27.6.2012 – 27.6.2012  39 °C

Today we spent most of the day driving west to east across Tennessee from Memphis to Nashville, self-proclaimed Country Music Capital of the World. We started out our day driving along the interstate towards Nashville. We did this for about 45 mins before we gave up on the interstates and turned off to find a quieter route to Nashville. (That is the only issue with the interstates, they are full of trucks so it can be quicker to find the #2 road and use that).

We found a much quieter route and immeasurably less stressful and headed directly east from Memphis towards Savannah, Tn. Our drive was blessedly quiet as we passed thru miles and miles of farmlands towards Shiloh National Monument. We had originally planned to go to Shiloh but changed our minds after working out our timeline to get to Chicago. Shiloh is another of the major battlefields of the Civil War, over a 100,000 people fought on this field with a casualty rate of about 25%…. Based on our readings in LP we decided that we could avoid driving around another battle site and kept going east.

We arrived at the intersection with the Natchez Trace Parkway just on lunch time. Once we’d ditched the interstate I decided that we’d head back over to the Natchez Trace as it is a good way to drive. It’s a very scenic and quiet drive with plenty of picnic spots for lunch. Our lunch today was at the sight of the death of Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clarke fame) tombstone. Lewis was killed here in 1808, about a year after he took over governorship of Nth Louisiana (two years prior all of these states were originally part of the Louisiana purchase). He was found to be embezzling public funds and was on his way up to Washington to prove his innocence. Apparently, something occurred and he was fatally shot twice (chest and head). At the time it was claimed that he committed suicide but really, two shots??? Anyway, lunch was a tasty bbq, salad and snags.

The drive up the Trace was a bit windy but it was blessedly cool with plenty of trees and lots of green so although it was a bit longer and a bit windy it was worth the drive!

We arrived in Nashville mid afternoon and headed straight downtown to see the Country Music Hall of Fame. Gosh it’s hot when you get out of the car! The museum was lovely and cool but very crowded. Most of the museum was dedicated to Country stars from the early 20s thru to the late 50s, so it was a bit of a yawn for me. The museum shows off heaps of guitars and costumes from heaps of unknown (at least to me) American country performers. I found it funny because by the time I got to the part of the museum that I could sort of relate to there was no real exhibits!! I enjoyed my walk around the museum but was relieved when I finally found the hall of fame (and therefore the exit). There were some surprising inclusions in the Hall of Fame, Elvis grabbed my eye…. as did Sam Philips (the Sun Records chief)…. Hmm.. Country and Elvis? There were also plenty of names I didn’t recognise!!

We finished our afternoon off by finding a cheap but ok hotel on the north side of town. Dinner was a quick bite at our “we’re desperate” place of McDs. After a shower and a general de-sweating we headed back into town to Broadway the home of Country music. Similar to Beale St (or Bourbon for that matter) it was a whole street filled with bars wafting out sounds of Country and Honky Tonk. We found a bar with modern day country, much more up my alley J! We finished our evening off by going for a drive to see the Grand Ol’ Oprey. Apparently, according to the old’s, it was the home to, night time country music shows back in the day.. Today it seems to be one big hotel/ casino/ theatre complex.. Not what I had in mind.. I was thinking an old wooden theatre with maybe a pub outside! No way!! It’s a huge concrete complex surrounded by about a dozen hotel chains, putt putt golf and cheesy diners!! J

We finally fell into bed late that evening with a plan to get up tomorrow and continue our journey northward towards St Louis..

Song of the Day– Tammy Wynette, Stand by your man  (I couldn’t help it, I had to pick the cheesiest country song I know— and no, this is not on my iPod—although I guess if I’m endorsing the song in my Ultimate list it soon is going to be….)