We came onto the Tennessee state line sign, and that was easy, us being very close to the sign and only were out there for a while. We then came into Nashville after a 50 mi. drive from Bowling Green to the country music capital.I had been there once, two years ago, thinking we were going in a rented R.V. That R.V. broke because the slides wouldn't come out, and so we went in the Chrysler SRT8 300, and took many pages of homework. I vaguely remember being in a Holiday Inn with a window overlooking a wax museum. Flash forward two years, in the R.V., I passed by that wax museum and hotel as we went toward the R.V. Park. I saw that huge mall where we saw the Grand Ole Opry, where I saw Little Jimmy Dickens and all the others, including four brothers, who I fell asleep to. I saw where we went into the museum, and even the Ryman. It was cool to see where all the places we went to, and to see them again. Then we went on a long parkway, and saw all kinds of different businesses on the road. We saw three billboards right by each other, one after another. An R.V. Park called Jelllystone Park, a campground called Two Rivers, and a KOA. It was basically pick-in-choose, because we had no reservations. We thought we would go to Two Rivers because it wasn't a chain or aristocratic. We shouldn't have done that.
We came seeing a building at the front with a long gait and a flat look. It was wooden, mostly. We had the motor home running as we went into the office. I walked in a little after Dad, and as I opened the door I jumped as I saw an old man with a beer bottle, long braided white hair and a tie die t shirt with jeans. At a closer look I saw he was a manikin, and saw a sign saying Willie Nelson. I knew it wasn't Nelson, I had seen him at Rapids Jam in North Carolina. See post for details. Anyway, I was a little jumpy, but I relaxed in a second or two. Dad was waiting in line behind a lady, so I had a few minutes to look around before I averted my attention to checking in. I saw a desk where an acne faced lady sat, and a store behind her, gifts, food, ice, toys, everything you would always see in a campground office. Behind me was a lounge area with T.V. and leather couches. Behind that was a room with a pool table and some arcade games. Also a book shelf full of books. I went over. Just romance, historical romance, westerns, mysteries, and thrillers. Nothing I like, really. I like Sherlock Holmes a lot, but all they had was modern ones. T.V. westerns and movie ones are pretty good, but they just don't work in books. You know my opinion on the romances. Terrible little things about men and women having issues or having a relationship shattered, nothing of like to a 12 year old who does not date, and will not, too, until high school. Anyway, let's change the subject! I didn't find anything of interest in the book pile. I went into the store and saw some little trinkets and such. Then Dad got to the acne lady. (I'm sorry I'm calling her that, but I don't have anything else to call... I know! I'll call her Maggie.) I came over and Maggie went over all the paper work, finding out how many nights we were staying and what is in the campground, also that we were going to be behind the office in the owners site."He's not here right now," Maggie said. "So you can have the slot for two nights. After that you have to leave."
We went back in, parked the R.V., hooked up the electricity cord, got the water hooked up, made a white table up, got the green hose connected also, and did the sewage. (No details there.) Then we went in, and cleaned up. My dad's friend from photography, Todd Morrison, lives a few miles from the campground we were at, so he said he was going to come over and see the R.V with his wife, Kathy, and then we would go out to dinner with them. We threw trash away, tidied up the beds, and emptied everything out of the dining room chair. There were many papers, hats, books, even a rock and an eraser stuck in the couch. Then, as it was still like 3:00(they were coming at 5 or 5:30) Dad and I went out looking for a car wash on the Gallatin Parkway. We got in the jeep and took off. On Gallatin, we saw all kinds of businesses, and searched for car washes on Around Me, an app which shows you stores close to you that you can go to. We found one, but it was manual(like, we do it) and we didn't want to do that. We saw a tire place and another store, but they weren't car washes. We finally go to one with a one where the car goes through and where they dry and clean the interior. It was flat and had a roof on the outside over the cars with guys and hoses and such. We got in, and went through the part where the car goes in. Swishing blue cloths going back and forth, sideways too, washing and surrounding are poor little jeep, cleaning it and damping it until it's as wet as an ocean. String like cloth like monster teeth, preparing to devour us, anticipating our every move. Like that Tasmanian Devil(Taz) from Looney Tunes, the animal that spins around so much, we saw blue spinners that spun like ballerinas. They were really cool. I love going through car washes. I like to make the things into other things, if you get what I'm saying. After we were done, we got out of the jeep and left the keys in the car. We went to the inside waiting room. I read. Dad pondered I guess. We talked. There was a T.V., lounge chairs, a table, an award, a hallway where you could see cars go through the process, two bathrooms, and on one side a vending machine. It took a LOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNGGGGG time. They didn't know how to dry off the parts or drive a stick shift, and they did it very slow, obviously not caring how long they made the customer wait. Luckily though, Todd had a plumber at their house so they were going to take an hour. The people finally got done. Then we drove off, on the road again. Since Todd was going to be a while, we were hungry and went ahead to eat at a Cracker Barrel. I had soup and a Reuben. Good food. Hmm hmm good. They really are a cool restaurant chain. They have a nice store and restaurant, so you can look around while they make your food. They also have all kinds of things on their walls, everything from old documents to car parts. Their food is awesome too.
As we went down the hill to where our campground was, we saw it. Light's from Jellystone. It was beautiful, superb, unlike anything you imagined. A whole display of magical lights changing colors rapidly and giving off such a fantastic array. We just had to go down as we saw all that green, blue, and red changing and blinking. It wasn't like somebody's front yard at Christmas time, it was like you were in a dream. And a good one at that. I wish I could play it over in my head for ever and ever. We went down and found out a music station, an R.V. Park, and a music and light group all teamed up to put all these lights on, synchronize the music(that means getting music to go with the lights), make cool songs, has a big tent full of rides and food, and let people go through the whole thing. The big 98 teamed up with Jellystone and Fox News and called it: Shadrack's Christmas Wonderland, and they made what we were about to see. We payed ten dollars to go in, and then the man at the gate told us to change our music station to 94.9 FM. We drove in. It started with a really cool tune, all the red and blues and greens changing, the trees blinking, some lights going like arches, white and blue. They did all kinds of designs, it was fantastic. The song was about how a guy didn't like how everyone said,"Happy Holidays!" instead of "Merry Christmas!" The song was like, "I only have one holiday I celebrate lady, and it's called Christmas with a capital C." Then all the lights changed and the music went, "Whoooahhhhhhh etc" It was a wonderful song. Some guy was talking, saying that he wasn't going to be politically correct, that he knew that people were offended because it had the word CHRIST in it, and that Christianity is the religious heritage of America. It was a really cool song, really.
Next came all of the other Christmas songs, with the light going back and forth and such. We saw Noel, Noel; Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer; and The Sugar Plume Fairy. It was also cool to go under an ever changing canopy of lights, a three sided square above us, changing colors and moving back and forth. Going to the tent, we saw the rides, a small Ferris wheel, two inflatables, and a bungee jump thing were all closed, but a food place wasn't. Being so cold, I had hot chocolate. We left the light thing. I loved it. It was so spectacular. So...illuminating. So, Christmasy. It was a great way to start the holid...Christmas.
Todd called that he was at Two Rivers; we quickly made it back. Todd was a big fellow with short hair and a little beard, Kathy was a nice lady with blonde short hair. We had a good time talking with them and having a good time, they in fact were R.V. people, they had a truck camper. We talked about the different trips we went on, how they went to Maine and the west, and how we were on the big trip. They liked our R.V. pretty well, and we showed them all the parts. I even read a bit of my blog. Todd does stuff on the net and Kathy rents condos out in FL. She is also moving into her mother's house because her mother is in a retirement home and she is keeping up her house and her mother's, so when she wanted to sell her mothers her mother didn't want to so she's selling herself 's. She'll be moving into her mothers. Well, by and by The Morrison's left, and we then went to bed. I slept with my bed in. Too tired to blog.
Happy Christmas is what English people say. I don't know why they say it like that,
Andrew.
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