Observations

Nashville #1

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Broadway, Nashville, is an amazing place.

By day it looks like any other shopping/restaurant/bar strip, but it is defined by the sounds rather than the sights. Music streams from the venues into the street in an oddly harmonious way. The shops play recorded music inside, but in the street you can hear a variety of live performances in the bars and restaurants that run in four hour sessions from 10.30am to about 3 in the morning.
Some of the acts we heard were really good, especially a guy named Randy Moore who was playing at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville bar. He was doing some fantastic acoustic country-style covers of recent pop/rock hits as well as country music.

Many of the shops are open until midnight, especially those selling boots, hats and clothing. The souvenir shops all have the same things in them, so you really only need to go into one and you’re done. There is a candy store that smells absolutely amazing. They make taffy, fudge, and caramel or chocolate-dipped goodies on the premises, as well as selling all sorts of other candy.

As dusk falls, the neon signs get brighter and the street fills with people. Broadway springs to life like a nocturnal creature that has been waiting all day to eat, drink, dance and party. Security staff appear at the doors of the venues, just to make sure everyone behaves themselves and has the most enjoyable Nashville-by-night experience possible.
Horses with open carriages behind them clip-clop their way up and down the street, offering the opportunity to see the city from a different perspective.

Right through the evening, people stream up and down Broadway. There are more than just stereotypical country music fans here: bikers in their leathers and bandannas, young women in short dresses and high heels, families with children, groups of teens in jeans and sneakers, as well as those in their jeans, boots and hats. Everyone is here looking for fun, or food and drink, or music, or boots, or a hat, or any combination of those things.

Roadtripping #16

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It is a mind-blowingly beautiful day in Southern Kentucky. Sunshine, blue sky, vivid greens of grass and trees, spring blossoms atop graceful trunks and branches, horses and cows in the fields, and the gentlest breeze bringing the scenery to life.

KOA Horse Cave was a gorgeous spot to camp. It’s well laid out and thoughtfully provisioned with a fire pit and picnic table for each camping site. There are lots of trees and some very pretty walking paths. Squirrels, chipmunks and ducks visited nearby while we were staying there. I still think squirrels are some of the cutest critters on the planet, despite regular assurances from my American friends that they are “pure, unadulterated evil”.

Kentucky is a really pretty state. There’s no end of “heartland” scenery here. The patchwork of farms on the landscape is lovely. There are some interesting barn designs here too, as well as the standard “American barn” style.

It is also very clean, from what I have seen. People here obviously take pride in how things look. It’s so nice to drive down the interstate and not see rubbish on the side of the road. It’s obviously something the state encourages too, with signs along the highway that read “Warren County: a certified clean county”. As a roadtripping, photo-taking tourist, it’s very much appreciated.

More than once I’ve seen three crosses set by the roadside – not the kind used to mark where someone has died in a crash,although I have seen those, too – but the kind used to remind people driving by that it’s almost Easter. It’s simple but poignant, and reminds me of Randy Travis’ song about “three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway”, so that has been playing on the brainPod today as we drive, along with George Strait’s “Heartland”.

I guess it’s not going to come as a surprise to anyone now that I’m heading to Nashville today.

Roadtripping #13

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I woke very early this morning to the sound of rain on the roof of the RV. The humid warmth of the night melted into the crisp punctuation of
big fat, lazy drops of rain splattering one after the other, until the rain gradually became softer and steadier.
I closed the windows and roof vents just in time.

Call me crazy, but rain changes everything. It’s beautiful.
This morning in West Virginia, It adds contrast in the trunks and branches of naked or newly-budding trees, and makes the colour of blossoms more vivid. Roads shimmer with silvery light, and grass comes to life with lush, bright-green enthusiasm.

As we continue to drive down I79 South, the misty rain softens the stark outlines of the trees and of the mountains that range as far as the eye can see. Near the horizon, they blend into ethereal nothingness.

There are more picture-postcard villages dotted along the highway, but the rain and the fog on the windows makes it impossible to take photographs. That’s the only thing I don’t like about the rain.

Roadtripping #12

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We have spent the day travelling from Mount Wolf/York, PA, through part of Maryland and into West Virginia. We’re heading for a KOA just north of Charleston.
From what I have seen so far, West Virginia consists largely of mountain ranges, valleys, and trees. There are also some enormous potholes in the roads. I’m not so fond of those.
This opinion is based on two hours of driving through the state.

The scenery is pretty enough, with trees sprouting new leaves and some blossom trees – vibrant purple, pink or white – along the roadside. There are some postcard-worthy villages nestled on hillsides, each with a church or two prominently positioned in the middle of each.

Even so, I am fairly certain that John Denver saw a different part of the state than me, or he was here at a different time of year, when he sang, “Almost heaven, West Virginia…” in his timeless classic, ‘Country Roads’. He was definitely more enthusiastic than me.

Funny things I’ve heard in America #4

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Earlier today we stopped at a truck stop/travel plaza for coffee and food.
Pizza seemed like a good idea, until I started talking to the guy at the Pizza Hut Express counter.
“Hi, what’s on the supreme pizza?”
“I don’t know, ma’am.”
“You don’t know?”
“Sorry, ma’am, no I don’t.”

“So, do you know what’s on the marinara pizza?”
“No ma’am, I don’t.”

“So tell me, is there any cheese on the cheese pizza?”
“I guess so, but couldn’t say for sure.”

“OK. Maybe I’ll just take the supreme pizza, thanks.”
“We don’t have any of those.”
“There’s one right here in the warmer.”
“Oh hey, cool!”

Bizarre.
I’m guessing he’s not topping any classes.

Gettysburg

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The battlefield of Gettysburg is a sobering place.
Monuments to different army and cavalry divisions from the various states are spread over the area according to where they fought and many of them died. It is these monuments that show just how widespread and varied the fighting was.

The term “battlefield” tends to make one think of a single grassy field.
These men fought in an orchard, in the woods, up and down hills, from town buildings, behind man made barricades and breastworks, from behind rocks and ridges and in gullies as well as on the open fields near the town of Gettysburg. There are still holes from bullets and cannonballs – and in some cases, the bullets still remain embedded – in buildings that remain standing today both in the town and nearer to the battlefields.
I can’t imagine the fear that would strike the hearts of even the bravest soldiers with the noises, sights, and smells of battle. The senses would all be overwhelmed. One Confederate soldier recorded the observation that the eeriest sound was that of the Union soldiers chopping down trees overnight so they could better attack and fight the southern armies the next day.

It was mind blowing to think that I was walking where those soldiers had walked… where they had fought and died… and later, where President Lincoln had stood to deliver his famous Gettysburg Address.
Lincoln was right about the soldiers in the Battle of Gettysburg being immortalised for what they had accomplished there, but he was wrong about nobody remembering his words spoken in their honour.

They say the battlefield and some of the buildings in town are haunted.
Our guide for the day, a wonderful and knowledgeable friend of mine, told us of figures showing up in photographs where nobody was evident when the photos were taken, and of others who didn’t show up in pictures when photos were taken of re enactments. A shadowy figure is often seen near Sachs Bridge, a covered bridge that stands right by the scene where the fighting first broke out.
If any place on earth might be haunted, Gettysburg would certainly be a prime candidate.

Amish country, PA.

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This is genuinely some of the prettiest countryside I have ever seen. It’s a patchwork of farms with deep green grass, yellow straw fields from the last crops of corn, white or red barns, and pretty houses.
The roads have a separate late each side for horses and buggies, or the alternative Amish transports of bicycles or push scooters. There are some scooters that are converted bicycles, with a platform to stand on between the wheels. We saw several of these, with an adult or teenager transporting a child who was standing in front of them.

We don’t see many mules in Australia, but they are commonplace here because they are the work animal of choice on the farms. Horses are reserved for transport.
We have seen families, individuals and courting couples all out for a ride on this beautiful, sunny Spring Saturday. A courting couple is distinctive because they must ride in an open and uncovered buggy.

Everything is clean and well presented. The whole scene is absolutely charming. I don’t say that to be condescending. It’s genuinely pretty, and it seems they take pride in making it so. It also seems to me that they have maintained a sweetness or pride in the fundamental things of life that our society often overlooks – family, friendship, hard work and moral values. There is no abuse of the environment here, nor any waste or litter.
There are things we could definitely learn from their way of life, even though I am not willing to give up using electricity, electronics, or my car.