Nashville - Music City USA

The guys at the bike shop in Lafayette, where Jim and Caroline had booked in their bikes, were great and got the work done in record time, allowing us to at least make a few miles north before camping up for the night. Our route north was almost a retrace of our route down from Clarksville, but just a little further east. In fact my Sat Nav was showing our northerly route right over the top of the trace of our southward journey for the first part of the ride.

We left Lafayette on Hwy 61 running up through Baton Rouge and Woodville to Natchez where we stopped at the visitor centre and Walmart for supplies. The plan then was to run up the Natchez Trace Parkway all the way to Nashville. Now I had never heard of the Trace and had completely missed it on the maps, but Caroline, master of research, had it all planned. And what a ride it turned out to be! 444 miles of the most beautiful tree lined road I have ever had the pleasure to ride. A road from which all commercial traffic is banned; A road without a set of traffic lights, a roundabout, a stop sign or even a give way sign for it’s entire length. It does have a 50mph speed limit, but that was fine with us. As I’ve said before, we are touring, so why would you want to rush through such an incredible road; an historic road which predates the 1814 battle of New Orleans. Indeed it was the very road along which General Jackson marched his men to that iconic battle. Merriwether Lewis (of Lewis & Clark fame) not only travelled the road but spent his final hours in an inn adjacent to it and is alleged to have committed suicide here and is buried by it. . No, it wasn’t spectacular in the way that the Transfagassen Pass or the Bear Tooth Pass is spectacular, but it was still a joy to ride with just a few RVs. due to our missing the holiday season, handful of cars and the odd clutch of Harleys and Goldwings to contend with.

The road is fringed with American Oak, Maple and Dogwood trees amongst others, with a few pine trees thrown in for good measure. As we rode through, the colours were just beginning to change to their autumnal hues. In another couple of weeks I’m sure they will be spectacular. All along the 444 miles are roadside markers showing historic places and events over the centuries and maps are freely available from all the visitor centres making navigation very easy. From the end of the Trace it was just a few miles left to our (expensive) apartment just a mile from the centre of town. Caroline had arranged to meet the owner at 2pm and we made it more or less on the dot. By comparison with the New Orleans pad it is quite sumptuous although a little odd in missing a few of the basic necessities such as tea towels or washing up kit!

Nashville was incredible, everything I had expected and more! As you walk around the town just about every bar has music of one genre or another booming from it’s doors and windows (most have open spaces where the windows should be!). Ok, the main centre i.e Broadway, was in many ways,  much like New Orleans with the addition of mobile bars which drive around, picking up passengers that then peddle the contraption along whilst drinking copious amounts of beer. I really felt for the poor guys (and girls) that had to pilots the “vehicles” through the town. However, once away from the swarming, drunken masses, there is enough music of just about every genre to satisfy even the most picky (me!). Unfortunately there was nothing on at the Ryman Auditorium on Saturday night; Friday saw Billy Idol playing to a full house, but we came up trumps at another local venue. The Ascent Auditorium had the first lady of country music, Loretta Lynn, playing along side Steve Earle and a full support cast. We booked on line and all enjoyed a fantastic night out. However, earlier on Saturday Caroline and I did the rounds of the town, taking in the Ryman, and the Johnny Cash Museum enroute. We did the full backstage guided tour and I also took the opportunity to record a CD, my first and almost certainly my last… I won’t be giving up the day job LOL. At the end of the tour, we watched a film about the history of the Ryman, which to be hones.t was worth the entrance price on it’s own. I’m not sure whether it was just 3D, or if they had used holograms, but the result was spectacular. The whole package was certainly worth the $47.50 it cost. Oh and I got the t-shirt and the sticker! If that lot makes me a bit of a saddo, so be it, but I loved it. The Johnny Cash museum was Caroline’s idea, but again it was very well done, and fascinating with lots of video and film clips plus of course loads of his music to listen too, including many songs that were completely new to me (and to Caroline). As the concert was scheduled to start at 4.45pm we then wandered back for a spot of lunch before the walk down to the Ascent.

The Ryman Auditorium 

Old Grumpy cut his first ( last!) CD at the Ryman 

We arrived at about 4.30pm, in good time so we thought. Bags were being searched as we entered the gate and of course I had my camera bag with me. Looking at the camera the girl asked me “ does it have a removable lens?”  “Yes” I replied in all innocence. “well you cant bring it in to the show!. I tried arguing and pleading but in the end I just had to hot foot it back to the apartment drop the camera. A round trip of a little over three which I accomplished in a reasonable time… considering I had a 15 minute wait at a level crossing for one of the huge freight trains to pass!  I was so annoyed I even contemplated not going to the show, but in the end common sense prevailed and I damn glad it did. The show was fantastic with all the acts on the bill giving first class performances. Obviously, Loretta was the icing on the cake, but Steve Earl, a name I knew without ant appreciation of his music, wowing the audience with a terrific set. All in all a grand finale to our couple of days in Music City Nashville

Sunday morning saw the Three Amigos back on the road looking for more adventures and heading east towards Asheville and the Blue Ridge Parkway, but not until we had ridden the infamous Tail of the Dragon. 311 bends in 11 miles sounded just like our cup of tea.

How do you like my new side line....?