Once again, travel was easy from Missouri to Tennessee. We did have cloudy skies and experienced our first hard rain and thunderstorms (intermittent) for the first time in more than 10 weeks.
Our destination was the home of Tommy’s youngest sister (mine too!) and her husband, Mike. We had enough time to make a short stop at the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum in Nashville. It was amazing and covered the beloved genre of country music from its roots to its newest groups and artists. There were tons of artifacts and information and the personally owned costumes and instruments of country music greats. We definitely need to make a return trip in the future to absorb more of what’s there. Please see the following pictures for some of the highlights.
After the museum, we got back on the road and arrived at Nancy and Mike’s just as their workdays were ending. We were lovingly greeted by Nancy PLUS their two dogs, Carlton and Cooper. Carlton is laidback and loving, and Cooper is a bundle of nervous and paranoid energy. We felt honored that over the course of the evening, he decided we were friends, not foe, and let us pet and cuddle him! Nancy and Mike are now empty nesters with all 3 kids at college, and we all put together a salmon and shrimp dinner (yum!) and then enjoyed an evening full of conversation with TV in the background. Nancy and Tom are todays featured picture.
This morning we drove to the lushly green, steamy from rain, and sweet-smelling farmland of northern Tennessee, where Tommy’s and my niece, Olivia lives with her husband Jared and sons Johnny and James, and brand-new daughter, Isla Mae, 9 days old. The family had recently moved to a home with 19 acres of land which includes a barn, a creek, pastureland, and woodland! They are also making renovations to their beautiful home—done all by themselves—to make it their idea of perfection. When we arrived, Isla Mae was happily sleeping in a bouncer on top of the kitchen table, where Johnny proudly pointed her out: “This is our baby sister, Isla Mae!” We had time to talk, share some photos and videos, and walk to see their amazing barn.
We then traveled the relatively short distance to Abingdon, Virginia and have a nice dinner at The Tavern, which we found out about last year. We walked a bit about the main streets after dinner, and returned to the hotel to find that a large contingent of a Czechoslovakian motorcycle club was checking in. Smiling, chatting and enthusiastic, their bikes and gear were fun to observe, and the accent was neat. I imagine we will have an early wakeup call tomorrow when those motorcycles take off from the parking lot below our window! That will get us up to get on the road to Nana and Pop pop’s in Cary, NC, our next stop!