21 June, Nashville to Birmingham

I met Jack again last night, which caused me to oversleep, and miss the end of breakfast by 5 minutes. I managed to swing some coffee, cereal and bananas by using my natural charms.

Being very much a drive-by tourist, I finished Nashville in under an hour. After a couple of snaps of Broadway, I went to find the Grand Ole Opry, which is legendary throughout Tennessee. This is where the longest running American radio show is broadcast from, which has been running since 1925 and is a Country music show. I followed the signs diligently, and ended up in a massive shopping mall. After an abortive 20 minute walk, I found a garish yellow and black painted building which I assumed must be it, so that's what I've photographed. Turns out that wasn't it. Ah well…

The target today was Tupelo, but via the Natchez Trace Parkway rather than interstate. This is a 444 mile drive through a National Park, with interesting stuff to see along the way. However as I reached it and was trundling along at 40 mph with many hours to go, I realized I'd seen enough scenery in the Smokeys, and that I'd be better skipping Tupelo and going directly to Birmingham, Alabama for two nights instead of one.

So here I am in Alabama. I had no hotel booked, and found a rather swish looking one called the Aloft - the rooms are styled around loft conversions, and it's all very modern - it even has a black box so you can plug your Xbox into the 42" LCD screen. Their initial rate seemed a bit high, but I was offered the first night at full price and the second would be the last two digits of my date of birth, which, what with me being rather ancient, made a very reasonable average price! Maybe I should stay longer!!

There is an updated Bear picture in the earlier album to aid those who couldn't see it!! Almost wishing I hadn't posted it now