Greetings from Nashville

Day 1

Just arrived in Music City, USA! Off the plane, get the car, and head on out to the hotel. Adventure begins as we find out that Hotels.com took our money but did not tell the Nashville Radisson that we were coming. We squeezed our way into the hotel in spite of the Country Music Marathon taking place the next day. H & I headed downtown to see what was happening and we walked the two short streets, Second Avenue and Broadway, that host the bulk of the Nashville nightlife. Famous honky tonks in the shadow of the Ryman Auditorium, the former venue for the Opry, include Legends Corner and Tootsies Wild Orchid where the legendary stars had a drink before their turn to go onstage and where the dreamers and hungry artists still look for their big break. We fixed our appetites on pulled chicken and ribs at Rippy's BBQ over some beers and then headed over to the huge Wildhorse Saloon. This place was great! Shiloh, the country equivalent of 98 Degrees, had all the teeny boppers in straw hats swooning. In spite of that cheese, the dance floor was crowded song after song of the saloon's patrons doing their country line dancing. This was top notch entertainment and the Wildhorse regulars can really stomp their boots. I took a picture of H with Shiloh guy, one of the leaders of the band, as he passed us going back onstage after a break. We had a real good time hanging out in Nashville at the Wildhorse. When we left the streets were flooding from a torrential downpour and it was if we were walking upstream in a creek back to the car. Once on the highway it didn't let up and a tractor trailer rooster-tailed a tidal wave onto us that seemed to have no end. 50 MPH on the interstate and we could see nothing for ten full seconds as H exclaimed "OH MY GOD.... M" (we recovered, eventually).