Visit to Nashville

We wrapped up our workamping at Lee Bottom Flying Field on Monday, October 29th.  We can truly say we enjoyed our time there and consider our hosts, Rich and Ginger, new friends.  It is great to see the work we accomplished, with several group projects too.  We look forward to stopping by again, either as workampers or even visitors.​

In preparation for leaving, we were able to do a deep clean and get a few tasks taken care of in the RV.  One was the lovely job of defrosting the freezer.  It has been almost 4 months since we did it last and it really needed it.  We had tried to eat as much food from the freezer as we could over the last couple weeks so that there would not be much to store in the cooler while we defrosted.  Once everything was out, I set hot bowls of water in the bottom and chipped away some of the build up since it was soo thick.  I then used the hair dryer to speed up the last bits.  Once everything was melted, wiped up and dry, I placed cheap, flexible cutting mats on the back wall of the freezer with the shelves holding them in place.  This should allow me to just slide those out next time and rinse off the frost which will take much less time to do this in the future. Fingers crossed it works just as slick as it sounds!

Easy Freezer Defrosting Hack

Meeting up with Terri & Mike

From Hanover, IN we headed south to Nashville.  As Rick was driving, I was scrolling Facebook and saw that a couple we met at the Grand Design Rally in Sept were heading back home to IN on 65N as we were going south on 65. We were able to stop at an exit parking lot and catch up for a bit.  It is true, you really do cross paths again and it is never really good-bye but see you later.​

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​We had visited Nashville over 10 years ago for one of Rick's Army Reunions, but only stayed for a quick weekend and did not get around town to see much, so this would be a chance for us to be real tourists.  We stayed at Two Rivers Campground on the north side of Nashville, near Opryland.  This was on the recommendation from RV friends who just stayed there a couple weeks ago.  It is a smaller campground with full hookups, a pool, musical entertainment and a shuttle to downtown, which was very convenient.  As with most RV parks, sites were close together but for a couple nights, and us being gone most of the time, that was fine.  We took advantage of the shuttle to downtown and walked around Lower Broadway and the surrounding streets while marveling at all the honky tonks and stores.  They all had live music and even at 11 am on a weekday.  We stopped and had lunch at Luke Bryan's 32 Bridge.  There were a couple of guys playing in the bar/lounge area who were really good!  We sat and listened to them while we ate.  We then took a double decker bus ride around Nashville and saw the highlights of the city such as the Parthenon, Ryman, Capitol and the first Fort in Nashville.  The tour guide had alot of great information about the towns history as well.  Did you know that Nashville's biggest income stream does not come from country music but from healthcare.  There are more than 30 hospitals in Nashville, including Vanderbilt.  They also have more than 30 higher education institutions.  Who knew??

That night we went to the Grand Ole Opry.  They started the evening with an interesting video montage of the history of the Opry, the move to the current location and the flood of 2010.  We had a great time seeing some current country music acts such as Carly Pierce, Charles Esten (Deacon from Nashville) Lo Cash and Chris Jenson.  There was also some up and coming artists as well as some legends, like Bill Anderson who did a very moving tribute song he wrote about a WWIl veteran, who was actually in the audience.  Henry Cho, a very funny comedian also performed.  It was a really nice evening and even nicer that it was only 5 minutes from the campground!

Aunt Sheryl and I

The next day we took a scenic drive down to Franklin to visit my Aunt & Uncle, who we haven't seen in many years.  It was great to catch up with them and see their beautiful home.  After lunch they took us on a tour of historic  Franklin, which is really an adorable town with a wonderful little downtown area.  There is alot of growth in the area and construction is everywhere.

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On the way back we stopped at the Opry Mills Mall near the campground.  I have not been in a mall for awhile, and I can honestly say I do not miss it.  I can do without the pushy salespeople that aggressively try to get you to try their product while you are walking by, even when you say "No Thank You.".  I quickly got my soaps at Bath and Body and we headed over to the Bavarian Bierhaus for a wonderful german dinner.  I may not ever get to the real thing in Germany but this one is a close second!  We even left with some Asbach brandy chocolate covered cherries!  Yumm!

The following day we leisurely packed up for our 1 1/2 hour drive on I-40 E to our next destination.  It was a rainy, crummy day but the drive did not disappoint with spectacular color!  Unfortunately, the pictures just don't do it justice!

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