We left Barefoot Bay, Florida about 6 P.M. Tuesday, May 2nd for a planned 3 1/2 month road trip.  As usual we had crammed too much into our schedule which delayed our planned morning departure.  By the time we left all we wanted to do is get on the road.  Fortunately our first scheduled overnight stop was at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station only 190 miles away.  It felt good to put some miles behind us.

We did some last minute shopping at the Navy Exchange prior to departure for Atlanta.

We spent three nights in downtown Atlanta.  At 5 A.M. every morning we were wakened by the sound of dumpsters being emptied and dropped back onto the pavement.  It sounded like they were dropping boulders into the dumpsters.  Not good; and the experience explained why there was a package of ear plugs in my nightstand.  We relaxed, explored downtown and Jeanne managed to get us good tickets to a baseball game between the Braves & the Mets.  I was elated because the Boston Braves were my team when I was growing up.  Nearly all of my friends were Red Sox fans.  This was going to be my first, live,  Braves game.  Unfortunately the game was rained out in the top of the 3rd inning with the Mets leading 3 – 1.  It took the head umpire 2 hours to postpone the game.  It was definitely raining on our parade in Atlanta.  The next day was brighter as we visited the Woodruff Arts Center & the High Museum of Art.  The art & displays were exceptionally clean and well maintained.  It was well worth the visit.  An added pleasure was an outstanding dinner of soup & salad in their dining facility capped with a good glass of wine.

Saturday, May 6th found us bound for Chattanooga, TN.  On the way into town we rode the Incline Railway to the top of Lookout Mountain for spectacular views.

Our accommodations for the night were at a relatively new SpringHill Suites with a view overlooking the Tennessee River.  They were superb.  At the recommendation of our friend Joseph DiFiore we visited the Terminal Brewhouse and enjoyed a nice Belgian White along with great soup & salad.

The next morning prior to leaving Chattanooga we went to Rock City to get another view from Lookout Mountain.  It was spectacular as the weather turned out to be perfect giving us a view of from left to right: Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia & Alabama.

We descended Lookout Mountain and headed for Nashville.  Enroute we decided to leave the beaten path along I-24 and headed for Lynchburg, home of the Jack Daniel Distillery.  Before my father-in-law, Bill Sims, introduced me to single malt scotch, I was known to enjoy a sip now and then of fine Tennessee Bourbon, and there is none finer than Jack Daniel’s.  The four hour tour was great and of course capped off by a tasting.  Hard to think of a better way to travel in the U.S.A.

We arrived in Nashville about 7:30 P.M. Sunday evening and settled into our hotel for the next three nights.  Monday it was close to lunch time before we headed for the strip to do some sightseeing.  What should we find along the way but a White Castle.  Well Chicago girl, AKA Jeanne, jammed on the brakes and pulled into the parking lot and declared “it’s lunch time.”  So sliders it was before visiting music city.  After lunch we took the 1 1/2 hour ride on the hop on/hop off trolley.  We always do this when there is an Old Town Trolley available in the area we are visiting.  It gives a great overview of the area and helps us decide on what we will visit.  There is no additional charge for getting on and off.  Nashville is a busy city with lots of visitors and places to see, so we blended right in and did the tourist thing.  The following day we planned on visiting the Ryman Museum, Johnny Cash Museum and the Country Music Hall of Fame.  We lingered enjoying the experience of the first two and decided to leave the Country Music Hall of Fame for another day as it was getting late.  Here is a picture of our performance at the Ryman Museum.