June 2024 -- Through Jackson and on to Nashville

 

From Land Between the Lakes we had a short travel day south to Jackson, TN - home of the most famous railroad conductor in American history, a speed demon immortalized in song, tall tales, and a museum that we didn’t stop at.  Have you ever had someone talk to you about someone, or something, “famous” that you’ve never heard of and thought to yourself, “Is there something wrong with me that I don’t know what this person is talking about?  That I don’t know this famous thing?”  Sometimes I just sit up on my high horse and think something like, “This person talking right now obviously doesn’t know what the word ‘famous’ means because nobody has ever heard of what he’s talking about.”

I propose to avoid those problems by not naming the conductor.  If you know him, he’s famous.  If not, you’re not a Johnny Cash fan.  If you don’t know who Johnny Cash is, follow the link…

We are members of an organization (club?) called “Harvest Hosts' ' that is a network of small businesses with big parking lots that invite people traveling by RV to spend the night at their place.  There are golf courses, wineries, churches, museums, and even small towns that say, “Come on by and bring your border collie.”  Jackson was our first night at one and we enjoyed a quiet night under the stars parked in the middle of a vineyard.

I was nervous about driving off-road but I’d seen pictures of other rigs our size at the place and did my walkthrough and heavy farm equipment wasn’t leaving ruts so we went for it.  They didn’t care if we ran the generator which was great since it was incredibly hot before the sun went down but being in a field with hot exhaust scorching the grass, we shut it down as soon as the temps dropped to the mid-80s to avoid “Burning Down the House” (also mid-80s).

From Jackson we drove to Nashville and it got hilly.  We stopped at a Love’s for fuel and the interstate exit was like the roads back in Watoga.  The truckstop was also on the side of a hill and steep and rutted and harrowing.  Renee didn’t watch for much of the maneuvering, it was tight and always we have that extra challenge of not being able to back up more than a foot or 2.  Side note: this backing restriction drives me crazy.  I would rather be towing a 53’ trailer I can parallel park with.

Nashville proper was the first real traffic we hit after Fredericksburg, VA but it didn’t last long and soon we were off the interstate and driving through residential neighborhoods toward the US Army Corp of Engineers Seven Points campground.  I was convinced my GPS was messing with me again but it turns out the only way to get there is along this narrow route with low wires and even lower branches.  But you know what?  Piece of cake.

A piece of crumbling gluten free cake maybe, the kind that is still a bit stressful to eat maybe, but we did make it with no problem and we met a nice lady at the gate house who checked us in, told us about the campground and Nashville and spending 20 years living aboard a boat before transitioning to RVs.

She also answered our most pressing question as we came into Nashville.  Do we need to go to the Grand Ole Opry?  Spoiler alert: NO!!!