Nashville Cats

Hello again everyone, right now I’m sitting in the car with 875 miles to go and figured that I might as well put this time to good use.

So Nashville was really cool, and part of our great time is definitely due to the gracious hospitality of our fabulous hostess Sarah, who I was great friends with in high school. Let me just say that she just bought a (really REALLY NICE) townhome in Nashville and has a great job running the websites for some really big country stars. Definitely would love for my life to be in half as good of shape as hers when I’m 23.

It only took us about 5 hours to drive from St. Louis to Nashville, so we were able to get there in plenty of time ot go out on Friday night, even after stopping in Metropolis, Indiana to take a picture with an unimpressive “Huge Statue of Superman.” If only there had not been families around, we would have been ale to take lots more interesting pictures with the statues and props. But that was probably for the best, because who knows what kind of indecency laws there are in tiny tourist towns in Indiana and it was better that we didn’t have to find out the hard way. The slightly less exciting but ultimately more appropriate pictures will soon be posted up on the trip Facebook group.

So, after our Superman detour we got to Nashville around 9:30 p.m. and soon thereafter headed out to Dan McGuinness, a surprisingly expensive and DC-ish bar for Tennessee. Lots of dancing to Top 40 and club hits while the music videos played on a screen by the DJ. (Note – see gringanomad’s blog for interesting commentary on Nashville headgear.) It was a fun place to start but we decided that we would rather be somewhere a little more Nashville so we headed to Broadway, the main drag where all the big bars with live music are. Encountered a very unenthusiastic bachelor party (one guy was falling asleep – not passing out, actually falling asleep – at the table) and an awesome but intimidating karaoke bar where the bartenders were also some of the singers. What a fun life.

Headed home and the next day (Saturday) we went back to Broadway for the afternoon and had a great time drinking beer and listening to some great bands play country music. Highlights include magically appearing tequila shots, making friends with the band at Legend’s Corner, and accidentally telling the whole bar that my name was Peggy. Saturday night we headed back to The Stage even though we were both dragging a little and saw this ridiculous country band that thought it was some kind of fusion of country, 80’s hair rock and generic Top 40 rock. Some fun covers and some awful, awful originals (one chorus: “If I had wings I would fly away/If I had wings I would fly away/I would fly away if I had wings”), followed by some girl from NYC who sang a bizarre cover of “When I Think About You I Touch Myself,” a barely-acceptable song even in the best of circumstances. Sort of an odd evening but there were some fun moments and I’m glad we went out (also glad we each only had 1 beer, so the night cost a whopping total of $5).

After we packed up and headed out this morning, we stopped for brunch at the Pancake Pantry with my friend Erin, who I met at AU through Honors 101 and who was a Delta Gamma with me. The food was great and it was great to catch up and hear about life as a PhD candidate in economics at Vanderbilt (needless to say, I’m glad there are other people in the world willing to do it so I don’t have to). The food was great and despite the length of the line running out the door and around the corner, we were seated fast and the waitress took great care of us despite the crowds. Neat little place, and Dre and I got away with splitting a breakfast and each getting coffee for a total of $13.

This brings me to our current location, on I-24 East near (in?) Murfreesboro, TN. We’re en route to West Palm Beach, Florida to visit another friend from A.U. and go to the Harry Potter park in Orlando (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) while we’re in the area. This is the only place where we are spending money – it’s about $80 per one-day ticket. A review is definitely forthcoming.

By now we are down to 846 miles to go and searching through AAA tour books and my huge atlas for possible places to camp somewhere in Georgia tonight. My friends from the bar in Whitesville KY said that the people Down South are just as unfriendly as the people Up North but they hate women more, so I’m spending my time hoping that they were wrong, or if not, that this will be a fast trip. Mostly the first one though – I’ve had a great time talking to all sorts of fun people so far.

Until next time,
Yours in Wandering,
Katie