Toad Suck State Park with its Senior Citizen $9 per night campsites just off I-40 is a planned 2 night stop on our way home. We figure a couple days of rest will be just the salve needed for us to face the thickening traffic as we near the Mississippi. Well we are sure wrong!
Toad Suck was great as usual but we are not as impressed with nearby Conway. We enjoy a nice stroll through downtown Conway and Toad Suck Square. After that Storm wants to hunt Munzees in Conway, but the snarling town traffic and the fact that all Munzees here are located in extremely crowded shopping center parking lots roamed by distracted drivers rather than in soothing parks like out west sends us racing back to the peace and quiet of our riverside campsite.
Next stop Nashville and a chance for some sightseeing there. I attempt to book us in a nice campground near the city that we could use as our base. Instead I found myself flying headlong into a gaggle of snowbirders headed south through the mountains who have all decided to roast in Nashville for the weekend. Since RVing is all about flexibility, we secure another 2 nights in Toad Suck and wait for the roads ahead to clear (a little). I finally find an “overflow” site at a campground north of Nashville for Sunday and Monday and am promised hookups but also warned that I will be near the train tracks though the train hardly ever blows its horn so it should be OK. Since I am grateful to the nice folks where we stayed, I am not going to say a lot about the train except Good News it never ran during the day BUT it seemed instead to run only at night almost continuously (no – it never blew the horn, but our RV shakes like it is traveling over a bumpy road at high speed each time the train whizzes by us).
Nashville traffic is the most alarming thing we have experienced since we retired. We learn that 100 people per day now move to Nashville and it seems that all 36,500 for 2016 decide to wait and arrive together on the Sunday afternoon that we roll into town. If you decide to stop here on your travels, I suggest that you tour it on your way east when your urban survival skills are still fairly fresh. While here, we visit the Ryman Theatre where we are treated to a visual and musical production about its history that is amazing – you should definitely stop in and see this treasure. The Country Music Hall of Fame teaches us a few things that we never realized – for instance we did not know that Charlie Daniels is from Wilmington, NC or that Alabama released an album in 2015. We also view the paper clip dresses worn by the Dixie Chicks and study a pistol packing Nudiemobile – the 1962 Bonneville that belonged to Webb Pierce – now on display at the museum. Although we do not have the freedom to stroll about Nashville as we would like because we opted for a tour that picked us up from our campsite, we are relieved that that we do not have to fight our way through the twisting, horn screeching, maze of cars to seek out a rare and highly prized parking space downtown. The downside of touring by bus is that most of my pictures were through the glass from the back of the bus. Here are the best of the bunch.
hey there tried to text u a few times came back with nothing on text. love the pictures as usual. glad u are enjoying your retirement.