Day 58 (Saturday, August 21st) Nashville, Tennessee

We almost skipped Nashville. It had been raining really heavily and the National Weather Service was predicting floods that might rival the ones that did so much damage in May of this year. Two of the three campgrounds we were looking at had been devastated by that flooding and we weren't keen on parking just in time to get flooded out. As we were planning an alternate route, the Weather Service canceled it's flood warnings and stated that the flood waters had not gone as high as they'd worried and would begin to recede at 1:00 am on the day we were driving to Nashville. We decided to keep our original schedule and got into Nashville early yesterday afternoon.

The "new" Grand Ole Opry that was built in the 70s had been badly damaged in the May flooding so they're using the original Ole Opry House; the Ryman Theater. Our campground had discount tickets to the Friday show, headlined by Kathy Mattea and Blake Shelton, so we went to the show and saved having to see the building on a paid tour, the next day. The whole place was built in 1897. It's all wood on the inside and the stage is the same as we used to see on the old Hee Haw TV show. It was really interesting to watch because the whole 2-hour show is done live, just like they used to do TV shows in the 50s. Even the commercials are done by an announcer at a podium on the corner of the stage. Everyone there, 4 hosts, 8 acts, back-up bands, and the announcer were incredibly smooth, polished, and professional. The boys will probably best remember Blake Shelton's rendition of "Hillbilly Bone," but Kim and I will also remember watching the original group play "Rocky Top." The lead mandolinist was 81 years old but still played amazingly well.

Today we went in to see the sights of Nashville and walk along Broadway. The honky-tonks were in full swing and except for a huge rainstorm that went through we had a wonderful time. The weather map on my phone warned us about the approaching cell with just enough time to duck into a barbecue restaurant for dinner. We waited the storm out and finished our walking tour of the downtown area of Nashville.

We've altered our route home slightly to visit with relatives in Kentucky and West Virginia. Tomorrow we'll be camping at the Kentucky Horse Park and visiting in Lexington.