8/17/2011

We got a late start this year on our summer trip because the transmission on the Pathfinder broke. We fixed it, sold it and purchased a new tow vehicle - a Chevy Silverado. We finally left today at noon and drove as far as Texarkana, Texas. We stayed at an Army Corps of Engineers campground on Wright-Patman Lake. It was 109 degrees today.

8/18/2011

We left Texarkana and Jim drove 523 miles to Nashville, Tennessee. We stayed at another C.O.E. campground on J. Percy Priest Lake named Seven Points campground. We didn’t get to camp until 6:45 pm so all we did was set up and cook dinner.

8/19/2011

We had to change campgrounds because all sites for Friday and Saturday were reserved. The camp host called another campground on the same lake and we moved to it. The name of it was Poole Knobs. While we were drinking coffee before we moved there were 8 turkeys walking around our camp site. After changing campgrounds we drove in to Nashville and went to buy Grand Ole Opry tickets. We chose to go tomorrow night. It was time for a beer so Jim drove us to 4 of the 5 brewpubs in Nashville. While walking to one brewpub near Vanderbilt University we just happened on one of the Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives I wanted to try. We had a cup of cantaloupe ice cream there. After sampling some beers at the brewpubs we drove to the Athens Restaurant featured on DDD and had some great Greek food. After the sun went down and it got dark there were fireflies at camp. They were pretty.

8/20/2011

We had breakfast and then drove to Murfreesboro to visit Stones River National Battlefield. This was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Over 25,000 men were killed. After touring the battlefield we went to the cemetery which held several thousand of the men. Afterward we drove to Andrew Jackson’s home named The Hermitage. It is a beautiful old mansion that was on his cotton plantation. Jim wanted to go back into downtown before we went to the Grand Ole Opry and see the full size replica of the Parthenon that was built for the Tennessee centennial in 1897. It was quite impressive, and on the inside was a huge statue of Athena in all gold that Jim called cheesy. We visited a fifth brewpub and walked around the main drag downtown where I talked to an Elvis tribute artist. We left downtown and drove to the Grand Ole Opry. We saw: Larry Gatlin, Bill Anderson, Jimmy Dickens, and Vince Gill. They were the hosts of four thirty minutes segments. The other performers were: Jimmy C. Newman, John Conlee, The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, Mike Snyder, Jimmy Wayne, Jan Howard, James Wesley, Connie Smith and Bradley Gaskin. The Opry Square Dancers performed twice. We really enjoyed the Opry and thought Larry Gatlin and Jimmy Dickens were the best. Larry Gatlin was very personable as host and his first song of the night was “Houston”. Little Jimmy Dickens was 90 years old and he was so funny. He told a lot of jokes and sang. John Conlee sang “Rose Colored Glasses". We waited for the parking lot to clear and then went back to camp and had a very late, quick dinner.

8/21/2011

A rainstorm woke us up at 6 am. It rained until after 7. I wanted to go out and dance in it since it has been so long since Houston has seen any rain. We hooked up and took off for Kentucky. We got a site for the night at Mammoth Cave National Park campground. Our National Park book states all sites are primitive but we found out there are two full hookup sites. One was occupied and we got the other. We unhooked and went to the visitor center and purchased tickets for the Historic Entrance Tour. It was a two hour tour. This cave is the longest cave system in the world. It was 54 degrees inside. After dinner we worked on the blog and went to a Ranger Rick talk on the “underworld”.

8/22/2011

We woke up to a beautiful sunny day and took a short hike to Echo Spring. This spring is where the underground river inside Mammoth Cave comes to the surface. We hooked up and drove to Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace and then to his boyhood home. His log cabin birthplace is inside a magnificent stone monument. The boyhood home is a reconstruction using one of his neighbor’s log cabin.

We decided we needed to visit at least one bourbon distillery while in Kentucky. We drove to Makers Mark, the oldest operating bourbon whiskey distillery, and went on a tour. They made a big deal out of hand dipping the necks of the bottles in hot red wax. At the conclusion of the tour we got to taste 3 of their bourbons. Jim took a small sip from each and I had mine and finished his. Bourbon is not Jim’s thing.

We got a camp site at My Old Kentucky Home State Park. This park has a golf course, campground and the home which inspired the Stephen Foster song. He also wrote, “Oh Susanna”, “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair” and “Camptown Races”. My camera is on the blink and won’t work anymore. We drove to Walmart to look for a new one and Jim didn’t like any of them. We will try to get me a camera in Louisville at a Best Buy. There is another Casita trailer in camp and they are from Slidell, Louisiana. We talked to them and found out they went to the Bluebonnet Rally in Bandera, Texas for the first time this year when we didn’t get to make it because of the Pathfinder transmission trouble.

8/23/2011

After having breakfast we drove to the other side of the state park and took a tour of My Old Kentucky Home and drove through the historic part of downtown Bardstown. We visited the old Talbot tavern. Among those who have stayed here are Daniel Boon, Jesse James and Abraham Lincoln. The Tennessee Volunteers who died in the Goliad Massacre left from here. We hooked up and left for Louisville. On the way we went tothe a Jim Beam distillery and had a tasting but didn’t take the tour. Just south of Louisville we went to Best Buy and got me a brand new camera. We will have to let it charge all night and I will use it tomorrow. We couldn’t find a cheap place to stay in Louisville so we drove across the Ohio River into Indiana and stayed at Charlestown State Park. This place was virtually deserted. There were only about 6 campers and there were 160 sites. We got settled and then drove back across the river into Louisville and went to 3 brewpubs.