Tennessee – Fried Chicken & Country Music!!
Leg 7 – Tennessee 10/25/2021 – 10/29/2021
Our journey east continues across the state of Tennessee. We literally travelled across the entire width of the state. We entered Tennessee at the southwest corner on Monday, the 25th travelling on Interstate 40 and left the state on Friday the 29th via Interstate 81. We spent 3 nights in Nashville and 2 nights at a Harvest Host. The journey across the state treated us with more beautiful sights and some tragic accidents.
Memphis to Nashville
We crossed the mighty Mississippi into Memphis and made our way to our first stop at a Harvest Host location in Jackson TN. I love to see the Mississippi River. I don’t know if it is because of my fascination with riverboats or some of the books I have read that took place on the river or just the history in general. But I enjoy seeing the river and all the activity. Once we passed thru Memphis, we started seeing cotton fields. Some were picked, some were not. I do not recall ever seeing cotton fields and it was SO cool. The fields looked like they were dusted lightly with snow but it was all the fiber ready to be harvested. I love all the beautiful scenery this journey has allowed us to see.
We arrived at our Harvest Host location, Samuel T Bryant Distillery, just before closing time and were able to get in and have our tasting. You are probably wondering what Harvest Host is. Harvest Host is a community of wineries, breweries, distilleries, farmers, museums and attractions that allow self-contained RVs to overnight on their properties at no charge. In return the RV community patronizes that business. There is a small annual membership fee but it is very much worth the cost. The distillery is our 3rd stay at a Harvest Host and we really like this program.
Samuel T Bryant Distillery makes their own Tennessee whiskey and moonshines. They had a huge selection and even some dessert spirits. Each member of the party is able to sample 4 selections of their choice at no charge. I sampled a whiskey and 3 of the shines. We ended up purchasing several bottles; a few for ourselves and some for gifts. There were a few other campers staying the night and we enjoyed a nice visit with them on the front porch of the distillery. It is always fun hearing about fellow RVers’ stories and adventures. One couple built their own conversion van and have been touring the northwest and are now making their way to Georgia then down to Florida. You can check out their journey on their Instagram page @RollVanRoll.
Nashville
Coming thru Nashville we ran into our first accident of the entire trip. The CB came in very handy. We always keep our CB on and have found that the truck drivers in the east use it a lot more than those out west. As we came up on the accident we knew which lane we needed to be in to get around it more quickly. It was enlightening listening to the truckers talk to one another and a lot of the comments were pretty funny. We also learned that Nashville is also known as “Crashville”. I guess they have a lot of accidents here. Despite getting tied up in traffic for about 30 minutes we still made it to our RV park early in the day.
It is going to take a while to untangle this!
We stayed at the Grand Ole RV Resort about 20 minutes north of Nashville. The park was very nice and the staff friendly with their Southern Hospitality. They provided live music every night and served breakfast and dinner. We enjoyed the musician that performed Tuesday night. He played many classical country hits as well as a few newer ones. Sadly, I did not grab any pictures here (shock!) but check out their website. This is a great place to stay in the Nashville area. Close enough to enjoy the city but far enough away to enjoy the countryside.
For me, Nashville is all about the country music and fried chicken. We spent the next two nights enjoying both. First let’s talk fried chicken. I would have to say, behind pizza, good fried chicken is my favorite food. And I stress GOOD fried chicken. There are so many ways to mess it up. I consider myself a pretty good cook and had many good teachers along the way; my mom, both my grandmothers and Bill’s Aunt Lucille to name a few. However, one thing I have not been able to master is fried chicken. I do not have that special touch. That being said, I am constantly on the lookout for a restaurant that makes fried chicken like my grandma used to. Hattie B’s is one of those places. Their seasoning is superb and it is fried to perfection while remaining juicy on the inside. Bill likes his Nashville Hot, but I am a traditionalist and get it Southern Style. Love Love Love!
Our first night out, we started with dinner at Hattie B’s. Lucky for us, they have a new restaurant right on Broadway. We parked and used the walk feature on Google Maps to try and locate the restaurant. I ended up getting turned around and we took a short stroll in the wrong direction. Does anyone else ever have trouble using the walk navigator on Google Maps? It messes me up every time. After our bellies were full, we walked up and down Broadway listening to the bands thru the honkytonk windows. We found a couple bands we really enjoyed and went inside to have a few cocktails. We stopped in at AJ’s Good Time Bar and Second Fiddle. Interesting fact; the bands playing in all these honkytonks do not get paid. The only money they make is from the tips they collect. WOW! The internet says differently but the bands really push for tips.
Can you name all the country legends in the mural below?
As we were walking around we came across Luke Bryan’s place, 32 Bridge. It was closed for a private event and there was a small group of people collecting around the alley way. Being the curious person I am, we walked down. The rumor was, Luke was going to be performing and everyone was hoping to get a glimpse of him coming off his bus. We waited for 10 mintues +/- and then moved on. There were many more places to check out. Maybe one day, I’ll make it to a Luke Bryan concert but I wasn’t going to waste my night waiting for a glimpse.
The next night we had tickets for the Grand Ole Opry Country Classics show. Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers were headlining and Larry Gatlin was the host. I have always enjoyed their music and was so excited to see them. The show was fantastic. The Gatlin Brothers did a “Stump the Musician” segment and asked for gospel requests from the audience. They proceeded to perform those songs. John Conlee, Exile, Rhett Akins and Ashley Campbell (daughter of Glen Campbell) also performed. It was nice to be back in a concert venue and experience the music with the other audience members. The Opry never disappoints and I will always make a point to stop anytime we are near Nashville. And also to get some Hattie B’s 😊
On the Move to NC
We enjoyed our short stay in Nashville and the time came to start the drive to the Raleigh/Durham area. We opted to take I-81 into Virginia, pick up I-74 down to Winston-Salem and reconnect with I-40 into Mebane, NC, where we will be staying for the month. We were treated to some beautiful scenery in the hills of eastern Tennessee. We also were tied up in another tragic accident. Sadly, this one turned out to be a fatality. It took us over 90 minutes to get moving again and we didn’t arrive at our Harvest Host location until after dark.
Our host for the night was Wythe Raceway; a ½ mile, high-banked dirt track. Unfortunately, there were no races scheduled that night. The overnight stay was peaceful even though we were close to the interstate. We were able to explore a little the next morning before we headed to our destination. I would definitely like to come back and watch a race here. Maybe next time we travel thru this area…
