One of the pluses to working with other racers is that Karoline and I get to take a lot of road trips to places we have not discovered.
We just purchased another Canon camera (D-60) and this this trip was our first outing with it. Awesome camera, vastly updated from our 10D. Of course I drug along my little Sony for the lightweight stuff, pit shots, ect.
I have traveled pretty extensively by motorcycle and car and there are some awesome, historic places to see in the south. This year Nashville Tennessee was on our racing agenda and on the road trip we discovered a lot of cool places along the way.
We spent a few days in Murphysboro Illinois area visting our friends Brian and Kathy. They took us to Giant City State Park. Pretty sweet rock formations, a lot of caves and coves and some really cool hiking. We spent the day hiking through a small portion of the park, there are a slew of trails to hike here. Was pretty cool, kind of reminded me of the Wisconsin Dells area.
From there we stopped at a park (see photos) which was built by a father who's son had died on his graduation night. The kid was into Dungeons and Dragons and so the park is 100% themed on his son's favorite game. Awesome memorial from father to son.
While there I insisted on hitting the 17th street BBQ. Rated number one for 3 years, I just had to try it. So heres my take. It is very unusual BBQ, not a dry rub and not a slather/wet BBQ. They use a vinegar based sauce which really creates a different take on BBQ. I loved it. Karoline, Brian and Kathy weren't as enthused. We all agreed that the onon rings were kick ass and I liked the cold slaw which also used a sweet vinegar sauce.
Leaving Brians place we found the home of Superman along the way to Nashville. Yep there is a city called Metropolis. Now we never did meet Clark Kent or Superman, although there were quite a few statues and shops hawking his wares.
Our first stop in the Nashville area was at the Grand Old Opry which was moved from it's original location which was Ryman Auditorium. The place is overwhelming, huge and so we spent a few hours (or more) checking the place out, did a little shopping in the oulet mall (one of our favorite past times is spending money, which helps to keep the economy rolling along :)
From there we headed over to Lebanon to the Nashville Speedway for the WERA roadracing series. It rained incesently all weekend and Allan finished mid pack chasing setup issues. Once that was out of the way Karoline and I ventured into Nashville proper and checked out the town, specifically "the district". We stopped off at another award winning BBQ pit, Jacks on Broadway where we had a killer BBQ dinner. (man I love BBQ when its done right, and they do it right in the south!).
From there we just wandered around town checking out all of the history this place has. I have to say that this is a place I could live in. Traffic's not bad, great food, awesome downtown district and miles and miles of twisty roads throughout the state.
In the future we are planning to check out Memphis. Another place with a lot of history.
There are a few links to sites related to the area on the sidebar.
Cheers,
Jim
