My Road trip from Annapolis to Austin (Part 1)

After a whirlwind farewell tour that lasted several weeks I'm sure some folks were wondering if I might ever be leaving. I had so much fun and really felt celebrated by my friends, coworkers, church family and my family. It was hard saying farewell but my friend Andy and I hit the road on Monday the 9th and we had a great time getting to Austin.

Monday
After spending Sunday night at my parents' house, I went back to my house one last time for a final sweep through. There were a handful of odds and ends to go in the POD and lock it up. I called BGE and Verizon and had my services disconnected and said one last very painful goodbye to my pets. I didn't find homes for them, so planned to take them to the SPCA, but found out that they are closed on Mondays. My parents agreed to handle that for me on Tuesday and I can't thank them enough for doing that. As Forest Gump would say - "That's all I have to say about that."

I made a quick stop back at my parents' to grab my duffle bag and fill my cooler with sodas and ice. My parents, sister Becky and my nieces saw me off and I was on my way. I had a good cry from Hillsmere to Parole, but pulled myself together to go through the bank drive-thru. I had a nice chat with my friend/pastor/former boss Bill as I drove to pick up Andy, who lives in Davidsonville. We grabbed lunch, filled up the tank and we began our journey with me driving. The worst traffic of the whole trip was at the Woodrow Wilson Bridge going around the DC beltway. I drove us out of Maryland, out 66 and got us on 81 South before we stopped for our first rest stop and Andy took over driving. That's the only strech of the whole trip that I actual drove. If you get the chance to go on a road trip with a chauffer, I highly recommend it.

We cruised that day all the way into eastern Tennessee, stopping only for dinner and to take a picture on the side of the road to send to Penni. A little homage to Marc Broussard's song - Home.

Rolling down the road going no where
Guitar packed in the trunk
Somewhere round mile marker 112
Papa started hummin the funk
I gotta jones in my bones before we know
We were singing this melody
Stop the car pulled out the guitar
Halfway to New Orleans

Its the first song Penni ever sang in public and she gives me credit for the nudge to get up there and perform.

Tuesday
We hit Nashville around lunchtime and started our exploring at the visitor center right in the heart of town. Grabbed some coupons and headed to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Great museum with all these little listening booths throughout where you could experience the music from the era that you were currently reading about. They had an amazing collection of clothes, guitars and all sorts of memorabilia. A special exhibit on Hank Williams was still there while we went through. The tour ended in the Hall of Fame which is a circular room with plaques for those that have been inducted to date. The building is beautiful and you could spend days in there trying to read and see everything that they have on display. The gold and platinum records on the walls were like the stars...far too many to count.
We walked up to the Ryman Auditorium but they were going to be closing shortly so instead of rushing we chose to do it another day. We checked out a vintage guitar shop with price tags that made Andy and I affraid to touch anything. Some really beautiful instruments. Amazing music was coming from a back room and we were pleased to discover it wasn't a recording, but two guys trying out a dobro and an accoustic guitar just jamming. We hung out for the afternoon in a place on Broadway called Rippy's and saw an older guy and a young girl perform and they were fantastic. Great voices, great song selections and he could really play the guitar and banjo. We found a hotel, checked in, showered and then caught a shuttle back down to Broadway for dinner and some karaoke. We ate BBQ in a place called Jack's and it was delicious. After dinner we headed across the street to a place called Troubadors so we could sing as is our Tuesday night routine. We texted back and forth with our friends at Heroes in Annapolis and it was like we were all together (sort of). We met some fun people in Troubadors and since karaoke ran from 8pm - 3am we sang A LOT. For the Original New Music Tuesday Crew I include the list of what I did that night --

1. Spanish Pipedream -John Prine
2. Miami 2017 (I've Seen the Lights Go Out On Broadway) Billy Joel
3. Someone Like You - Van Morrison
4. Hallelujah - Rufus Wainwright version of Leonard Cohen's song
5. Million Dollars - Bare Naked Ladies (duet with Andy)
6. Beer For My Horses - Willie Nelson & Tody Keith (duet with Andy)
7. Say Hey (I Love You) - Michael Franti and Spearhead
8. Vienna - Billy Joel
9. Angel From Montgomery - John Prine
10. Suddenly Seymour - from Little Shop of Horrors (duet with the KJ, Jessica)
11. What's So Funny ('bout Peace Love & Understanding) Elvis Costello
12. Where Everybody Knows Your Name - Theme song from Cheers
13. One Song Glory - from Rent
14. Lawyers Guns & Money - Warren Zevon
15. My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys - Willie Nelson

As Double "N" Jenn, said..."Fifteen songs?! That's not karaoke, that's a concert!" We had so much fun and it was really cool to sing on stage in Nashville. People got up and danced to a couple of my songs, one girl hugged me for doing Leonard Cohen, the KJ bought me a couple of drinks, and I got to share it with my Annapolis gang through modern technology.

Quite the beginning to our little road trip.