California Woman Fearless in Lightning Storm!

Well, that's not 100% true, it was white knuckle driving for two hours in torrential rain with lightning hitting so close to me that there was no thunder, just immediate booming and sounds like gunfire aimed at the car.  Seriously, I turned around three times but finally figured that since other fools were driving in it, it must be safe. HA! At one point I stopped in a farm supply store to ask locals if driving through lightning was dangerous and if I was going to get fried in my car. One guy said, with a very southern drawl "Well, prolly not. But it could happen." Then a woman at the checkout counter said, also in a southern voice "oh, darlin' don't let him worry you. I saw a show on the Weather Channel and they said the safest place to be in lightnin' is in your car.  Now, if a tornado happens, you get yourself right outta that car, but a tornado will prolly not happen today, but a car ain't no protection in a tornado."  Gosh, I felt safer immediately.

I like lightning, when it is outside and I am in something sturdy with walls and a roof, not in something with wheels and not driving into the storm and with rain so heavy that water is immediately inches deep in the road. What should have taken three hours stretched into more than five hours because driving at the posted speed limit was impossible, of course. But with hands cramping on the steering wheel, I persevered and arrived in Vicksburg (again) vowing to spend two nights in one hotel.....and vowing to have one day where my total miles driven for that day did not exceed 25.  This has been that day.

One forgets that Sunday is still a day belonging to a lord of some sorts here in the South. With the exception of some fast food joints and Walgreens, most businesses are closed today. This means dinner at the hotel cafe or across the street at a Mexican restaurant that has the look of a overly decorated piñata from the outside. Mediocre reviews online but I can walk there, they make Margaritas of a sort and it's open.

One odd thing I have noticed here is that the gas station food shops do not sell sunflower seeds.  What is up with that, is it just a West Coast obsession? You can buy 15 different flavors of Doritos or Cheetos, an array of fried pork skins, dozens of brands of potato chips and even fried chicken but there is not a sunflower seed in sight. I like sunflower seeds when I drive but I am guessing they never caught on in the South, although I bet baseball players have a way of getting them.

Tomorrow it is back on small roads, weather permitting. I will keep you posted.....

Mississippi River Wins Quest for Anonymity!

My quest to follow the Mississippi River has been impossible at almost every turn and therefore I am  admitting defeat and moving on. After another three hour drive yesterday morning (which should have taken two hours) and fidgeting through a five mile bumper to bumper traffic jam and rain so heavy the visibility was almost zero, combined with fog that made seeing across the street almost impossible, I give up. Finding Hwy 23 took a while, driving south towards the Gulf was at a snail's pace and I could see nothing of the bay. That was it, I admitted the folly of following the river, turned around and left NOLA. (The amount of traffic pouring into the French Quarter area made it clear I was not spending the night there.)

And I am fine with that. The river can be seen when driving over a tall bridge, which I did twice yesterday, so there you go, I have seen it, I am ready to move on.

Spent last night in Lafayette, a nice city with a university, some nice parks, good food and I met some cool people from Austin at the restaurant bar where I ate dinner last night. Today, once the low fog clears a bit, I will head north on small roads and see what the back roads of Louisiana have to show me. Right now I can hardly see across the parking lot!  But first, before I leave town, there is a journey to a local bakery and I need to find a bookstore. The one I found last night was a Christian bookstore, not exactly what I wanted.  And yesterday I actually shopped at Walmart to get a cheap pair of flip flops and the book selection they had consisted of Jesus books, romance novels, James Patterson novels (and I can't tolerate his writing) and not much else.  One John Grisham novel, which I have already read. Absolutely no non-fiction books except about god, parenting, self help. No books on current events, history, biography, memoir.... gotta love Walmart! Maybe I should check the books selection at Cracker Barrel! And yes, I totally admit I am a book snob. No doubt. 

Ok, onward!

Cracker Barrel, 8 hours and 500 miles

After wandering around Nashville for 45 minutes to find a place for dinner on Wednesday night and being rejected because "Sorry, singles have to sit at the bar and that will probably be a wait of at least 20 minutes but who knows" I decided to go back to the lovely Oak Bar in The Hermitage Hotel because I was fairly certain it wouldn't be overrun with drunk conventioneers pounding down PBR or premade Margaritas. Not that I dislike drunk conventioneers (premade Margaritas are another story) but by that time I was hungry and thirsty and I knew the bartender at the Oak Room, whom I met earler in the day could at least help with the quenching of my thirst.

There were two people at the bar (which seats ten at ten most) and nary a drunk in sight. My cocktail was one of the best I had ever had and to assuage (fancy word) my hunger I ordered an appetizer of (cliche) fried green tomatoes. It was either that or a hamburger which I had been told was the best burger in Tennessee. But as the bartender said, "You can get a great burger in any state but how often do you get the best fried green tomatoes of your life?"  She was right, of course, they were outstanding, very crisp, hot, four fat sliced tomatoes, cornmeal crisp, perched on top of housemade pimento cheese, the heat of the tomato softening the cheese just enough to make it smooth and slightly creamy.  It was the perfect meal: great food, masterful cocktail, beautiful ambience and two blocks from my apartment. Yay for me!

Yesterday (Thursday) it was time to make tracks towards New Orleans, close to an 8 hour drive, at least 500 miles. I started on the interstate but after two hours of lane changes and jockeying with semi trucks, I rerouted myself and hit the smaller highways which was a good idea until the storm hit. After two hours of hard rain, the standing water on those small roads was much too dangerous so it was back to the interstate where the road drainage is better. Close to four hours later I had had enough and stopped for the night, about 100 miles north of NOLA. 

 My plan for today is to skirt New Orleans and aim for Hwy. 23 which will take me along the Mississippi River as it makes its final journey to the Gulf of Mexico. Originally I had wanted to follow the river south all the way, but now I will see it at its most southern point and follow it northward through Louisiana. 

Cracker Barrel Restaurants: these are all over the South and are great places to stop and pee but every time I enter one I am slightly afraid. The restrooms are accessible without going into the eating area but one must navigate the merchandise area and that's the frightening part. (Well, the menu is quite scary as well, but that's another story.) The C B store is jammed packed with stuff, it's a hoarders delight, it's so crammed with everything that you can hardly walk through it without your arms touching the merchandise. Clothes, toys, hats, jewelry, food, candy, Christian books and statues, CDs, artwork, kitchen equipment, knickknacks of every sort like bobblehead dolls and magical dream catchers, on and on. Frightening, and people are actually buying this stuff! Of course, if you eat there you are forced to stand in line in the store, in the midst of all this stuff, to pay your tab. But hey,  their restrooms are clean!

If you eat at a C B it can take you 20 minutes just to get through the menu, it goes on and on. I have not yet had that pleasure (although I did ask to see the menu thinking I might get a breakfast sandwich to go but I couldn't anything quite that simple) but there's still time! 

(I wish I could post photos here but I don't have the patience or the smarts to figure out how to do that without actually using the iPad to take the photo. I am posting a few on Instagram if you are interested. Under jagjulie68)

Time to get rolling.....

I am laughing out loud; what a good day!

Outside of Nashville there is an old dog sanctuary, populated by close to 50 dogs at the moment, sometimes more. Many of the young women I work with watch a National Geographic live feed of this place and they wanted me to visit it while I am here. Being a softy for old dogs, I did just that today. I had a noon appointment. These are dogs no one wants until someone does want them, which doesn't happen often. Many are handicapped in some way: blind in one or both eyes, deaf, missing a leg, crippled from birth and often they are simply old and have been abandoned. Many have sad back stories but they are all living in a fine place. They are cared for lovingly, supported solely by contributions, there is a vet on duty and they can be homed out only to the right place.

From there I went to Arnold's Country Kitchen for a meat-and-3. It's a thing here...you get a meat and three side dishes. The meat depends on what they cook that day. Today the choices were fried fish, a giant fried pork chop as big as a dinner plate and cherry smoked brisket. I picked the brisket. The sides were many: mac and cheese, squash casserole (delish), green beans, black eyed peas, collard greens (yum), mashed potatoes, stewed tomatoes with peppers and onions (amazing). It's all cafeteria style, you roll your tray along and pay at the end. For less than $12 I got more food then I should have eaten but I ate it all. I did not get pie, however, and I sort of regret that.

I burped a lot and then went to the Frist Museum, walking distance from my place, and saw an exhibit of various paintings and sculptures from Degas, Monet, Bonnard, Van Gogh, Sisley, and others.  I am sure it had a theme but I don't remember what it was other than lovely. Better than that was a very nice show of Dorothea Lange photos, not just of the Depression era but of the Japanese Internment in 1942 and of workers during the war in various places in California. There was a good short film of Lange telling how she came to take the photos and it was a bit disconcerting to me because she looks like a sister of the actress Glenn Close. So odd.

Then I began walking back to my flat but I took a long route and it was rather warm and it was exhausting me and I looked up and lo! There was the Hermitage Hotel, a mere two blocks from where I was staying and the Oak Bar in that gorgeous hotel beckoned me.  (You should google this hotel and see the lobby, it is spectacular!). No one was at the bar, it was one minute past 5:00, the end of Happy Hour but the bartender said if I ordered quickly she would give me the HH discount.  I did, she did, and after two glasses of ice water and a refreshing bourbon drink, the path back to my flat was an easy walk. 

I will tell you about my dinner quest and its resolution tomorrow morning. It's late here and time for bed.

NASHVILLE - LUCINDA WILLIAMS - THE RYMAN THEATER !!!

Just got back from seeing Lucinda at the iconic Ryman Theater and what a kick ass show! It's the 20th Anniversary of the album "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" so she is touring and doing all the songs on the album plus more!  I have seen her four or five times in the past and I am pretty sure the first time was with Tom at the Fillmore when "Car Wheels" was just released. She was incredibly relaxed tonight, told stories about most of the songs, some funny, some poignant. Her band was so good and they played for almost three straight hours, going from that nice country sound to full on rock and roll, guitars and drums blazing. And Emmylou Harris came on and did a couple of songs with her, an amazing surprise!

Tonight was the best I have ever seen Lucinda, for the music, the perfect sound in the Ryman, for her grateful presence on stage. 
Most of her songs are about the South and she sang about towns I have just driven through: Memphis, West Memphis, Jackson, Vicksburg, Tupelo, Nashville, and many that I will see in the next week. For obvious reasons, that made it even more memorable

This is the first time I have been here in Nashville and thus far I am having fun! I spent some time in a hotel that has a great art exhibit and it's free to the public. The hotel also has a great bar where I had a cocktail and two appetizers  for dinner before the Lucinda show. Delicious treats, one was a roasted baby carrot salad with shaved asparagus and slivered radishes, poppy seeds and a cashew creamy thing...it was one of the best vegetable things I have ever eaten.  (Blah, blah, how boring to talk about random food items.) I also went into the public library and it was huge, giant rooms, tall ceilings, like libraries you see in movies. It even had a courtyard on the second floor where you could sit outside and read books!

Tomorrow there is a museum to see, another cool bar to investigate and other items of interest. I will keep you posted.  And I am posting some photos on Instagram if you want to see them. My name there is Jagjulie68.

Good night.

Wineries in Tennessee? Who knew?

As I was driving into the area around Clarksville there was a billboard advertising a winery just a couple of miles down the road. How could I pass that up, the good Sonoma county wino that I am? I made a quick lane change, followed the signs and arrived at Beachaven Winery, the oldest winery in the state. They have been in business for 33 years and make several sweet and semi sweet wines, some from fruit other than grapes. I chose not to enjoy those wines.  But I tried two whites, one blend and one Chardonnay. They were a little too fruity for me but they were refreshing and would be good on a hot day. With the exception of one red varietal, all the red wine grapes were from Lodi because, of course, they do not have the climate to grow Cab or Merlot or Babera. But the one grape that is grown in Tennessee is Chambourcin, a very nice light red varietal. It reminded me of French table wines, meant to be drunk young and enjoyed with food. They had a good red blend as well. I met the father who started the winery, his son who now runs it and the wine maker who looked like he would fit in at any wine party in Sonoma. Extremely nice people, they gave me a free travel corkscrew for the two bottles I bought to drink in the car. (Kidding, I meant in my hotel rooms during the next week.)

I also came away with a map of all the other wineries in Tennessee and I may stop at one later today, on my way to Nashville. I am curious about where other wineries get their grapes. And curious about the wines as well.

Time to find coffee and figure out my plan of the day.

Tupelo-Shilo-Paris-Clarksville

Two days worth of travels to report! From Tupelo I headed north and just across the border into Tennessee there were signs for the battlefield at Shilo, one of the bigger battles in the first year of the Civil War. Battlefields have never been my thhing but it was on the road so I made the turn and drove to the visitor center. The closer I got to it, driving through the area where the battle took place, the more dense the air became, and I had chills running up and down my arms. It was as if  I was being surrounded by something very foggy and heavy. When I walked into the visitor center and began chatting with the park ranger, he looked straight at me and said something about all the men who were buried there in mass graves and he said "Sometimes you can feel their presence."  And I swear, I felt it. It was as if bodies were standing all around me, very close but not touching me, just there, making sure I was aware of them. It was almost tangible.

I watched an excellent short film about the Shilo battle and then did a driving tour around the grounds. The entire experience was so surprising to me. You could understand how the Civil War battles were so futile in their nature, just men standing up, firing guns, reloading and getting shot while doing so. What a waste. In two days, more than 23,000 men were either dead, wounded or missing. It was a sobering visit.

My drive lead me further through Tennessee, all on two lane back roads and eventually into the small town of Paris. How could I not stay in Paris? My accommodations left a great deal to be desired, we will skip over that.

Today I drove over the border into Kentucky and across beautiful pastures, fields, meadows, rolling hills. These southern states are very beautiful, forested or farmed. Mostly I am driving small two lane roads so I am seeing a lot of rural country and loving it. Gorgeous old houses, some very well kept, some not. Tonight I am just northwest of Nashville, where I will spend Tuesday and Wednesday nights. I am going to the Ryman Theater tomorrow to see Lucinda Williams and I am very much looking forward to being in one city for two nights.

There is so much more to report,  but it's late. I will try to fill in more details tomorrow morning. For example, I visited a winery here in Tennessee, and would love to tell you about that!

Thanks for tuning in ......