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1 to 15 November 2011 16 to 30 November 2011

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

We are leaving Belleville and going south!
Our plan is to go as far as Windsor and spend the night at a Walmart. Cross the States border in the morning.

Between Trenton and Toronto, the 401 has a very nice name...

Driving across Toronto is a charm. A lot easier than Montreal on a good day. The driver of this Canada Post truck waved at us and showed 2 fingers to say he only had 2 years to work and then do like us. Pretty cool!

After Toronto, a short break to stretch our legs.

There is a lot of wind turbines down this way.

The roads are nice, I am not tired of driving. We decide to cross the border at this time and carry on a little further.

On the left of the photo, you can see Detroit. We are coming up to the American customs.

WOW! Never as it been this fast to cross the border, 3 questions and we are good to go!
I think they want us to spend $$$ down here...

Detroit was pretty easy to drive through even if there was some action on the shoulder. And a nice BIG basketball...

The Interstate 75 in Michigan is not a nice stretch of road, 82 km of very bad pavement.

Ohio, here we come.

For those of you who know a little bit of the history of the Jeep. You probably get this photo...

Finally, some cheap fuel at about $0.97 per liter for diesel.

I-75 in Ohio is like a carpet, what a nice road. But I am getting tired of driving.

After a short hop of 760 km, we stop for the night at Walmart in Lima, Ohio.

We could not resist a shopping spree at this dollar store!

Usually, I prefer not to drive such a long distance, but the weather was great and the roads were almost perfect, why not!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Less than halfway to Nashville. Beautiful weather to be travelling.

After Ohio, Kentucky.

I needed a short break every few hours just to get the blood going, either in the brain or the legs, or both?

Another 50 or 60 km and we will be in Nashville.

Our campground, for a week!

After registering, as we were getting back to the motorhome, we heard the sound of air escaping. It is the right front tire of the car. It is almost totally deflated. A small piece of metal is sticking out of the tire. It just happens in the parking lot.

I take the wheel off and replace it with the spare to get the tire fixed.

We are pretty lucky this did not happen on the interstate at high speed.

Today, we travelled 685 km and I am "done". With the roads so nice, it is not that hard.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Nashville, here we come!

Today, we decided to do a quick tour downtown Nashville where the Honky Tonks are.
Honky Tonks are simply small bars where people play country music.
Most bars are narrow and long with bands playing from 10:30 am until the early morning.
From Blues to Hillbilly, Jazz and country-western, they play it all.

The purple building you see is the Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, a famous bar. It has a long history of having stars drop by for a drink after they perform somewhere else in Nashville.

Two other famous bars are the "Second Fiddle" and the "Layla's Bluegrass Inn".
We tried both of them, more on that later.

Michele is having a good time with the camera. She says I am with my friends...

As they say, "today we took the pulse of Nashville".

We only visited a few bars, if we did not mention the other bars, it does not mean they are not good.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Let's start the day with a free museum. Cooter's.
If you were watching TV in the 80s, you probably watched "The Dukes of Hazard".

Cooter was the owner of the gas station in town. He decided to make a museum celebrating the TV show "The Dukes of Hazard".

General Lee, the famous Dodge Charger 1969 of the Dukes Brothers.

They do not mention how many Chargers they demolished during the shows, but this photo gives us a good idea.

With some of the casts.

If you liked the TV show, drop by because it is interesting. It was OK with us.

Right next door from Cooter's is the Willie Nelson and Friends Museum. This one is not free, but worth it.

A nice museum, we both liked it.

In the afternoon, we took a shuttle to get downtown. This way we can "visit" a few bars and catch the shuttle back later on.
No need to drive.

The first bar we hit, the Second Fiddle. Just like in the movie Coyote Ugly, she sings and dances on the bar. You can see how narrow the place is.

Next, Layla's Bluegrass Inn, we really like this bar, always lots of people and good music. Even if the Pabst is $2.50 vice a $1.00 during the week.

One place we could not miss, we were told, was the Wild Horse Saloon. It is huge! Good food, even line dancing lessons. We found the place a little "cold" compare to the small bars.

And we have more fun with our "friends"...

Another "can't miss" bar, the Cadillac Ranch. Maybe we were there too early, but it did not do it for us.

Now the Big Bang Dueling Pianos. WOW! Super bar. Two pianos with two musicians. They also play drums, guitars and sing! Non-stop singing and when they get tired, two other musicians come and replace them. Just incredible the energy in this bar.
We loved it!

Two good days. We really like Nashville so far.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Back on Broadway, to the information center, with the big spear. Good info from this information center.

OK! Can you see the guitar? The mike?

We are visiting the "Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum".

Poor Americans, they can not take their weapons in, sad!
This is the first time we see this sign in a public place.

A very interesting museum. I would recommend this museum if you like Country Western music. Really good museum.

The Pontiac Bonneville of Webb Pierce. Pierce was very popular back in the 50s.
The photos are a little out of focus because I did not have my tripod and we could not use flash.
Pay attention to the details of the car, like the revolvers, the horse's head for control knobs, etc.

Elvis' 1960 Cadillac. With 24 carats gold trims and 40 coats of clear paint with crushed diamonds in the clear coats.
It even had a TV and a record player inside. What a luxury at the time.

One of the walls with gold and platinum records from all the Country and Western artists.

Some of the suits were used by singers. Some were pretty flamboyant.

More gold and platinum records and the spiral staircase between the 3rd an 2nd floor.

Really nice museum and I would recommend it to everyone who has even a little bit of liking to Country Western music.

The "Walk of Fame" of Country Western music.

Notice to the right of Michele, Elvis?

We ended the day with a stop at our favorite bar in Nashville...

Lots of street musicians. Another view of Broadway street.

We really like Nashville.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

We are going to visit a plantation, Belle Meade.

A beautiful rose!

Most of the plantations were lost to economic downturns or by the descendent's mismanagement.
Belle Meade was lost because of the economy.

The first house built by the Harding family. They lived in this house from 1790 to 1807.

Belle Meade as it was in 1853. In the south, you (almost) always have rocking chairs on the front porch.

Our guide for the tour of Belle Meade.

The backside of the house.

The first photo is of the gardener's house and the next photo is a replica of a slave's house. We have learned the vast majority of the slaves stayed to work at the plantation after the liberation of slaves. The slaves were treated fairly well for slaves in those days. One of the best-paid employees after the liberation was a former slave. Belle Meade was a plantation for horses. They were breeding some of the best racing horses at the time. Most great racing horses of today can trace back their ancestor from this plantation.

More fun with our friends...

Back from our visit, we went to check out the mattress sale at Camping World. Our mattress is old and lumpy. Time to change. We are taking the old mattress to the store dumpster.

But the new mattress does not fit in the trunk or in the back seat. We have to leave the door open for the drive back to the campground. It is only a 100 meters drive.

Our new mattress comes in a box, here it is out of the box.

The final product!

We had a very good visit to the plantation and on top of that, we now have a good mattress.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Nashville has a trolley with tour guides and the pass is valid for 24 hours from the time of purchase. You can get off and on at any time. Michele waiting for the trolley.

Of course, this is not free. But the price was not bad at all. We even got a percentage off for being in the military.

Our ride... Jason is our driver and guide.

The tour takes about one hour and we have chosen to go around once before we would get off to visit anything.

One of the stops...

Jason recommended this place for lunch. "Very good and cheap," he said and it was very good, cheap and fast.

After lunch, we got back on the trolley and stopped at the State Capitol of Tennessee.

It does not matter where you are from, Canada or the States, the political building always have to be big and imposing...
They are like us and are representing us after all?

A short break to read some of the information about the capitol.

As I said, it is imposing and it had to be built on a hill because "they" look after us after all!
We really liked this visit even if it was self-guided.

From the capitol, looking towards the bi-centennial park, you can see a map of Tennessee. Between the road and the bridge.

On this big map, Michele is on Nashville and I am on Memphis.

The bi-centennial park has a "history wall" and each column represents important years in time and the wall breaks it down in a more "narrow" time. This is very interesting to read. Notice the mention of French Canadians on the wall.

I think this is a very good idea for a country, province, city or village to do because it forces people to look at the importance of where they come from in time. Maybe understand better where they are going...

From the other end of the centennial park you can see the capitol, well the big "Days Inn" behind the capitol kind of takes it away.

The sound inside of this circle is particular. You can see three stars on the ground. They represent the three-part of Tennessee, The east side, the center and the west side. They are also on the state flag.

A WWII monument dedicated to all fighting men of Tennessee. A big globe and distance from Tennessee to where they fought. Tennessee's motto is "The Volunteer" state.

On our way back from Nashville. A nice view of the downtown.

Close to our campground, we have the "new" Grand Ole Opry. A very big entertainment complex and they have some pretty Christmas lights on.

The trees are actually "enveloped" in big net bags and they have lights attached to them. This way, they do not have to pick up any dead leaves from the ground. Really pretty.

Another very good day.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

For the centennial of Tennessee in 1897 and the International Exposition. The city built a replica of the Greek Parthenon in Nashville.

Notice on the photo the little "lip" or step on the floor? This is to flood the floor with water with about 3 cm of water so the morning sun coming through the main doors can reflect and illuminate the statue of Athena.

Pretty cool bronze doors.

The doors have this lion head on them. The nose is polished from all the people touching it.

In the center of the Parthenon, we have this big statue of Athena, goddess of war and wisdom (and many more). She is 13 meters tall. In her right hand, she holds Nike, the goddess of victory, she is 1.95 meters tall.
Together they have 3.6 kilograms of gold on them.

The friends we meet last year in Miami are in Nashville at the same time as us and we met them today. Cool!
Manon, Jean, their daughter Nathalie and Nathalie's daughter, Ophélie. Us in front of Athena.

Athena's shield and a back view of Athena.

A close up of Nike I mentioned before.

Us in front of a statue (Gargoyle).

In the afternoon, we visited the Ryman Auditorium. You can see it in the middle of the photo.
For the French Canadian, it may not mean much, but for the anglophones, well, probably a lot more.
This is where the original "Grand Ole Opry" started and lasted many many years.

Without getting into too many details. 1892 ended the construction of the "Union Gospel Tabernacle". So much history that I am going to let you read the information at this site.

Back at the campground, we noticed lots of Christmas lights flashing. Well, they are at the campground next to us.
Got to go and check it out. Very pretty.

We really like Nashville and the last four days have been very busy.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Today, we are leaving Nashville behind us and go to Memphis.
The campsite we are leaving behind. OK for a campground if you do mostly visiting.

We are also leaving our friends Jean and Manon. They will be in Memphis in a few days.

An easy day with only 360 km to go on Interstate 40.
Like all interstate, they are fast, lots of trucks and very boring.

Who would live in this town?

Canada in the USA!

We arrived at Graceland RV Park and Campground just after 3 pm. This campground is right next to Graceland.
Nice campground, long sites and a little close to your neighbor, but hey!

Lots of big trees on this campground.

Like I said, nice road to get here, but very boring.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Sunny day, but on the cool side.
We decide to go for a bicycle ride on Mud Island.

A very nice 6 km bicycle ride by the Mississippi River.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Our friends Jean, Manon, their daughter Nathalie and their grand-daughter Ophélie got here last evening. Their friends, Christianne and Jacques are with them.

Together, we decided to visit Graceland today.
Elvis, here we come!

This plaque tells us a little bit about Elvis. You can see notes left on the wall by Elvis' fans.

We take the platinum tour for $35 and we even got a discount of $1 for having been in the military.

A small bus takes us from the museum complex to Graceland. From L to R, Manon, Christianne, Jean, Nathalie and Jacques.
Ophélie is sleeping in the stroller.

Now, remember that Elvis purchased this place in 1957 and passed away in 1977. At the time this was a very luxurious place.

For the tour, they give you an MP3 type player with a headphone. In every room, you have the information at your fingers tips. We love this type of tour. For more information on Graceland, click here.

The living room and the music room in the back, notice the 15 foot long sofa.

The billiard room with its ceiling and walls covered with curtains.

Cutting edge kitchen.

In the basement, you also have a media room, complete with three televisions, a turntable with an 8 tracks player Hi-fi system.

The Jungle Room.

A view of the back of Graceland.

Elvis dad's office. Elvis played this piano, the evening before he died in 1977.

This racquetball court was transformed to hold more of his exhibits.

Elvis' jumpsuit, they could weight up to 40 lbs.

Elvis, his father, his mother and grandmother are buried here in the Meditation Garden.

Back to where we started. We visit the Elvis Automobile Museum.

One of his cars is this Ferrari Dino 1975.

Elvis also had 2 airplanes. This one, Lisa Marie, a Convair 880.

The inside of the Convair... Remember you are in the 1970s.

And the Hound Dog II, a Lockheed JetStar.

We visited the other small Elvis museums. It was fun and instructive.

Dinner at Marlow's.
Marlow's offers to pick you up and drive you back to your hotel or campground in a limousine for free.
Let's do it!

Our limousine, a pink Cadillac!

Marlow's is well known for his pork ribs. This is why they have a pig in the front...

Everything is about Elvis and Rock & Roll.

Nice place, nice atmosphere, very good food and they even have a lip sync singer doing Elvis songs.

This guy is a look-like of Sam Phillips. Sam Phillips was the president of Sun Studio and was also the producer of many Rock & Roll singers including Elvis.

After a very big meal, back in the Cadillac to get home.

A very busy day and it ended with good friends and a good meal.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

I am not a fan of football and I have never seen a football game in a stadium before.
The Memphis Tigers are playing against Alabama University this afternoon.
The two worst teams in the division... Let go and watch.

The tickets are only $10 each. Pretty good deal. Lots of people tailgating here today. The stadium even tells you where you go to tailgate! WOW. Here is an example of tailgating.

The Liberty Bowl stadium can hold a little over 60,000 people and as you can see, it is pretty empty.

The team mascot. A real Bangles tiger.

Quite a show was put on before the game.

And they played.

Half time with a score of 21 to 10 for the Tigers.

Both team's bands gave us a nice show at half-time.
I liked that.

A very popular snack down south is a B-B-Q turkey leg. Very good, I wonder if it is ever going to catch in Canada.

The game ends with a score of 41 to 35 for Alabama.

I really liked watching a football game live. I think I will do that again.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Our friends Jean, Manon, Nathalie and Ophélie are leaving this morning to go to Florida. Christianne and Jacques will be leaving soon too. Have a safe trip, my friends.

One of the many positive things with this lifestyle is the friends you make along the way and then meet a year later, sometimes years later. It was a pleasure to meet you again Jean and Manon. Also, a pleasure to meet your daughter Nathalie and her daughter Ophélie. To Christianne and Jacques, we are looking forward to meet you again in our travels.

This morning, we are going to church. Rev. Al green church that is.

An ordinary church.

Al Green was a very popular singer of Soul and R & B back in 1970 up until the 90s. But he is also reverent at the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in Memphis.
Michele found this place on the internet and it is supposed to be quite a mass. Some even say you come out full of love in your heart. Mass can last for 2 to 2 and a half hours.
In the church, we go!

It was what we expected and more. Just plain beautiful and entertaining. I wish more churches would do this...
The first time we looked at the time was 2 hours into the service and it was not finished. WOW, if you ever come down to Memphis, you got to see this. No, we did not find God in there, but if you believe even a little bit, it is a very neat place and if you don't believe, go anyway if just for the show.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Visiting downtown Memphis today.
We started with the Peabody Hotel and the duck's parade. Ducks come down the elevator at around 9 am and head straight to the water fountain and are taking back up the elevator at 5 pm. Pretty neat to see.
Here, we are waiting for the ducks and they showed up on time...

They are in the fountain in the lobby until 5 pm.

Memphis also has a trolley system and we use it to visit the downtown area.

After visiting Nashville, we found Memphis a little on the slow side, very few people downtown for a Monday.

The next stop is the National Civil Rights Museum.
Why the Lorraine Motel? This is where Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968.

For me, I was only 8 years old and living in Québec, Canada at the time of the shooting. I do not remember this event. This is a museum that really helps put into perspective the struggle of the black people just to be recognized as a man. It was not even all that long ago.

The white circle you see on the first floor is where Mr. King was shot and killed.

I really recommend this museum.

Back on the trolley.

A stroll on Beale Street. Beale street is the bar street here in Memphis.

Next came the Cotton Museum.

Don't quote me, but for over a hundred years this was the Cotton Exchange of all the USA, even for the world...

Nice little museum.

We had to go back to Beale street in the evening. More "life" now but still nothing like Nashville.

Perhaps, it is not the best time of the year to come to Memphis but...

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Last day in Memphis, we are visiting the Rock n Soul Museum.
The museum is right next to the stadium and they have all those balls, but be careful, they are concrete...

We found this museum average. Nice, but average. Maybe being from up north and from French Canadian origin and not part of our heritage/history, it did not interest us. Soul and R & B is not in our culture like down here.

We would not go out of our way to come to Memphis, but it is still a good place to see once in your life.
At least for us...

Until next time.

Life is good...