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| the next country star? |
La Vergne
(suburb of Nashville Tennessee)
Campground: Army Corp park, J Percy Priest Lake: Poole Knobs campground. Senior rate $10, regular $20. Water/Elec. 50amp. Mostly pull-thrus with many having lake views. Heavily wooded. Water sites are $12/$22.
Distance traveled: 128 miles
I could have easily stayed in the Crossville area for much longer, but I’d already made reservation at a campground outside of Nashville, so 128 miles down hwy I-40, the truck purring it’s pleasure at being out on the road I arrived at Poole Knobs just a little too early to set up. Someone was still on my campsite and check out time is 2pm. After sitting around for a little while, I dropped the camper at the entrance and decided to go get some lunch in town. Got back and my site was ready.
I don’t have water views this time around, in fact I’m perched on a hill surrounded by trees. I can barely see the road below me as my site is a pull-thru on the side of that hill with thick brush everywhere. Plenty of level space at the top of the grade to set up. Completely private, I can’t see another camper at all from my site. But darn, my tv antenna does not have power to it so I won’t have tv for the week. I’ll call an RV repair shop tomorrow. I’ve done a bit of checking myself, but since it’s still under warranty, I’ll let them fix it.
I finally got a hold of Dunlop Rv and was able to make an appointment for Thursday, a week and a half away. This of course puts my plans in a bit of a shambles as it is getting close to the 4th of July weekend and campsites, especially on the east coast, will get completely filled. So after a couple of hours of checking online, I’ve been able to extend my stay here at Poole Knobs campground until my Thursday appointment. Hopefully the repairs will be done quickly and I’ll be able to get to my next campground, but even if it takes all day, I was able to get a campsite through the 4th of July weekend at the Cedars of Lebanon State Park, just down the street from the repair place. Besides that, I discovered that Tennessee gives a 25% senior discount during the busy season and a 50% discount off season. How cool is that? Didn’t expect to spend any time in Lebanon Tennessee but that’s where I’ll be over the 4th of July.
Speaking of campsites and such, I was checking back over the past couple of months and I’ve been doing very good on camping fees with the month of June being the best. Here’s the tally so far:
April: $17.50 (average daily camping fee)
May: $14.25
June: $13.10
Considering that I try to keep the average camping fee around $18-20, I’d say I’ve done really well this season. A lot of it depends on which part of the country I’m in. During June I was able to use my Passport America, a couple of Army Corp/TVA sites and a Tennessee State Park with a senior discount all adding up to the $13.10 a night average rate. I love saving money.
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| Broadway street, with all the honky tonk bars |
I drove into Nashville a few days later after getting all my campsites lined up through the 4th of July holiday and felt I could now concentrate on doing a bit of tourist type activities. The major highways around and leading into Nashville are heavily congested and I did not like traveling on them, once in the center of town, I had to pay for parking. And pay dearly I did. $20 for 3 hours. I headed over to the visitors center and got some great information on where to park in the future. The Baptist Church owns an entire city block between 6th and 7th street and has a very reasonable daily rate. Most of the parking lots are privately owned and as you can tell by what I paid, are very high priced. Making for a really bad taste in my mouth as the saying goes. Note: The visitor center in the Bridgestone Arena is top notch and you can be assured of getting some really good information there. Including having your picture taken with a mike and guitar. These workers enjoy their job and it shows. Thanks for all the great info guys and gals.
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| Bridgestone Arena, great visitor center |
My first stop was at the Ryman Theatre, the “Mother Church of Country Music” and was the original home of the Grand ole Opry. It was built in 1892 as the Union Gospel Tabernacle. From 1904 when it was renamed the Ryman Theatre until 1943 it was used for many events from revivals, jazz recitals, operas, ballets and even political debates. But from 1943 till 1974 it was the home of the Grand Ole Opry and to this day still has a major place in the hearts of anyone who loves country, blue-grass and folk music. It sat idle for many years after the Grand Ole Opry moved into a much larger building. Then in 1994 it was reopened after renovations and is once again used for many concerts. It gave me tingles just to walk around the building, seeing the stage from the balcony seats as a company was setting up for the next band to perform there in the next couple of evenings. Nice to see a grand old building come back to life.
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| Ryman Theatre |
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| Mother Church of Country Music |
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| balcony added in later years |
My next stop was to the new Johnny Cash museum and without going into great detail I’ll just say it was hardly worth the entrance fee. It was crowded, the headphones and displays did not work on many of the displays and overall it just was a bit of a small town effort in a very large town with many better places to visit.
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| Johnny Cash |
I stopped in a few of the honky-tonk bars that line Broadway between 4th and 5th. Free music at most sites and no cover to enter. Great way to experience the always hopeful stars to be. Then my meter was running low and I headed out back to the campground taking a local route US 41 all the way back, a few more lights, but none of the traffic congestion on the major highways.
Since I’m in the area for a couple of weeks, I took a few days off and then headed out to visit Fontanel, the mansion originally owned by Barbra Mandrel. It’s the largest log cabin home in the world which her husband built. The logs were cut and put together in Colorado and then shipped here to Nashville to be put back together. The Mandrels lived in it for 16 years and then after the kids were all grown up, sold it and downsized. They still live in the area. Our tour guide, a musician himself led a small group through the large home giving little tidbits of info along the way (I would have preferred more) with lots of time provided to let the group wander and look around on their own. We were permitted to touch just about anything in the house and we could even sit on the furniture if we wanted too. Not your typical tour that’s for sure. The attic alone is over 6,000 sq ft of space that was used as a large closet for all of Barbra’s production outfits. The home was purchased by a couple of music agents as an investment and of course has been opened to the public with many of their awards, guitars and photos of the singers they managed lining the walls. It cost $9,000 a month for electricity to run the a/c and lights in the log cabin mansion. Imagine.
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| Fontanel |
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| Entrance |
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| The Mandrel Sisters |
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| main lodge living room |
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| formal dining room, the kids never ate in this room |
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| guest bedroom |
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| guest bedroom |
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| the kids wing, balcony |
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| Barbra Mandrels phone book, she knew everyone |
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| the covered swimming pool |
At the end of the tour, our bus driver drove us back down the one mile drive to the shops and restaurants out front. I stopped at Prichard’s Distillery for a great taste testing of their finest whiskeys and bourbons. The moonshine was really, really strong. I bought a few select bottles and hope to share with my camper buddies back in AZ if I make it there this winter. Just a note, I did not purchase the fine bourbon as it was $79 a bottle. But a peach mango blend is particularly fine, I just hope it lasts till I get out west. (grin, hic-up). Tennessee has enacted a new law that permits boutique distilleries throughout the state and I understand over 40-50 have been built since the law was enacted. Prichard’s having been around even before that law went into effect.
That’s about it for the week. It’s really hot and steamy here in Nashville this time of year. Getting into the 90’s and very humid. Thank goodness for a/c and great shaded campsites.
more photos on PICASA
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