Horse-head tour july-aug 2011

[CRAZY-HORSE]

after spending two nights in Cleveland,Ohio MH and I drove back to central Kentucky(Ky) and spent the weekend at his house, we took a trip to Walmart, where MH buys lost of his "discount bin" cds on the saturday after listening to some albums on his stereo,on the sunday we went to his local Baptist Church for a morning service and pretty much chilled out the rest of the day outside under his big old Oak trees with sodas,cigarettes(sharing a homegrown variety)...just to relax to some more music before lanning our route to the next point of call to Nashville Tennessee on the monday.

with suitcases packed,cds stocked up for the roadtrip and a map of the Interstate highways we were off on the mammoth two and a half week sojurn through the Southern States of the US(not that we knew that at the time!)...nothing was planned except our destinations so wherever the road took us inbetween was all up to chance, no hotels booked, no nothing....just the open road and no time frame to do anything except getting to Graceland at some point...well, Graceland was my holiday priority anyway!...and MH came on pretty much an all expenses paid trip as a companion, and local authority on the US!...all the Godfather of MD had to do was read the road maps, buy me the odd coffee,donuts and supply tips wherever we ventured...MH wanted to pay his way, but he and his wife both refused to accept money for bunking down at his place so out of gratitude i told him the whole trip was "on me"!

as it was a good seven or eight hour trip by road from Hotel Paint Lick to Nashville we first stopped off at a tourist cave in south Ky to have a bit of a rest from driving and see something local, unfortunately the caves were obviously dark and photos didnt really come out too well so we have none to post....then it was on to Nashville where we got lost in the traffic, and when we stopped to ask directions from local cops to point us in the rough direction of the Grand Old Opry in order to get a motel room nearby they didnt seem to eager to help out...whatever, we made it eventually after driving in circles for at least an hour....the following pics are from in and around The Grand Old Opry which is the Mecca of country music in the US... artists know they have really made it in country music circles when they get asked to perform there,and even luckier when they are asked to become members of the Opry....
our tour guide at the Opry told us that several years ago Paul McCartney visited there and was asked to perform whilst there...he duly refused out of respect for its traditions as he is not a country singer said it wouldnt be right to do so!...

entrance to The Grand Old Opry building




MH and I outside the entrance walkway of The Opry,Nashville,Tn




MH and I on the stage of The Opry