Nashville

 

We left the KOA in Horse Cave and motored the easy trip down I-65 on the 8th and landed at the Nashville Shores RV park just to the east of town. While the picture below looks pretty good this combo amusement park is pretty uncared for and not really worth the $60 a nite fee.

 

The real reason we slowed a bit this time in Nashville was to meet Jim Schuster. Jim is the son of the late Dan Schuster who I flew with in Vietnam and was killed on 4 July 1968 when Jim was about 6 months old. Dan and I went through flight school and then we flew many intense missions together and that experience was chronicled in my book "Thundering Death."

 

Jim lives in Mt Juliet and came over to the park by himself as his wife Leslie as well as their son and daughter had other planned obligations. We talked a whole lot and then went over to the BBQ joint at the marina on the premises and then back to our site below. It was like I was talking to his dad from 50  years ago with the same mannerisms, intellect, humor, and drive that bonded us together at the time and made us a great military team. Absolutely super meeting and hopefully we will be able to meet again down the road.

 



 

All the time we were sitting on the patio next to the RV this heron maintained his or her post to keep and eye on the humans ... or maybe the fish/frog population as we weren't that important.

We hadn't planned on staying another night in the Nashville park but plans down the road and the fact that the next day was Sunday let us take a deep breath and pause for a day. We have been through the town many times but have never been off the highway and seen downtown so we decided to take advantage of the neat 70 degree day.

Below is the ATT tower which intentionally resembles a Wi-Fi router ... pretty neat architecture.

We walked by the Ryman Auditorium which saw the beginnings of bluegrass and eventually the entire genre we call country music today.

The core of Nashville is a very tourist oriented place and as we walked we spotted the Jimmy Buffet place on the corner of Broadway and 4th Avenue. Anytime is margarita time. We had some really great quesadillas and the guitarist was first class with some Buffet songs and Texas country stuff and the windows were open to the 70 degree air so our corner window seat was the best in the house.

In the center in the background of the picture below is the Ernest Tubbs guitar shop of country music history ... but these two ...

... I just don't know ...