I want to get through them as soon as possible because I know the potential risk of waiting much longer. 

So you may be asking.... what did he do yesterday besides drive?  Well, I decided to head down to the battleship in Mobile one last time in hopes of actually seeing the ship. Luckily, there were enough roads not flooded so that I was able to get in close to check things out. I can see why Mobile is proud of their ship; it is a testament to the power and ingenuity that America possessed during WWII.

As I was driving down the road to get a better picture I noticed an older gentleman taking pictures by himself along side the highway.  I had to stop and get a good picture and  I decided to sneak a conversation too.  I nonchalantly walked up to him and tried to get a feel of why he was so interested in this ship.  He didn't appear old enough to be a WWII veteran, so that never entered my mind. What was his interest? 

No, there was no mind blowing account of his family members having been in the war, but he nevertheless was interesting.  It turns out that he was an engineer that worked on designing the modern day destroyers for the navy.  We only talked for about 15 minutes, but I could see in his engineering eyes how much of a feat it must have been to create this battleship with the technology that existed in 1942, when the USS Alabama was commissioned. He threw a lot of technical terms over my head about the ways they design the ships today vs. 1942. I have a feeling that I could have listened to him for hours. His passion and love for his work was evident in his eyes and voice. He was a man of around 60 years of age and obviously loved his job and still keeps an interest to this day.

I had to leave otherwise I would never get out of Alabama.  I headed north on my 7 hr trip to Nashville, where I plan on staying for a couple of days while I get reorganized.  I will be staying with an old friend from Aberdeen whom I've known over 20 years now.  He and his wife have graciously accepted me staying here for a couple of days, all on a moments notice.   

While on the 7hr trip through Montgomery and Birmingham, I noticed gas prices rising and couldn't help to think how much things have changed on this trip in the first week alone.  When I left Tampa, I paid $3.50/gallon for gas and here I am a week later paying $4.49.  I know the prices will drop back down once the refineries are back online, but until then...OUCH!

While Friday was a little disappointing, it quickly rebounded this morning with a donation from a friend and his wife.  They surprisingly donated $50 to the idea of raising money for the charity of our choice.  This newfound optimism was accompanied by my daily dose of support from e-mailers and things were looking up. The roads to the ship were open and I had a new plan.

After leaving Mobile, I headed north and the rolling hills became mountains and the low clouds rose higher, which made the skies feel so incredibly vast.  In Florida, the clouds always seem to be right on top of you and I had forgotten what the skies look like away from the water.  It's such an open feeling.

While driving I decided to get caught up on the phone with a few people.  First person was my sister. She had been at the big nationally televised college football game between Univ. of South Florida and Kansas the night before.  As I watched the game on TV the night before, I remember thinking to myself how great it must be to be 19 with your entire future ahead of you. I never thought for a second how the excitement that filled 60,000 fans during the last minute victory could come to a screeching halt....literally.

My sister proceeded to tell me how after she left the stadium with her friends, she called shotgun to get that front side passengers seat. ( I have always told her to stay away from that seat because it is known as the suicide seat.) I'm sure in the excitement of the game, the last thing on her mind was something bad happening.  

It turns out when she and her friends left the stadium parking lot, a car came screaming through a blind spot and side-swiped them at nearly 40mph.  Of course, it broad-sided the passengers side of the car.  So here she was, in the line of fire of a speeding car. I can only imagine how many people have been hurt or worse yet, killed in that situation.  Luckily, she walked away only bruised and traumatized.  Hopefully, she will avoid that seat for now on. I am just glad she didn't get hurt because so many people have lost their lives in that very same scenario.

It was listening to her tell me about the accident that once again got me dwelling on life.  It's too short.  It could have ended for her in that moment of celebration during the happiest times of her life. Yet another reminder why we should all appreciate life more than we do.  While driving through the mountains of Tennessee, I couldn't help to notice the sunset more than usual this evening, and think about how beautiful it was.  I have seen many gorgeous sunsets at the beach many times since I moved to Florida, but no sunset compared to this one. As the sun slowly fell behind the mountains in the distance, I once again have a more valuable understanding how short life can be.

Walked around - got my self a cowboy hat (made in China). Went into a chain of restaraunts called BBKings where a live Jazz band where playing and had pretty much fried everything on my plate (it was supposed to be fish and chips)

Last night there was a thunderstorm, something to make this California-thunder-starved girl happy as could be.  The lightning seemed to cover the entire sky, but there was very little rain.  Weather conditions for today were predicted to be rainy and possibly thunderous.  Considering how long it has been since it has rained back home, this would have been a wonderful change of pace.  Unfortunately, up to this time of day, it is still dry.

We crossed many creeks and rivers in eastern Arkansas.  They are very dark in color from the tanins of tree roots and leaves growing alongside.  They are quiet streams - no rapids or riffles.  Instead, I would think it would be restful and peaceful to sit beside one of these beautiful waterways.

We stopped at a rest area in eastern Arkansas so that Jag could drink his tea - a daily ritual.  As we pulled in, I saw a sign reading "Overnight Camping Only".  That is not allowed in California or many other states - and it is very helpful to truckers and RV'ers.  This rest area was the first I've ever seen that had identified all of the bushes and flowers planted near the main building.  They were mainly tropicals.  One was called mandevilla - the name of the room we have reserved at Rousell's Garden B & B in Savannah, Georgia.  Two other plants delighted me: rose moss - a colorful ground cover - and copper plant, with appropriately-named leaves.  I wonder if they would grow in Concord.

Can we ever resist a state's Welcome Center?  Nope!  Tennessee's, along the Mississippi River front in Memphis, is big, imaginative and has less information than some.  But others lack big statues of B. B. King and - ta da - Elvis!  "Sam and Mira" got their pix taken with Elvis.  Both statues are bronze and accurate portraits of both men.

Jag insisted on a visit to Costco.  It was right off the highway, so no big deal.  He wanted to price Tennessee whiskey, thinking there would be a larger selection and lower prices than in California.  Wrong!  It was a big waste of time. 

We passed a town along I-40 in Tennessee with a really interesting name: Bucksnort.  Hmmm.  We also spotted a sign for a place in Arkansas called Toad Suck Park.  I so wanted to see that place, but I don't want to suck a toad.  Brrrrr!  We passed a great many state parks along I-40 in Tennessee as well as the Shiloh National Battlefield from the Civil War.  I definitely would like to return to see the area.

We decided to pick one of the motels in the coupon book for Nashville.  Our choice was not a good one.  If you are roadtripping, don't stay at America's Best Value Inns.  They are dumps.  (You will notice I have not included a link!)  Jag liked the price and I needed a place with a guest laundry.  This one advertised a new laundry room - yeah, right!  Maybe it was new 15 years ago!  Yukh!  I just don't like big cities - Nashville is a very big city.  When one doesn't know the neighborhoods some big mistakes can be made.  There are no restaurants nearby - not even a MacDonalds.  I am very glad we are staying only overnight.

Today is a very, very special day - because I've always wanted to go through the Great Smokey Mountains, and today, we'll take a special drive right through the middle of them on the Great Smokey Mountains Parkway.  They are very famous for the "smoke" that seems to always hang over them.  It's really mist, and very beautiful. 

This whole drive today will be really impressive with all the great scenery and also the funny local things you will see.  Look at the picture I put on here and you'll get the idea of what I'm talking about.  I really do think you'd love it dear!

Nashville is also known as "Music City" and it's the home of Country Music.  We'll look around that night, and maybe we should get Bar-B-Que for dinner, because this is the region that is famous for it!

Ever since I was 13 and discovered the beauty of Classic Country music, I had dreamed of going to the Grand Ole Opry. I was traveling by myself, so I went by myself, but it was a wonderful experience. I felt as though I were in another time, with Little Jimmy Dickens and all the other regulars there. I was lucky enough to get to see Dwight Yoakam perform (his first Opry performance in 16 years) - and he performed his tributes to Buck Owens, one of the best singers of all time. The Grand Ole Opry is truly a Nashville staple, and you can't go without it, if you truly want to experience this beautiful city. I highly recommend the early evening show on Saturday, where an hour is shown live on country music television.

I woke up around 8.30am and quickly got ready sorting my suitcase out, i had to leave a lot of stuff at Bruno's as my suitcase was way too heavy and i was only going to be gone 2 days. I got the towncar (how posh eh!) to LaGuardia flying down to Nashville with American Airlines in a big old MD80 (scary scary!) :s checked in ok I was offered an upgrade to first class on the flight down for $90 and i considered it for a minute weighing up whether i could afford to be elite ha ha  but i really couldnt afford it so decided against it, :( the flight was fairly full, i dozed most of the way as i was still so tired from flying coast to coast the previous day but i was also so excited that I was going to Nashville! (OMG!) oooh yeah Nashville land of country, country and more country! pretty much HEAVEN!!!

Arrived into Nashville about 2pm and rang the hostel where im staying (i wrote a review on my travel reviews page) and arranged a pick up but I had to wait until just after 3 so I sat down outside and read some of my book. Cal and Keena picked me up some time later and we had to pick Tom the Lithuanian guyn with really scary teeth ha also staying at the hostel up in town and then we headed back and I sorted my stuff out.

Went to a supermarket - 'PUBLIX' where i bought myself dinner which considered of two cream cheese bagels ;s, I also saw a British Foods shelve at Publix which caught my attention, i bought a caramel cadburys chocolate bar yum i miss them a lot! so tasty! . My friend Tim was flying into Nashville the next day and we had plans and he got us tickets for the Friday night Grand Ole Opry so i was super excited about that, iv been a country music fan for about 3 years now and have so many country cds, to me its one of the most interesting and enjoyable genres of music and i find i love it more with each passing artist that i listen to.

Anyways back at the hostel i was chatting to this really nice woman called Amiya whos 31 years old but looks about 20! I was about to go to bed at 9.30pm but we got talking and eventually got to sleep about 2.30am as this really annoying biker guy from North Carolina who kept telling us really crazy stories and kept going off on tangents and me and Amiya couldnt stop laughing because we had absolutely NO idea what he was talking about, im staying in contact with her now, its strange how you can become good friends in situations like that, it was my first time at a proper hostel so she explained all the 'etiquette' rules to this first timer! Haha. We had such a giggle!

the title speaks for itself. if you're not into country music, there's nothing to do in nashville but drink. don't get me wrong, country music is good. i do like some country music. it touches the heart. i know, lame. but true. their melodic tones and emotionally raw lyrics really strike a chord. literally and figuratively. it's just not my complete cup of tea.

therefore, for those that are not into country, drinking will be what you'll most likely occupy your time with. unfortunate, but true. all the bars are within walking distance of each other, so you bar hop. there's a good mess of them at what they call '5-points'. there's the alley cat, 3 crow, beyond the edge, etc. all within 20 paces of each other. there's also a place called 'juice bar' where derelicts wait outside for to open. i haven't ventured into there. didn't like the looks of the derelicts.

all of these bars serve food. most of it is fried, but there are some choice places with some interesting things on their menus that are quick and easy that will definately aid in sobering you up so you can soak up more booze. ugh. horrible.

we did see some cool things. we went to this place called the parthenon in downtown nashville that boasted 'the tallest indoor statue in the world'. it was of athena, greek goddess of wisdom. impressive. she didn't look very greek. more buddhist to me. or thai. but oh well. she's still effing massive. they also have some saved relics in the form of broken marble statues. you'd never guess that you'd see greco-roman art in the heart of music city. after that though, at around 12:30pm, we went to a bar and started the all day crawl.

if i were REALLY into country music, i'd come back. the country music hall of fame is here, also ryman hall, the original birthplace of the grand old opry, and, of course, the grand ole opry, are all downtown. there are other things to see, but after we started the bar crawl, my memory started fleeting. jager. yuengling. more beer. more jager. you get the picture.

i've seen it. done it. don't want to do it again. funny, the people i went there to see were really shitty hosts, but their neighbors were awesome and showed me a better time than i ever could with the ones i were staying with. i'm glad they rescued me.

hopefully on your travels to nashville you'll find good people to assist you in your fun!! best wishes!!

Our hotel today had a very nice hot breakfast, of eggs, sausages, waffles, french toast, muffins, juices, and coffee. All you wanted and all you could eat. About the best we have had on the trip.

Our first stop today was The Hermitage, Home of President Andrew Jackson. It’s just east of Nashville so I figured he must have built his home there in hopes of becoming a country recording star, and when that didn’t happen he ran for the Presidency. The price of admission was a little more than cost to fill my tank with gas, so I was apprehensive. And I guess I was naive to think I could take pictures, and when they told that no cameras were allowed inside the home I was quite disappointed. I did get a few shots outside and through a window when I shouldn’t have but there really wasn’t much to see as far as I was concerned. The tour was made up of about fifteen folks and at each doorway, which by the way was covered with a glass or clear plastic door, the docent would stop and give about a five-minute speech about the room and who used it. Then as she moved on you may have gotten a chance to look in for a moment. Not the best. Upstairs it was just as bad. And I think all together there must have been about at least six docents that were with you, making sure you did not touch anything, go where you were not supposed to, or take any pictures. Outside, you were allowed to step on the grass, or on the pathways, but in the gardens you had to follow particular paths, and not step off even to take a picture. In the cemetery section again you had to stay strictly on a particular path. Today, there were young students, of about the age of ten or twelve, who had earned the privilege of dressing in period costumes and giving about a one to two minute talk at about twenty or more locations throughout the site. I asked one young lady how many times she had given her speech and she said she only got to do it for one hour. Although she was still smiling, I could tell she was getting tired of saying the same thing, over and over, and over.

Now on in to Nashville, where country music is king. The Belmont Mansion was first to see, then the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. From there on to the Ryman Auditorium and we got a couple of shots of the Sommet Center, the newest glass sports and entertainment center. Music row was alive with entertainment "joints", and bars. And we even got a couple of shots of Fort Nashborough, down near the river. We tried to get a shot of the State Capital building, but didn’t have much luck on that one.

On out to the new Opryland, which is about ten minutes east of downtown. This is a huge complex, convention center, resort and outlet mall. If you aren’t there for shopping or to see a show at the Grand Old Opry, then there really isn’t much to see. There wasn’t a performance today, so we got a quick pic or two and drove on, after we finally found our way back out.

what does one do when they have a hankering for GOOD food and nothing fried? why, they head down to batter'd and fried of course!!! HUH?! i know. but seriously. this place is awesome!! they have one of the best clam chowders i've ever had the pleasure of tasting, and i am a connosieur of clam chowder [that sounds kinda weird in a kinky way...] and their service was excellent. our server was not only the host, but also the bartender. he made some mean bloody marys. mmm. i want one now. so peppery...FOCUS!! said bloody marys also go great with oysters. FRESH oysters on the half-shell. oh, so good. they're GARGANTUAN. like oysters on 'roids. succulent an sweet. yes, oysters can be sweet. the liquor inside them bursting in your mouth like diving into an ocean mixed with a little bit o' sugar. or 7-up. either way, it's excellent. all together we ordered 2 bloody marys, 1 ale, sesame seared ahi tuna with unagi sauce drizzled over top, oysters on the halfshell [8 total] grilled chicken alfredo pasta, and a surf n' turf of peppercorn encrusted grilled hangar steak, fresh roasted and mashed red potatoes and jumbo shrimp grilled to perfection with a garlic butter coating. 60 bucks. with 20 tip. 80 bucks. so worth it. especially when you're sick of shitty food. nashville is not known for their food. everything is fried, which means everything will give you the runs. this place will make you want to stay there all day and eat. even when you're not hungry.

there's nothing like sitting in the "suicide section", drinking cold pabst blue ribbon out of a can and watching half-naked chicks in roller skates trying to beat each other up. i mean, come on!! it would only get better if they were FULLY naked, but that would make it harder to differentiate the individual players on the team. nashville rollerderby girls has taken on the new found fad of rollerderby girls and skated away with it. there's something to be said about down-home southern girls with a shit-ton of sass and a good rack to show off. attitude, baby!! the beers are 5-6 bucks each, but they're tall cans. it's almost like a 2 for 1. who cares? it's beer!! check it out. i only got to go once since my stay in nashville was only a week long. definately worth the trip.