A Night at the Opry

As a child I listened to The Grand Ole Opry beamed to rural Nova Scotia on the radio waves from Nashville, TN. It was on later than our bedtime and my parents were not crazy about the fact that I enjoyed country music so listening required that I turn the radio on very low and hide it under the covers.

So nothing would do but that we attend The Grand Ole Opry while in Nashville. I purchased tickets in advance on line. A mistake, given that we were there "off season" and could have selected the night that featured entertainers that interested us at the last minute.

The show is presented at The Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville.

Named for this gentleman:

Is that a bird's nest on his head?

The theme for the night we attended was Legends of the Opry and legends they were. If being old makes you a legend.

The program was two hours long, divided into half hour segments, each segment hosted by a different "legend" and interspersed with advertisements as the evening was broadcast live on WSM Radio. The emcee stood to one side of the stage and introduced the hosts, read advertisements and generally controlled the pace of the show:

Eddie Subbs, the evening's announced

It seemed to be a full house:

We were in the balcony. At the very back chairs were set up for over flow

Each legend host sang a couple of songs then introduced the two other singers on their segment of the show.

First host was John Conlee:

Other hosts included Connie Smith, Jim Ed Brown and Riders in the Sky. The oldest entertainer was Jean Shepherd who is 80. She appeared frail but could sure belt out a song. The youngest was American Idol winner Scotty McCreedy.

Before the show we spent some time on Broadway Street:

Nashville's version of  New Orleans' Bourbon St. 

Arch loved these Pedal Taverns that plied the streets for customers:

It appeared that the customers moved the carts along by pedaling

Or maybe it was the patrons who attracted him :)

We visited the Country Music Hall of Fame. Reba McIntire was a featured country singer and a short film highlighting her career and display of many of her dresses were featured.

In the film Reba said this red dress garnered more press that she did. It was quite daring for the time. Not today.

One thing I love about country music is that country stars seem to realize they are entertainers as well as musicians and wear costumes to reflect the fact. From Hank Snow's famous railroad suit:

To the beautiful dresses Taylor Swift wears:

They are all designed to entertain.

I was particularly struck by the outfit Kelly Picklar wore when she won Dancing with the Stars:

 Very tiny and meticulously made. Quite impressive when you consider the last minute aspect to costume design that must exist on that show.

And there there were the cars. The most impressive being Elvis' gold Cadillac:

The paint used for this car contained real gold and fish scales. Arch thinks the sign said there were 38 layers of paint on the car. The inside was pretty impressive as well:

The last exhibit you see when exiting the Country Music Hall of Fame is a round room lined with gold records:

All in all we had a great time in Nashville and would love to go back and visit what we missed.

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Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway in a Motorhome

Our original plan was to spend two days driving the Blue Ridge Parkway but due to unforeseen circumstances we ended up with only one day to spend there. And, as all the attractions we wanted to visit were closed for the season, the drive becomes the story. And it was quite a drive.

We entered the parkway at Galax, VA with the plan to drive on it as far as possible, then exit and take interstate 40 to Asheville, NC and then on to Harrah's Cherokee Casino where we would spend the night.

The drive was spectacular.

There are many stone overpasses and low walls on the Parkway. Made with granite from the world's largest open face quarry in Mt. Airy, I expect.

Much of the Parkway is lined with split rail fences:

In other spots beautiful granite cliffs:

At one point this herd of Highland cattle came to check out our progress:

The Parkway runs along a ridge up and over mountain tops so the views are spectacular:

At the lookoff where the next picture was take we met a woman who told us we were at the highest point on the Parkway and that the weather there was the same as in Alaska. She is a nurse in an intensive care ward and drives over that section of the Parkway each day on her way to and from work. Helps her keep perspective on life she said. Apparently it had snowed there already this fall. Glad we missed that!

In the photo below you can see the blue haze over the mountains that gives them their name:

It was pretty early in the morning when we started out so the high spots on the ridge still had some lingering fog:

At one point we encountered a detour:

That took us down the mountain and through a area of very large Christmas tree farms. For someone who lives close to the "Fir Christmas Tree Capital of the World" (That would be Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia) this was really interesting.

After about 120 miles of this we decided that we better exit and take the interstate if we were going to make it to the casino before dark. Immediately after we exited we encountered this sign:

And then this one:

As you know there is little opportunity to turn around when driving a 38 foot motorhome, towing a car, through the mountains. The grade was 6% (fortunately, I had no idea what this meant) and Arch was thrilled to practice his driving skills.  And there were trucks ahead of us on the road so we figured we would be fine. And we were.

We exited the interstate just past Asheville to drive into the mountains again to get to the casino. Following road signs that directed us through the Maggie Valley commercial strip. Then we started to climb, and climb. Then down the mountain we went:

 It is really hard to show you in a photo how steep the road was but the grade was 7.5 %. I did not need to know what that meant to know it was tricky driving. After about 10 miles of this we arrived at the casino:

The casino provides RVers with beautiful (free for 1 night) parking spots beside a walking trail and a small cheek. Very calming after such a harrowing drive.

Later we took the shuttle bus to the casino and asked the driver about the road in. "Oh heavens" he said, "the signs and GPS tell you to come that way but there is a much better, four lane road in over there. The Maggie Valley business association doesn't want the directions changed because it will hurt business" Personally, I think some higher authority should overrule the Maggie Valley business association.

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Searching for the World's Largest Granite Quarry

After a full day delay in the Chambersburg PA area - 4 hours at a Freightliner repair depot waiting to have tires looked at (only to find out they did not "do" tires) and 4 hours in a traffic jam because two semis hit each other, went off Interstate 81 and caused electrical wires to fall across all 4 lanes of highway thus closing it in both directions - it became apparent that we would not have enough time to drive the Blue Ridge Trail end to end and make our reservation at the Grand OLe Opry on Nov. 8. So we chose to do a 100 mile + section of the trail that would end in Asheville, NC.

We spent 1 night at the start of this section in Galax, VA in a beautiful, quiet RV park. As you can see, we had the place to ourselves. The tourism season in coming to an end in this area of the country.

Cool Breeze RV Resort

While looking for a campground I noticed an advertisement for "the world's largest granite quarry" in Mount Airy, NC which was only a short distance from where we were parked.

After getting organized at our camp site I couldn't find the promo piece for the quarry but how hard would the world's largest granite quarry be to find? We also wanted to check out the Blue Ridge Trail driving conditions. So off we went down a short section of the Trail and on to Mt.Airy.

What we did not know was that Mt. Airy is the birthplace and childhood home of Andy Griffith:

Now rented as accommodations for visitors to Mt.Airy:

Apparently, Mt Airy was the model for the village of Mayberry on the Andy Griffith Show. And still trades on this fame today:

Mayberry's main street

Mayberry Country Store

Remember this?

Apparently, this is also an area where people come to discover old cars that they can restore and there were several spots displaying cars of various ages and conditions for sale. Some were in pretty good shape:

And some not so much:

We never did find the world's largest granite quarry but an interesting trip never the less.

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The Old Folks go for a Walk

I am so far behind in blog posts I just realized that I missed one. This story should appear before "Traveling with Friends". Oh well!! Here it is now.

While we were visiting with Arch's family in Truro his sister Grace suggested we go for a morning walk in Victoria Park. Located in the heart of Truro this is an amazing spot to discover in an urban setting. It has everything you could ask for in a park:

There is a huge picnic area plus lots of smaller picnic spots tucked away within the park:

There are the usual baseball and soccer fields, tennis courts, etc and of course an outdoor swimming pool:

tucked in behind the trees

And a bandshell for outdoor concerts:

But, for us, the main attraction is the miles of hiking trails through the forest. We chose to take the trail to "the falls" - about a mile or so long. There are two ways to get there - a high trail thats takes you up over a very large hill and the trail we took, along Leeper's (read frog's) Brook.

Along the way there is the option to climb to the higher trail via "Jacob's Ladder"

there is another level to this stairway that you cannot see.

And various spots on the brook have interesting names - the easier to tell someone where you are:

The Witches Cauldron

And at the end:

The Falls

The next morning we went back and decided to take the "high road" to the falls. It as quite a climb but really good exercise.

To go back we had to climb up to the route we took in and, for some reason, the up looked a lot more tricky that the down. Also, it was a very frosty morning and there were a lot of slippery spots on the trail and we thought a hand rail would be useful. So we decided to follow the mid-level trail back.

What we did not know was that this trail ended  - guess where? At the top of Jacobs Ladder!!!

Looking Down

So there we stood. Three old folks (two seventy somethings and an eighty year old) and one very tiny dog. Looking down.

What to do? what to do? Go back to the top of the slippery hill? Or go down the frosty ladder?

We chose the ladder. Arch went first, carrying Dash, Grace's dog, Then Grace, then me. I thought I would stay a bit behind to take a picture but it was too scary, so sorry, no more down photos.

It was a terrifying trip but, needless to say, we made it safely.

And, don't tell Grace's children about this excursion, they will kill her!!!

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Five Great Reasons to Travel With Friends

On a cold crisp October 31st morning we left Moncton with Elaine and Rick Cochrane (http://e-rstravels.blogspot.com/ ). Elaine and Rick are headed for The Glades RV Resort in Moore Haven Florida for the winter and we are off on a nine month trip back and forth across North America.

It was an incredibly cold morning and the fall leaves crunched under our feet as we prepared to leave.

And the red sunrise did not bode well for the day ahead. But we chose to ignore that and started on our way.

The border crossing at Houlton was uneventful.Then 2 quick stops - one in Houlton for gas and another in Bangor for Verizon MiFi cards and a minutes card for our trachones. The on to Lewiston for the night.

Reason #1 They are good company when things go wrong.

Then the warning of the red dawn came to be. It started to pour rain just south of Bangor and then, about 20 miles from Lewiston the Cochrane's windshield wiper motor made a big bang and stopped working. After some discussion Rick decided to keep on going to Lewiston without wipers and try to get a new motor there.

The Ramada Inn in Lewiston provides rvers with parking space, electricity and the use of their swimming pool for $15 per night. A very good deal and that is where we stayed. The weather report was for rain with high winds (the rver's enemy) for two days. And this forecast, combined with the fact that Rick was unable to get the wiper motor fixed, led to the decision to wait the storm out in Lewiston. We ate out, did some shopping and played Mexican Train to pass the time.

Elaine ordered a new motor on line to be delivered to their daughter's home in Richmond VA and after a one day layover we awoke to sunny skies and a forecast that promised no rain until Elaine and Rick reached Richmond.

Note the puddles around the Cochranes RV. We were glad we waited.

Reason #2 They are good company on the road.

We motored easily around Boston early Saturday morning with a rest stop in Connecticut:

RV Pals

And then on to Walmart in Fishkill, NY for the night.

It is always nice to have company when Wally Docking

And nothing beats having someone bigger than you lead the way through a traffic jam

Reason #3 They know about great RV site that you don't::

Pretty isn't it?

Reason # 4 They share their dogs with Arch:

Meet Lilly (next to Arch) and Tucker.

Reason # 5 They share their food with you:

Elaine prepared a delicious ham supper for us

We had a great time traveling with Rick and Elaine and it was sad to part company after 5 days on the road. But our destinations were different this year.

Rick and Elaine heading south to Richmond VA and points beyond.

Then we headed out through this spectacular exit to Nashville TN and points in the southwest.

Safe travels Elaine and Rick. See you in July.

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Starting Out on Our Big RV Trip

We left our home base in Seabright NS on October 27. After bidding most of the family farewell at family supper the week before my sister Mary and husband, John dropped in that morning for a final good by.

Arch, Mary, John

The we very carefully hooked up the dolly and loaded the car. You may remember last year's disastrous starting out day when the car went over the end of the dolly and then the Adventure Bus would not start. And we spent our first night "on the road" in a garage parking lot. So it was a great relief when the car was loaded and the Adventure Bus started and was ready to go.

We spent two days in Truro NS visiting with Arch's sister and family:

Arch's niece, Linda, brother-in-law, Cyril, sister, Grace, Me and Arch

New to this picture, Arch's niece, Jan who cook us a wonderful supper

and college classmate Janet (Walker) Killawee and her husband Arch.

Janet, Arch and Arch

It was great to see Janet again and catch up and to meet Arch.

Then it was on to Moncton, New Brunswick to stay with RVing friends Elaine and Rick Cochrane of http://e-rstravels.blogspot.com/

in the Adventure Bus in their backyard, with full hook-ups. Very convenient

And to visit with my nephew David and his family:

Here are grand nieces Renee and Emily in their halloween costumes. I "borrowed" this picture from David's Facebook page. We and Rick and Elaine actually left Moncton halloween morning to head to the USA. But that is the subject of my next post.

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To contact me click here