Monday May 18, 2015 Thru Thursday May 21, 2015.
We have decided to not write our BLOG every day since it is
so time consuming and really pushes us in the evening to get it completed. So
we will be doing an entry after each area we visit. If we are in an area for an
extended period then we will make multiple entries for that location.
We started getting ready to leave our Pigeon Forge, TN
campground around 8am Monday May 18th but as we were hooking up the
car to tow we realized that one arm was not locking. We found an RV dealership
in Knoxville, TN that could look at the tow bar. Pat had to drive the car since
we could not hook it up. Luckily it was only about 35 miles to Tennessee RV.
This was a large dealership and service location with really friendly
staff. The service department looked at
the tow bar and we determined that a locking pin had broken and they did not
have the parts to fix it. So we decided to continue to Nashville with me
driving the RV and Pat driving the car. It was only about 240 miles to our next
campground.
Jeff and Amy also had an issue and had to get towed to
Bristol, VA to get some repairs done so they will not be arriving until the 19th.
We arrived at Seven Points COE Campground in Hermitage, TN around 3pm. This is
a great campground on the lake and the sites are spacious with water and 50 amp
electric with a dump station near the front entrance. The 60 sites are set up
on a loop with some of them on the lake. Some of the site driveways are rather
long when backing in but they are straight. We are on the inner sites but Jeff
and Amy have a site right on the lake and that is where we will sit to see the
baby ducks and other fowl.
The afternoon we arrived we called Blue OX to get the parts
for the tow bar and they sent the new parts free and with no shipping cost even
though package was sent overnight. We
then took a quick look around and drove by the Grand Ole Opry and then downtown
to see what the bars looked like. We had a quiet dinner and then called it an
evening.
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| Jeff and Amy's site |
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| Picnic area at Jeff and Amy's |
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| Our coach in site |
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| Grand Ole Opry House |
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| Guitars at entrance of Grand Ole Opry |
Day 2 (May 19th). We heard from Jeff and Amy and
they will have their part for their repair in this morning and hopefully will
be on the road by early afternoon. So we headed out to do some errands and
visit some things on our list. We headed to Franklin, TN to what I thought was
the Franklin Stove Factory but instead was an old stove factory that had been
turned into a shopping area. It was nice but not what I expected. On the way
back to the campground we did find the area where a lot of the Country Music
stars and big wigs lived. It is an area called Brentwood. Boy, were the houses
nice in that area. Amy and Jeff arrived around 7pm and Pat had her crock pot
lasagna waiting for them.
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| Metal structure outside of the Factory |
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| The Factory |
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| Nice stone fence |
Day 3 (May 20
th). We started the day with a tour
of The Hermitage. This is the home of General Andrew Jackson who was also
President. It was a nice tour of the house and grounds and has been maintained
and in great condition even though the house is over 179 years old and most of
it is original. We enjoyed a picnic lunch and then headed back to the
campground to work on my tow bar.
The part was waiting on us at the campground and Jeff and I
went to work on what should have been an easy 15 minute fix. Of course Blue Ox
did not mention that it would go easier if I had their $62 spring tool . But we did finally get it repaired and now we
can tow the car when we leave here and Pat can ride in RV. We had ribs for
dinner and then went bar hopping downtown Nashville. It was raining when we
arrived but we dropped the ladies off in front of a bar and found a parking
spot not far away, then we joined Pat and Amy and visited a total of 3 bars to
listen to the bands and enjoy the entertainment on the dance floors. We visited
“The Legends”, “The Second Fiddle” and the best of all “The Stage”. There were
a lot more but we are not as young as we use to be.
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| Our daily visitor |
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| Mike and Jeff catching up |
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| The Hermitage Entrance |
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| The Mansion |
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| Purple Foxgloves |
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| Legends |
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| Second Fiddle |
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| The Stage |
Day 4 (May 21st). Today we had a slower start and
the drinking had nothing to do with it. Haha. It was overcast and drizzly. We
had to be a The Escape Game at 1155. We were excited about this adventure and
it did not disappoint us. We had another couple in our group so that made 6
people to help solve the mystery. We had 1 hour to follow the clues and get the
code to open our door. We had selected the hardest of the 4 adventures and this
had a 25% completion rate. We found the code and were out of the room with
under 3 minutes left on our timer. If you ever get a chance to try this please
do. It is worth the money.
We left the game feeling great and the headed to The
Parthenon. The one in Nashville not Greece. It was originally built for the
1989 Tennessee Centennial. It is a small museum but worth the $3 each it cost
with our 2 for 1 coupon from the entertainment book we got for Nashville. We
spent the rest of the day doing chores and getting ready to depart for Memphis
tomorrow. Jeff went and dumped his tanks and we will do ours tomorrow morning.
After dinner we sat around the fire enjoying the evening.
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| We escaped the room |
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| Mike trying to be Hercules |
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| Weight 7.5 tons, 6.5 ft wide, 24 ft high, 1 ft thick |
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| Athena with 8 lbs of gold leaf painted on |
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| Lion on outside of door notice his nose that has been rubbed many times --for good luck???? |
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| J Percy Priest Dam |
