Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville City & LP Field
Murray Jan & Dick in Legends Bar
Cycle Cops

Our 3 day sojourn with Jan & Dick in Nashville started with rain on the first day, but then things improved and we had beautiful summer days from then on. On Saturday night we attended the Grand Ole Opry. We saw Jessica Simpson (yes, Nick Lachey’s ex-wife) and Canada’s Crystal Shawanda make their debut; they each sang a couple of their own songs. Country music veteran Loretta Lynn also belted out a few songs. Most people would know that the Opry is famous for country music and is the number one attraction in Nashville. Although I must admit Dick & Murray got quite animated when we drove past LP Field, the home ground of NFL’s local football team, the ‘Tennessee Titans’. After that we parked downtown and walked along Broadway Ave where hopeful country & western singers play at the various clubs. Most clubs are free to enter, so we popped into Legends for a cold beer and soaked up the atmosphere. On the way home we passed the local cops on their bicycles and I asked one if he would mind if we took his photo – he asked if I wanted to be in it too, so Murray snapped the photo.

On a previous visit here Murray had spent time at the Country Music Hall of Fame and was very keen to go back for a second visit. So after a very pleasant breakfast at Cracker Barrel yesterday morning, we dropped him off and the three of us then headed to the Opry Mills for a bit of retail therapy! Last night we made the most of the beautiful summer evening and had dinner outside. Alas, they caught their flight back to DC today leaving us with pleasant memories and being able to add Nashville to the list of cities we have visited together.

Driving to Nashville

Rice Fields
Memphis on the Mississippi
Nashville
Downtown Nashville with Dick & Jan

After we left Fordyce on Thursday morning we took good advice and avoided the I-40E highway from Little Rock to Memphis as it is chockabloc with large semi-trailers. The alternative route we took along highway 79 E was very scenic and we passed numerous rice fields. Gustav had left a trail of destruction though, and the rice looked flattened in some fields. We stopped and Murray chatted to a local farmer who said so long as the fields got a chance to dry out, they would be able to harvest the crops. Many of the rice crops had already turned yellow and they usually have 10 days after it ripens (turns yellow) to harvest it. I hope they get some dry weather real soon. We drove over the Mississippi River and took the above photo of Memphis but kept going - we had visited Memphis on a previous trip and toured Graceland and checked out Heartbreak Hotel. Plus we were heading to meet up with our long time US friends Jan & Dick from Maryland. They were flying into Nashville to spend the weekend with us. We spent a night in a very basic RV stop in Jackson, Tennessee and then reached Nashville on Friday, not long before Dick & Jan arrived. They had picked up a hire car and we drove into Nashville for dinner. The rain continued though, and our visit to downtown Nashville including dashing in and out of the rain. We had ribs and pulled pork at the renowned Jack's BBQ, and walked past the famous landmarks of the Orchid Lounge and Legends Bar. Tomorrow night we visit the Grand Ole Opry.

Farewell Fordyce, Arkansas

Last Breakfast in Arkansas
Joe Bill & Sandy
Horseshoe for Good Luck

Our 3 days sojourn in Fordyce ended with brekky in our RV. On Thursday morning Joe Bill & Sandy were still without power, so we invited them to have coffee& toast with us before we headed off on the drive to Nashville. We even got Joe Bill to try some vegemite. Betsy & John Benton turned up and took their turn at the vegemite tasting. They didn’t openly gag, but they may have felt like it! Minutes later Joe Bill & John Benton’s brother Hugh Connor drove up and called out his goodbyes. However I daresay the best sight for Sandy & Joe Bill was seeing the county electricity worker appear at our RV door to tell them their power was now back on! Their lives could now return to normal.

Ranger James

Our internet is back at broadband speed, so I have been able to upload some videos. The Mozart piece played by Joe Bill's 98 year old mother has been added to the entry below. Here is Ranger James from Ouachita State Park, Arkansas. He is talking about how the coyote is depicted as the wiley one in American Indian stories. I hope you enjoy the video...

Fordyce, Arkansas

Dinner at the Meador's
That's not a knife Joe Bill!

Joe Bill & Sandy had such big plans for our 3 day stay in their town of Fordyce, population just under 5,000. They live on a property with a lake, 4 horses and a wagon. They were going to take us horse riding and for a ride in their wagon, but unfortunately, Hurricane Gustav had plans of its own and provided a deluge of rain such as this little town has never seen before. Joe Bill has lived on this property for 56 years and the lake has never been as high as it is today. It has rained, and rained and rained. I have been expecting our RV to turn into the Ark and sail out of here! But no, we are still on higher ground than the lake, but there have been numerous power outages, and the house here has had no power for over 24 hrs now and even the phones were out for awhile. We are just watching the news and seeing flood waters in Little Rock and hearing that 100,000 home are without power. The county electricity workers had been deployed to Louisiana to help there with problems associated with Hurricane Gustav, but they are now hot tailing back to Arkansas to help out with the floods and downed electricity poles here.

However, the rain has not stopped our fun...we have already had two dinner parties - one here where Murray & I cooked aussie sausage rolls and cherry flan for 8 people, and last night at Betsy and John Benton's where we had a delicious meal of chicken & asparagus casserole and lemon tart. As the power is still out, we decided we would drive in for a Sonic tonight - you know in the American movies where they drive up and a girl on roller skates comes out to take their order and delivers it to the car? Well, they have dispensed with the roller skates, but the rest is about the same.

Today we were guests at the local Fordyce Rotary meeting in the locally famous Klappenbach Bakery (http://www.klappenbachbakery.com/) where Lee & Norman Klappenbach create mouthwatering delicacies. The Rotary meeting started with a beautiful lunch of soup, salad, beans, a beef and noodle casserole and a selection of about 6 dessert pies. After that Murray & I gave a 20 minute powerpoint presentation on our US travels and Australia. We then dropped into the local radio station where Carna Coates did an interview with us (check tomorrow and see if the interview made local news: http://www.kbjtkq.com/newsmain.htm). We then came back to Joe Bill's mother's house which is on the same property as his house, and she played a Beethoven recital on the piano - she is 98 years old and played this same recital at the Ouachita University when she was about 19 years of age. Joe Bill is speaking a bit softly, but I hope you can hear him proudly introducing his mother in the video below.

Adventures on Lake Ouachita, Arkansas Day 3 & 4

State Troopers Conduct Random "Aussie Check"
Murray Chris Andrea & Gary in the Pontoon
Shelby Andrea Trish & Murray
Trish & Andrea on the Sea-Doo
View of Lake Ouachita from Chris & Gary's Home

On Saturday morning Andrea, Jessica & Shelby arrived with Randy’s cousin Chris, her husband Gary and their two sons Steve & Joey. Andrea’s husband Randy is a USAF Colonel currently deployed in the Middle East – I have mentioned in a previous blog that Randy was on an Officer course with me in Australia for 12 months so we first met him and his family back in 1999. They now live in Freeburg, Illinois, but Andrea drove the 8 hrs down to visit with her cousin and to catch up with us as it was a long weekend here. They invited us to join them in a visit to a nearby water park, but we declined the offer and had a rare day where we just sat out under our awning and chatted to passers by and watched the local wildlife around us. The same ranger (James) who took us on the stargaze cruise came past our RV while we were sitting out watching the squirrels jump from tree to tree, and observing a red headed woodpecker peck away at a pine tree in front of us. We asked James if he would mind if we videoed him giving a brief story of the coyote. A short video of his story will be uploaded soon.

A chap who was with his family in a tent on the site next to ours stopped for a chat – he is an orthopaedic nurse and described himself as a hillbilly who grew up in the Ozarks in NW Arkansas. He explained the difference between hillbilly and rednecks which was interesting for us. We had no sooner finished dinner and Andrea & Gary arrived to invite us back to their house for cocktails on their deck overlooking the lake. We got there just in time to see the sunset over the lake; it was so beautiful. They live about 2 miles from our campground in a gated area where there are 180 lots, but only 35 houses with none others to be built. Each house is secluded from the next by natural forested areas. Deer and turkey are common.

On Sunday morning Gary, Andrea & the girls picked us up at 8.30am to attend their local church, where Chris and the boys were waiting for us. En route Gary had a surprise for us – the local State Police were doing a random breathalyzer check (it is a long weekend here) and the police were mates of Gary, so he asked if they would pose with us for a photo. They were armed so we behaved ourselves during the photo shoot (mind the pun). After church we headed back to their house, changed into our bathers, packed a picnic lunch and got into their golf buggies and drove the .5 km down to their local marina where they keep their 22’ pontoon boat and sea-doo (jet ski). It was a glorious day to be on the lake, and Murray took the helm and we pulled into a cove and drove the pontoon up on the shale beach and from there we took it in turns to have rides on the sea-doo. I had never been on a jet ski before, so I went as a passenger with Andrea first, then when we got half way, we switched to me being the driver. Another new experience for this retiree….We finished our picnic, then loaded back on the pontoon and went for a cruise to check out the dam wall that separates Lake Ouachita from Lake Hamilton before returning to the house. We said our goodbyes to everyone and returned to our campground.

Just as we pulled in, a ranger walked over to advise us that the campground was on notice to receive evacuees from Louisiana escaping the impending Hurricane Gustav. We offered to move earlier if they needed the site, but he seemed to think they would have enough room as the campground was due to clear out in the morning anyway as the long weekend would be over. The ranger told us that the main highway was made one-way, instead of two lanes going north and two lanes south, all lanes were going north to allow people to move out of New Orleans and other areas of Louisiana before the hurricane was due to hit. Sure enough, a father and son soon pulled in from their home in Slidell just north of New Orleans. They got wiped out from Katrina, and as soon as this storm was predicted to hit there, they threw stuff into their campervan and headed north. We offered to cook them dinner, but they were so tired from the long drive they just wanted to sleep. Our hearts go out to them.

Adventures on Lake Ouachita, Arkansas Day 1 & 2

Crawdad Island for Stargazing
Lake Ouachita
"Tea Time" with fellow yachters
Sunset over the Lake
Joe Bill & Sandy out sailing

Our campground for 4 days in Hot Springs, Arkansas was right on Lake Ouachita which is a huge lake of 40,000 acres with a shoreline of 975 miles, as there are so many little coves. When we first checked into the campground we were initially disappointed as it was the first park we have encountered where we couldn’t get phone, internet or TV. Obviously that is how most people like state parks to be as they are camping out and are hoping to get away from it all, but for us, wherever we are in our RV we are ‘at home’ and our location happens to be in a campground! We have been keenly following the hunt for a new US president and right now both candidates are announcing their running partners and holding their big rallys, and we have enjoyed watching the political posturing each evening until now. Plus, Murray’s footy team was playing the last of the elimination games and he wasn’t able to listen to it on our computer – so our timing for having no TV or internet was not too good!

As it turned out, on our first night at the campground the park ran a 2 hr stargazing boat trip at 8pm, so we took advantage of that. The ranger took us and a group of 6 others a few miles up the lake past a finger of land where we saw lots of flickering fireflies. We reached tiny Crawdad island where we got out of the boat, walked a few feet and sat on top of a rise and looked up at the night sky. The ranger had a laser beam with him, and pointed out some of the star constellations which was interesting to us as they are quite different to those we see at home in our night skies – no Southern Cross over here. He started off the evening by recounting an American Indian folklore story explaining how the stars came to be in the sky…He pointed out the north star which is handy if you need to get your bearings at night; he explained that while all the other stars rotate around the sky depending on the time of the year, the north star stays in the same place.. Everyone in the group was friendly and one couple asked if they could drop in on us one evening to share a red wine. A very pleasant evening indeed.

On the next day we were in for a sailing adventure. Joe Bill and Sandy have been outstanding ambassadors for their State and have been keen for us to experience some of its natural wonders. Today they picked us up at lunchtime and drove us to a marina about 20 minutes away where Joe Bill’s brother John Benton and his wife Betsy have a large yacht. We spent a few very pleasant hours under open sail, far away from the maddening crowd. Storm clouds started gathering overhead and biting black flies appeared from nowhere, so we decided that was our signal to return to the marina where the fellow yachters habitually meet for ‘tea’ at 5.15pm. ‘Tea’ in this case consists of everyone bringing their preferred drink and some nibblies to share and they sit in the gangway between all the yachts and socialize. Betsy provided some tasty hors d’oeuvres, and another couple provided BBQ spare ribs they had cooked in a smoker for 6 hours - they were finger lickin’ good. The same couple also bought along freshly cooked corn on the cob for everyone – it was farm fresh and so sweet and tender. The piece de resistance was Sandy’s very popular pound cake. By the time all the regulars turned up, there must have been at least 20 people sitting or standing along the narrow walkway. We were introduced to each one of them, and it was interesting hearing them catching up on each others news and chatting with us. They made us feel very welcome. Our original plan had been to drop into a restaurant on the lake before leaving for home, but by the time we had finished on the dock, we had no need of any restaurant! A video of all aboard the yacht will be uploaded soon.

Crater of Diamonds, Arkansas

Crater of Diamonds State Park
Hi Ho Hi Ho - It's off diamond hunting we go...
Digging for Diamonds
Diamond Sluice
Wow - now that's a B-I-G diamond!

At one time Murray & I owned metal detectors and enjoyed our hobby of gold detecting, but we have never had the opportunity to go digging for diamonds. That is hardly surprising considering that there is only one diamond field in the world that allows the public to dig for diamonds – and it is right here in Arkansas! How amazing is that? Here at Crater of Diamonds State Park around 600 diamonds are found by the public every year. Fortunately for us, the park also has a campground (with electric & water hookups) that is connected to the diamond field via a 300 meter (.2 mile) leafy path through the woods. Bonus! We thought this was one experience we wanted to try. I contacted my daughter Kim (a geologist) to get the good oil on what to look for, and she provided well informed information.

We discovered we had 3 ways to search for diamonds today: surface hunting where you just walk along the ploughed field and look for a shining diamond, dry sift the dirt through a sieve or finally, use sieves in a wet sluice. We did the latter, although I left Murray to the sieving for a while and meandered around the fields with my trusty trowel, and had a dig here and there searching for an elusive shining diamond using the surface hunting method. For a very cheap entry fee of $6.50 per adult, you can spend from 8am-6pm hunting for diamonds to your heart’s content. Many people come back again and again, and arrive with their own tools, but the park also provides the tools of the trade (knee pad, bucket, shovel and special sieves) for a small fee. There are two sluice pavilions on the field. We couldn’t wait to fill our bucket with dirt that looked so promising. We excitedly sieved the dirt through two layered sieves as we swished them in the sluice. The diamonds are smaller and heavier than the residual rubble, so they fall through the bigger sieve to the smaller one underneath. A diamond weighing several carats may be no larger than a marble, so the smaller more commonly found diamonds are about the size of the head of a matchstick. It reminded me of our first foray into gold detecting…we went out to find our first nugget, expecting it to be the size of an egg, only to find the most commonly found ones are the size of half a fingernail! We live & learn.

Getting back to the diamond hunt...we had to keep swirling the sieve in the water at the same time as vibrating it up and down which forces the heavier diamonds to fall to the bottom of the sieve. We then upturned the sieve and voila, the diamonds should be on the top of the pile. Well, if you had a diamond in your dirt that is! We weren’t so lucky, and nor were any of those out digging today, but yesterday a half-carat diamond was found on the field. We may not have found a diamond, but we had fun trying and we enjoyed chatting with the Americans who came to try their luck. They came from all over, some from Alaska, another couple from Baton Rouge and folks from Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Missouri. We were grateful to have the opportunity to try something we had never done before. Just for fun, I went to Holly Hobby yesterday to buy some materials to make dream catchers (thanks Amanda) and I happened to see a 1 inch pink crystal in the shape of a diamond. I bought it and took it along today, planning to surprise Murray by hiding it in one of our sluices, but instead I used it as a joke with the other diggers. When they came up and asked if we had found anything, I would pull it out and first of all their eyes boggled, but then they realized it was a joke and we all laughed together. You will see my ‘diamond’ in some of the photos above – if you missed it, go back and see if you can pick it out! Tomorrow it is off to Lake Ouachita State Park and more adventures with Joe Bill & Sandy, and hopefully also get to catch up with Andrea, Jessica & Shelby.

Leaving the Ozarks

Sunflowers, Ducks and an Angel Food Cake!

Did you know that the Ozark Mountains are believed to be named from the derivative of the French "aux Arks" short for "aux Arkanasas" or 'towards Arkansas'. It could also mean 'towards arches' as there are many natural arches in the region caused by erosion. Either way, Branson Missouri was nestled right in amongst the Ozarks, and our route south to Arkansas took us through the remainder of the Ozark mountains. Mainly just undulating hills rather than lofty mountains. Parked next to us in the RV park in Branson was a family we only got to talk to the day they pulled out...they invited us to call in and visit with them at their home in Mountainview, Arkansas. Our route took us through their town, and as we were keen to get to know them a bit better and learn a bit more about life in the Ozarks, we took them up on their kind offer. We are so glad we did as they are lovely people and we had a very pleasant stay. They live in a converted barn which is now a beautiful 2 level home. The wood panelling used throughout the home was from pine and cedar that was felled from their property and then cut and treated to use in the building. The kitchen is filled with collectibles of sunflowers, corn and ducks that I tried to capture in the pictures! While I took these photos, Jim took Murray out with his Beagles to show him how the dogs hunt rabbits.

Jolene wanted us to experience a home cooked meal, so made all the fixin's of a great dinner. We had her own southern cooked chicken (which I have to say was finger lickin' good), served with white pan gravy, green beans and mashed potatoes. For dessert, she baked an angel food cake (like meringue mixed with cake mix - so light and fluffy) served with custard and fruit. Delicious.

The next morning it was time to move on, so we waved goodbye to Jolene, Jim & Tina and headed south. Although it wasn't in the plan just yet, we felt the need for some down time after 5 months on the road, plus we wanted to catch the last week of the Olympics. So rather than check into a State Park that doesn't have cable TV, we drove to Hot Springs, Arkansas which is about 50 miles SW of Little Rock, the boyhood home of Bill Clinton and Billy Bob Thornton. It is also a tourist mecca with people attracted to the natural thermal springs and the Oaklawn horse thoroughbred stud. We will leave here on Tuesday and check out some State Parks, dig for diamonds, fish and sail in the lake and re-unite with two different families. One family we met last year during a tour of the Kentucky Horse Park and the other family are Americans whose husband was on a 12 month Officer course with me in Aus in 1999 and who we have seen regularly since then. Unfortunately my course colleague is currrently serving in Iraq at the moment and cannot join his family with us, but he remains in our thoughts and prayers.

Last Days in Branson

The weather has been excellent during our 5 night stay here in Branson - fine, sunny days, but not too hot. No rain and NO wind! Meanwhile Hurricane Fay is pounding Florida Keys. At 5pm yesterday we attended one of Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede (the other two are at Pidgeon Forge, Tennessee and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina). We got there an hour early (seems as though everyone else had the same idea) and were thrilled to find they had parking areas for RV's which were right in front making our getaway so easy. We were the only RV in the car park.

The Stampede is a 2 hr dinner show which was very entertaining and very American -throughout the dinner there is staged rivalry between the North & South (Civil War) and lots of red, white & blue flashing lights and costumes at the end. I am interested to see Australia's version (Australian Outback Spectacular) on the Gold Coast to see if it is similarly patriotic. There were entertaining piglet races and also ostrich races with riders and at one stage longhorn cattle were in the arena - I mean, really long, longhorns! Amazing creatures. The meal was tasty started with warm mildly cheese/garlic scones (called biscuits over here) served with creamy vegetable soup, then a whole small rotisserie chicken (like a spatchcock) served with a thick slice of herb baked potato and 1/3 corn on the cob plus a thick slice of roast pork loin. Dessert was a yummy puff pastry apple triangle. Your choice of coffee, pepsi, water and iced tea was continuously topped up. The way the serving staff deliver the food and beverages is very efficient. One whole row of 34 people is served in no time. There are no cutlery to use - you just drink the soup from the small ramekin, and pull the chicken apart and eat. They provide refresh towels and serviettes to clean up afterwards thanks goodness! The room holds 1000 people and it was close to 100% capacity. Dolly Parton doesn't make a personal appearance, but she is shown on a big screen doing a thank you speech at the end. Very enjoyable evening, but sadly no cameras were allowed, so I have no photos of the colourful entertainment.

This evening we attended Clay Cooper's Country Music Express show. I was able to get a small video clip of his show which was very entertaining to say the least. We had centre front row seats which was great. We enjoyed our Branson visit so much we figure we will need to come back again next year and check out some other shows. I hope you enjoy the video...
Clay Cooper Theatre Show