Nashville

Nashville, home of country music, the Grand Ole Opry...and trailer trash. We got to our RV park, and it looked pretty good going in. When we got to our site, we noticed that, just a few rows back, were the "permanent residents". Most of them were in older rigs (you could tell by the moss growing on them); some even had window air conditioners installed. That, and the fact that they parked their work vehicles (dump trucks, tree trimming trucks, etc.) in the park.

We were in brand new sites, and the owner had tried to squeeze as many as possible into this area. I think 3 spots would have covered it, but they put in 5. When our fellow RV'ers pulled in, with everybodies slides out, we had maybe a foot of separation. OK, we won't be staying at the Timberline RV Park in Lebanon, TN again!! We had rain and cloudy weather for much of our stay here, but that beats the snow that Chicago and other places farther north were getting. At least we didn't have to contend with snow.

We headed into Nashville and visited the Opryland Hotel. We didn't catch a Grand Ole Opry show; we'll do that the next time through. The last time we were here, the Opryland Hotel was barely started. Let's just say it's huge (think hotels in Las Vegas), and very beautiful. We also explored some of the backroads surrounding Lebanon and Nashville.

The highlight of this week was our trip to The Hermitage, home of Andrew Jackson, our 7th President. This home was originally constructed in the late 1700's, and due to fires, was rebuilt in the early 1800's. It is now completely restored, with about 95% of the original furniture. Even the wallpaper that had to be replaced is exactly as originally installed. The restorers contacted the original company who had made it. Amazingly, they found the exact patterns used, so they were able to reproduce them.

Since the weather is supposed to improve, we'll be heading north again. Monday we have an appointment to have the rig serviced at the factory.