Reflections on Tennessee

Tennessee definitely had a rough start for us. 

Arriving at 8:30pm after a 650 mile drive with sickness on the horizon, we should have known it was going to be rough.  I won't rehearse it but you can read about it here.  

We started out on the road Monday morning in Hot Springs, Arkansas and we drove… and drove… and drove… 650 miles from Hot Springs, Arkansas to Lebanon, Tennessee.  It was too far.  

(But at least we got some good car pics!)

We made a stop in Memphis to see some Elvis history and unfortunately it’s all tourist trappy (there’s a reason that rhymes with crappy…) 

But we did see Sun Records. 

The most memorable thing about that was being honked at by a punk-looking girl as we were crossing the street to the studio only to realize the girl was an employee returning from a break.  Welcome to Memphis.  Memphis was dirty and unfriendly.  We only drove through it but didn’t see anything that made us want to go back. 

We arrived at our campsite an hour east of Nashville at about 8:30pm and were in bed by 10:30pm.  Getting all settled in, we found good laundry facilities, rustic bathrooms, a spacious playground, and NO INTERNET OR CELL SERVICE.  It cramped our style, but we survived!

I have to say our experience at Show Hope was the turning point completely redeeming our time in Tennessee.  

Several of us rode horses.  (You'll have to ASK DOUG to post his video...maybe if he gets enough requests...)

I took the kids to the State Capitol and Tennessee State History Museum while Doug was in Houston puking his guts out.  We saw some amazing architecture and enjoyed reading all the Memorials in the courtyard.

All in all I'd say our time in Tennessee has been a "win".  It's time to move from Nashville to Knoxville today.  We are looking forward to seeing more history in Davy Crockett Park and touring God's handiwork in the Great Smoky Mountains.  

Hope you're enjoying touring with us.  We are missing our friends so leave a note if you can, we'd LOVE to hear from you!