Road Trip - Day 2

Depature Point: Nashville, TN
Departure Time: 9:00am
Destination: Amarillo, TX
Miles Today: 964.6
Miles So Far: 696.4

Today is going to be the longest day by far. Originally we were goint to stop for the night in Oklahoma City but that put us in to Albuquerque too late in the evening the next day.

This morning started with breakfast at the Noshville Deli. I had a potato knish for the first time which I can only describe as a hockey puck made from 43lbs of mashed potatos, wrapped in dough. It almost killed me.

Potential stops today are:

• The International Rockabilly Hall of Fame (Jackson, TN)
• Casey Jones Home & Railroad (Jackson, TN)
• Victorian Village Historic District (Memphis, TN)
• The Rendezvous BBQ Restaraunt (Memphis, TN)
• Graceland (Memphis, TN)
• Bill Clinton Library (Little Rock, AR)
• Woody Guthrie's Home Town (Okemah, OK)
• National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum (Oklahoma City, OK)
• Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial (Oklahoma City, OK)
• The 2nd Largest Cross in the Western Hemisphere (Groom, TX)
• The Big Texan Steakhouse, Home of the Free 72oz Steak (Amarillo, TX)

Realistically, I think we are stopping at Graceland, the BBQ joint, a quick stop in Okemah and maybe pull off on the side of the road for the 2nd largest cross.

Road Trip - Hard Rock Cafe Doesn't

My fiance has a collection of Hard Rock Cafe shot glasses. I usually try and get her one when I travel. We made it to Nashville tonight and had some time to go downtown and walk around a bit and get some dinner. Downtown Nashville on Broadway is Music Row. It's a street lined with bars and clubs and concert halls. There's live music everywhere, neon signs, bars, karaoke, you name it. Alcoholics and music lovers can presumably rock long into the night. We walked around a bit and walked down to the end of the street. The Hard Rock Cafe Nashville is located on the last block of Broadway, right at the water front. I wasn't planning on eating there, but I wanted to run in and get Laura a shot glass. Nope. Closed. The Hard Rock Cafe closes at 8:30. EIGHT THIRTY!!! What the hell?

Road Trip - Day 1

So I'm on a road trip. A friend of mine, who we'll call "Mike" (for the sake of anonymity) is moving to San Francisco and invited me to tag along for the drive across the country. I've never really been on a big road trip so I accepted. Today is the first day on the road.

Departure Point: Washington DC
Departure Time: 6:00am
Destination: Nashville, TN
Miles Today: 696.4

Well, we got off to kinda a bad start. Mike was about 50 minutes late picking me up and we got stuck in some DC morning rush hour traffic. Apparently there was an accident on the beltway.


Our route today took us out 66 and down 81 through the Shenendoah Valley, through Bristol VA, into Tenessee, then through Knoxville and on to Nashville for a delightful stay in Best Western - Music Row.


We made a few stops along the way, the first of which was Natural Bridge. Now truthfully, I have been looking forward to seeing all kinds of kitschy things along the way, but was not fully prepared for what I saw on the way to Natural Bridge. You see, the really silly stuff according to my research doesn't really start until maybe somewhere in Texas or maybe New Mexico so when I saw this, I got pretty excited



The Natural Bridge itself is a rock formation that at one time was one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. While, there, if so inclined you can also visit the Wax Museum & Factory, The Natural Bridge Zoo, some sort of Dinosaur land attraction and play the lamest looking mini-golf course I've ever seen.


The next stop was in Tenesee. The Appalachian Caverns. There seem to be lots of caverns around. Endless Caverns, Forbidden Caverns, Luray Caverns, and on and on... I think once you've seen one, you've seen them all. This one claims to have some interesting bats, but the ones we saw were 1) tiny and 2) hibernating. Not so interesting.

At the moment, we're on I-40 heading west towards Knoxville and have just hit the 500 mile mark from DC.