Friday
evening was an unusual night; we went to The Grand Ole Opry on the north side
of Nashville. After getting clogged up with rush hour traffic, we rolled into
the Opry Mills area and grabbed a quick dinner at the Caney Fork Restaurant.
Before we even ordered, our server, Monica, brought us five corn fritters
smothered in powdered sugar, with the explanation, “We care about your
nutrition!” These little suckers were actually almost as sinful as New Orleans
beignets, and “That’s sayin’ somethin’!” We had to have a complete Southern
down-home dinner, so I had catfish, mashed potatoes with brown gravy, and baked
beans (no, not from Boston) and Suzanne had baby back ribs with veggies and
home fries. Both meals were excellent. I have to admit to having a Yuengling
beer from Pennsylvania in honor of Suzanne’s dad Bill. It was his favorite, and
is now also mine. Then we went to the Opry... 
Neither of
us had ever been to the home of country music, and it was a real treat. We sat
next to a group of four women from Alberta, Canada, who had made the pilgrimage
to Nashville primarily for this performance. But lest you think that was
unusual, how about the couple from Finland who were attending their 70th
performance. That is not a typo. I think they were probably given seats on
stage for their unparalleled dedication to the Opry. The lead-in performer was
a Minnie Pearl look-alike, and if you closed your eyes, you could have been
listening to Minnie live on the radio back in the 50s.
The emcees
were four different CM stars, but our favorite was Little Jimmy Dickens, who Suzanne
had met in the Pentagon when she was aide to the Chairman. She has a photo of 4’11”
Jimmy standing next to her boss, General Shelton, who is 6’5”. Jimmy turned 92 this year, but still has
enormous energy and a lively sense of humor.
Larry
Gatlin and Connie Smith were emcees for other segments of the show, but all of
them sang as well. Performers included Mark Wills, Restless Heart, The Whites, Craig
Campbell, Sarah Darling (the real star of the show), and the World Champion Grand
Master Fiddler. I have never seen fingers move that fast!
We were
fortunate to meet Dani, one of the Opry’s Hospitality Contacts, in the lobby
during intermission. She grew up in the Brentwood area and gave us lots of interesting background on the Opry and
their family of performers, most of whom live in the Nashville area.
Our “campsite”
in Unity of Nashville’s parking lot was in Brentwood, which we learned was
ground zero for Nashville’s “new money”, much of which was earned in the country
music business. Many country stars lived in homes like these... and darn, our
invitations to dinner with Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman must have gotten lost
in the mail...
The Bus was
happy to be hoofing it southeast on hilly I-40 and I-75 headed for Georgia, at least until we had to share
the road with several of these “Oversize Loads”... I have been trying to figure
out what this thing was, but I am stumped. A package of Hostess Chocolate
Cupcakes goes to the first reader who can identify this beast!
Coming out
of Tennessee, the downhills were only 6% grades, easier than in Utah and
Colorado, but there were still several runaway truck ramps, two of which had
been used recently like this one.
I would not
want to have been the driver trying to get over to the left hand lane to exit
onto that sand-filled ramp at 60-70 mph! The speed limit for heavy trucks here
was 25-35 mph. Once again I let Suzanne
do the driving for this section to give her more practice.
The Bus
fits into the “commercial truck” category, colloquially known in the military
as a BAV (Big-Ass Vehicle), and we were too large to enter via the Main Gate at
Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia. We were directed to Gate Two,
where Tech Sergeant Rick Berghult was kind enough to open the gate just for us late
Saturday afternoon. It is normally only open Mon-Fri 0800-1700. Rick is not
only A Great Guy, but he is special because his first tour in the military was
in the Navy as a signalman (also known as a skivvie-waver, in recognition of
the signal flags that signalmen wave as quick as the eye can see to spell out
messages over short distances at sea). He shifted over to the Air Force to help
improve the quality of personnel in that relatively young service.
Our
second-to-last night on the road is in the heavily wooded campground at
Dobbins, where we got the very last open spot right by a beautiful, peaceful
pond. It’s all first come, first served
here, and fortunately we got in early. Another bus arrived while we were eating
dinner and had to find a spot elsewhere.
Suzanne was
happy that we had good cell phone connectivity here; she said, “Hey, Ty, there
are five bars here!” I replied, “Well, let’s try the topless one!” Smack...
when will I learn?
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