Around the USA in 80 motels and 123 days - Through Georgia and Tennessee

[AndyGB]

A reminder that this post is taken from a journal written by my DW (Laura) but entered here by me (Andy), hence the slightly tortured grammar !

Written 6:15pm Thu 16th April - Days Inn - Tampa

On Tuesday evening Andy and I parted company for about an hour and a half (first time in a week) and he went back to the beach to watch the sunset, but I was rather tired so stayed in the motel.

Wednesday morning we drove back into Naples for a pleasant walk to Starbucks and again noticed how 'nice' the town is. The sort of place people retire to. We then drove to Tampa stopping for a McDonalds on the way. The motel is fine but we have lots of trouble getting wifi here. In the evening we aimed to go to Pizza Hit, but it turned out to be a takeaway only place, so we drove on and found a lively pizzeria called Flippers. We were served by a very friendly waitress called Rachel who chatted to us about where we were from, the trip and so on.

This morning we headed for Sand Key beach at Clearwater and spent a lovely half day there, paddling, swimming (A) relaxing and reading. We left at 2pm and on our way back it started to rain heavily.

We had a nice meal at Chillies, a Tex-Mex place that has an interactive screen where you can order drinks , play games, pay your bill etc on your table. We then stopped off at Walmart to top up on cokes etc. Poor A has sun burnt feet now, whilst for the first time since Saturday I am pretty much sun burn free.

Written 4:45pm Fri 17th April - Rodeway Inn - Tallahassee

Poor A's sun burnt feet are very sore today. After getting some gas I drove the first 3 1/2 hours and am gradually getting slightly more confident behind the wheel. Weather was cooler and rainier today so we had the roof up. We stopped to change over at a Burger King, where I was very excited by the self serve drinks machine that could dispense over 100 types of soft drink. The diet coke options alone included normal diet coke, Lime, Cherry, Vanilla, Strawberry and Cherry/Vanilla ! We arrived at the motel just after 2pm and A was justified in packing a bath and basin plug as the room had neither, proving he is a much more seasoned traveller then me. We are contemplating The Melting Pot fondue place for tea.

Written 3:45pm Mon 20th April - Howard Johnson - Nashville

We did go to the melting pot for tea on Friday and enjoyed a special deal having the cheese fondue, salad and chocolate fondue courses, all very delicious. We did however drive to it even though it was just across the road as we couldn't see a place to cross.

Saturday we drive towards Atlanta to S, P and E's house (friends of Laura's from her church in the UK) in Kennisaw. We were a little early so drove through the centre of Atlanta but there was nothing to see apart from the business district. We were given a very warm welcome when we arrived at their house though. After settling in S drove us for a walk around the town square of the nearby town of Marietta, where we had a wander around a massive antique/craft store. She then gave us a bit of a local tour on the way back. We had a lovely slow cooked beef stew for dinner.

Sunday S & I went to her church for the 8:30 service. It's a massive place but was quieter than usual to S with only a similar number of congregation as our Methodist church at home, however they do have two later services which get busier. There is a large number of very big churches around and they apparently have to use police to control the Sunday morning traffic.

When we went back we watched the F1 than had a light lunch. We were planning o spending the afternoon at the local 'Big Shanty Festival' but it was cancelled due to bad weather, so instead S drove us to the Atlanta history centre. There was the 1930's Swan House which was apparently used as a location in the Hunger Games - Catching Fire film

a working farm in 1860's style with a kitchen, slave quarters and 'actors'. Then the museum itself with exhibitions on the 1996 Olympics and the civil war.

That evening we all went out for a meal at a local Italian restaurant and had to say goodbye to S and she a E have to leave at 6:15am to get to school for 07:30. P saw us off at 8:30.

Driving through Georgia was very much like driving through the UK. Lots of small farms with small green fields and hedgerows.

We crossed from Georgia to Tennessee which meant going back an hour as we moved from Eastern to Central time. At about 11:00 we stopped in Chattanooga for a brief photo opportunity at the 'Choo-Choo' and some lunch. We arrived here in Nashville about 3pm.

Written 2:30pm Tue 21st April - Howard Johnson - Nashville

Last night we drove into Nashville and had dinner at Ted's Montana Grill where I had Bison meatloaf and Andy had Bison steak - very tasty.

This morning we walked up to the capitol building, then went to the Military Museum and the Tennessee State Museum, both of which were free and very interesting. We found out that to 'long hunters', whose hunting trips in the 1760's could last for a year or longer, a good buck deers skin was worth one dollar, which came to be called "a buck".

After a quick stop at Starbucks we walked downtown passed the country music bars and cowboy boots shops to the waterfront, both concluding that Nashville is a very nice place indeed. Tonight we are going to the Opry Mills Mall for something to eat and then to the Grand Ole Opry House for it's live country music show. that is the longest running radio broadcast in history, started in 1925.

Written 6:45pm Wed 22nd April - Days Inn - Memphis

Well we both enjoyed the Grand Ole Opry show a lot more than we were expecting to. We saw Connie Smith, Josh Thompson, Jim Ed Brown, Steelriders, someone from American Idol, Riders In The Sky, Craig Wayne Boyd and Diamond Rio. Everyone was having a good time and it was really good fun.

This morning we set off from Nashville Memphis, but detoured across to the state line into the town of Franklin, Kentucky to get some actual Kentucky Kentucky Fried Chicken :-)

We also stopped off at a Piggly Wiggly store (a small chain of supermarkets that we only saw in the south) for me to buy one of their T-Shirts and pose wearing it by the sign. We arrived in Memphis at 5pm and are planning a quiet night after last night and our long drive ready to explore the sights of Memphis tomorrow.

Written 8:00am Fri 24th April - Days Inn - Memphis

Wednesday evening we set out for tea towards a local Pizza Hut. The first destination we had did not exist, the second one we found but was very poorly lit and very empty in what seemed like quite a dodgy area (from then onwards we called all Pizza Huts 'Murder Pizza Hut' as we were certain we wouldn't have left there alive !) so we gave that one a miss. We drove around for a bit trying to find somewhere else and eventually came across O'Celio Mexican restaurant. It was exceptionally lively with very loud music and a party of 30 or so people in the middle. We soon realised that we were the only white people in there but everyone was lovely, the food was delicious and very reasonable. I had a jumbo margarita which certainly lived up to it's name, it was massive.

Thursday morning we set off for the National Civil Rights Museum which is located at the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was shot. It was a really interesting and well set out place. Unfortunately whilst moving between buildings I fell off the kerb and twisted my ankle which is now very swollen and painful, luckily I'd packed an ankle support.

Next we drove to downtown Memphis, saw Beale Street which is pretty quiet in the daytime, had a coffee and walked to Sun Studios for some photos before heading back to the motel via a bar for a couple of beers. In the evening Andy headed back to Sun Studios and Beale Street to see it lit up and livelier, whilst I stayed at the motel to rest my ankle. Today we head towards Montgomery and Alabama.

Index

[Grump$]

Lovely report, brings back great memories of Nashville and Memphis.

[disney owl]

another great report