We left Red Bay and arrived in Nashville on Sunday May 20, staying for three days. We are at the Cedar Creek Corp of Engineers campground on the Cumberland River. It's actually located east of Nashville in Mt. Juliet. I had to pick a muddy site and it sure was after two days of heavy rain. The rain finally stopped today and the humidity dropped so it was a good day to go downtown. Our next stop will be Charlestown, Indiana for the Memorial Day weekend then Winton Woods in Cincinnati.
Our plans included the Grand Ole Opry, Johnny Cash Museum and the Antique Archaeology store. Nashville is a very busy place with heavy traffic even on weekdays. If you want to do everything here, your wallet will suffer as things are also expensive. Nashville is really all about music.
We went to the 9:30 pm show and the rain had stopped.
It
was the annual Salute to the Troops show. This
is Darius Rucker on the stage. Lee Greenwood sang his patriotic
songs.
The Johnny Cash Museum downtown Nashville. He is my favorite country singer along with Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson.
We went to the Johnny Cash Museum. He was my favorite country singer, along with Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. I wish we had all of his music. I never get tired of his deep voice. You can easily understand all of his words in his songs, unlike the modern country music that has loud instruments and volume too high to hear the singers. I like Willie Nelson's Roadhouse channel 59 on Sirius XM where they play the older music.
Plenty of Johnny's articles about his life and songs.
Some of his Gold Records.
His wall of albums. The left wall is also full of the records.
His home near Nashville was sold to the Bee Gees in 2006 after his death. The house burned down after that. This is a section of a restored stone wall from his house.
Johnny died in 2003 and June Carter Cash died in 2003. "Hurt" was his last song and video. He sat in this chair for the video. Play it here from Youtube: Johnny Cash HURT
Here are a few other sights in downtown Nashville. You can visit plenty of bars and hear country music all day and evening.
Right across the street from the Johnny Cash Museum.
The Ryman was the first home of the Opry. It's still in use today.
Our last stop was the Antique Archaeology store in Nashville. If you watch American Pickers on PBS, this is Mike's Nashville store. Mike has another store in Iowa. Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz were not there! Frank has his own store in Savanna, IL. There are antiques in this store but also plenty of hats and tee shirts.
The store is inside the old Marathon Auto Plant. There are many items in the rest of the building that were part of the plant in early 1900's along with other antiques and a brewery.
Not a large store and a bit hard to find the door.
I saw this one on a recent show.
I used a Sun Analyzer in the late 1960's at my job as a GM mechanic at Chris Volz Motors in Milan Indiana. The one I used was a later model with an oscilloscope for ignition diagnostics and much larger, on a roll around stand. I wonder if I could still operate it? It would not work on any newer model cars. Cars back then had points and distributors!
We took a short drive from Red Bay Alabama to Adamsville, Tennessee in McNairy County. This is the home of Sheriff Pusser. He was a tough sheriff from 1964 to 1970. If you have seen the three movies about him, this was his home town. The first Walking Tallfilm starred Joe Don Baker in 1973, the second film Walking Tall Part 2 in 1975 starred Bo Svenson and in Walking Tall Final Chapter, made in 1977. There was a TV series in 1981 and two more remakes in 2007.
The museum is in his house and has many items from his days as sheriff. Law enforcement fro all over the country and the world have visited the museum. There are numerous items on the internet about him such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buford_Pusser that tell his story. He carried a four-foot hickory club for several years then finally carried a gun. He said "what's right is right and what's wrong is wrong, no matter who you are".
He was shot several times, including an ambush in 1967 where his wife was killed and he had his lower jaw shot off. He underwent numerous surgeries to rebuild his face and remained as sheriff until his term limit ended in 1970. He died in 1974 when he wrecked his Chevy Corvette while apparently driving too fast.
The original house was destroyed in a fire. He rebuilt this house on the same location.
The house is just as it was when he died in 1974
There are many articles about him in the museum
Confiscated items he collected
There are hundreds of shirt patches and items police officers have left to add to the displays
There are six records recorded about the sheriff
The Corvette that crashed. He was thrown clear of the car and the car burned in the accident
While at Red Bay, Alabama, the Rattlesnake Saloon is a place to see. This was our first time to go there and proved to be an interesting place. Our friends Rod and Sandy from Milford Ohio were at Tiffin for some service at the same time we were there and we went together to the Rattlesnake. It is a saloon but also a family place, located in a "cave" in the country north of Red Bay. They serve alcohol and food items. A band plays on Friday and Saturday evenings. They also have a campground and lots of activities during the summer.
Starting off with a Taxi ride to the Cave.
Arriving at the cave
The saloon is under the cave.
View of the cave where the main seating is located
Outdoor seating is also available
The band setting up
Sandy, Rod, Lee and Mary and finger in the photo
The band was very good and the guy at the mic sang both male AND female lyrics
We left our Tennessee location on Wednesday after eight months of working at Two Rivers Landing RV Resort. We plan on returning to Two Rivers again next winter, November through April. We are now in Alabama at the Tiffin Service Center for two items. From there we will probably go to Atlanta to have a steering device called a Safe-T-Plus added to improve driving stability in windy conditions. We expect strong cross-wind this summer when we travel to South Dakota, Wyoming and other western states. Here are a few photos of our last week at Two Rivers.
My space age arm cast replaced the original fiberglass cast.
After 5 weeks, my right arm is good as new. I sure am glad to get that cast off my arm!
High dollar rigs! Prevost had a rally at Two Rivers with 32 of these $2,000,000 motor homes. This was a demo unit. We didn't go inside, just a bit out of our price range.
There were 32 of these at Two Rivers during our last full week.
Here we are lined up at the DownTown RV Park in Red Bay. We wait our turn and there are probably 150 motorhomes in town for service of some kind. We will probably be here for two weeks.
We finally attended the Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. The Dixie was recently removed from the name, someone must have complained. Our Indiana friends Doug and Marla were with us. We get free tickets since we work in Sevierville. They serve a dinner while the show is on. The building is hugh as you can see from the photos. The arena seats 1000 people and they have three shows daily. The show tells the story of the settlement of the west. Covered wagon, horses, cattle, buffalo and other animals are in the show. My photos are not the best due to low light and lots of motion.
Pre show entertainment.
The opening of the show
Lots of things come down from the ceiling. Indiana playing drums.
This week's blog is short since I am typing and mousing with my left hand. Falling down last Thursday on a ceramic tile floor caused right leg pain and cracked right wrist bones. I get to wear this nice cast for four weeks then a recheck by the orthopedics doctor. They don't have white casts now, only red, yellow, green, blue and black. The park is also short two couples, one was scheduled to leave tomorrow and another suddenly sold their 5th wheel. That leaves one couple plus Mary and half of me. I will try to work one armed when the pain in my right leg gets better. The weather is warming up but it rains almost daily.
Spring means RV travel season is here. I see many people driving with obviously low tire pressure on their cars. I see many RVs leaving the park without checking tire pressure. It's difficult to see low pressure on the large motorhome tires so you need to gauge them. Also check pressure because outdoor temperature affects tire pressure. Pressure drops in cold weather so you will need to add some aire in the winter months. Tire "thumping" is a ridiculous way to tell if they need air! Use a tire gauge.
I am a firm believer in TPMS systems. That is, tire pressure monitoring systems. These are included on most newer cars and SUVs but not on motorhomes and other RVs. There are several companies that make these aftermarket TPMS systems. I have no preference as to which brand you purchase. I just purchased my second set since they work with my new TOAD brake. You can quickly see your tire pressures without gauging every tire. They also warn of low pressure, high temperatures and sudden loss of pressure. Money well spent to prevent a blowout that will cost plenty of money or much worse.
You may be the most careful driver ever known but your tires are between your vehicle and the road. A failure can be deadly so I thought these videos might be a good idea to share on our blog. I watched these many years ago and have never forgotten how important your tires are. These videos have been seen around various tire safety sites. Michelin has produced these and apply not only to motorhomes but also all other types of RV's and even your personal vehicles. Tires are all the same except motorhome tires are just larger like tires on 18 wheelers.
The first one can save your life if you have a blow out.
Watch and remember what you learn from this Michelin video.
Tire pressure is most important in all vehicles. Low pressures will destroy your tires and makes blowouts likely. This video has more information about weighing and tire care.
