Arrival Monday, July 20
222 Miles | 4 Hours
We end up arriving at our first Harvest Host stop at Crossing Creek Farms in Shelbyville, about an hour south of Nashville, where our hosts welcome us to their gourmet farm stand. We purchase some unwashed eggs before heading up to see Nashville for the afternoon and into the evening.
Mari is busy on calls and Webexes so Datta navigates us to the Grand Ole Opry which looks nothing like what we had pictured: it’s a modern facility with walls of glass and a gift shop that sits right beside a large shopping mall.
The place is closed but we wander around the grounds taking pictures under the large guitars and images of famous country singers and then go to the mall so we can find a restroom for Mari and end up discovering an aquarium-themed restaurant where the dining room is immersed beside several giant saltwater tanks filled with all manner of sea life with a themed backdrop that looks like the Little Mermaid’s grotto.
Mari resets our navigation to get us to the real Nashville where we walk down Broadway and pass by Rhyman Auditorium, the original Grand Ole Opry, along with a host of blues clubs under neon lights, and we end up getting a great meal at a place called The Still that serves amazing bourbon and whiskey drinks along with the best vegetarian meal we’ve had in a long time. We head back down to our farm campsite where we’re the only guests and we bed down beside the big shed where they’ve plugged us in. The next morning, Datta and Sibir explore the farm while mom gets on work calls, checking out the chickens, ducks and cows. We see the biggest frog ever floating in the creek that runs through it.
Datta and Mari take a long overdue shower and we head toward Memphis with wheels on the road by 9:30am.
Departure Tuesday, July 21
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