Showing posts with label Antique Archeology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Antique Archeology. Show all posts

Friday, December 21, 2018

Nomadic connections.....

7:00 am - Friday - December 21st - Nashville, KY - 43º F, 85% humidity, wind 15 mph out of the northwest.....heavy cloud cover with rain today (still) and a forecast high of 43º F.....we have already reached the high for today at 7 am.

Thursday was about hanging out with long time friend Merlin, whom we first met at Tahoe Valley Campground several years ago.  Merlin was the night ranger that year, and him being retired law enforcement was an excellent opportunity for me to learn how to diffuse unhappy, in some cases, quite inebriated customers.  We became good friends that summer and have stayed in touch via text, and phone calls over the intervening years.  Merlin moved to Nashville from California about a year ago to be near his daughter who just got a job as an intern at a prominent sound studio in Nashville.  We've met Schyler before, and she is a pretty sharp young lady.  We met Merlin at Brothers Burger Joint in Nashville which was highly recommended by Merlins' daughter, and we were not disappointed.  Yelp gives them 4.5 stars on 121 reviews.  I had their Jumpin' Jack burger with pepper jack cheese, caramelized onions, candied bacon, and it was amazing! TLE had their Sweet Bacon Blue burger, and loved hers, too.  

 The Jumpin' Jack Burger....you actually get way more fries than this internet picture portrays.....way MORE!

 (Internet pictures....it was raining when we were there)

As we sat talking endlessly, and cherishing each bite of our burgers time seemed to stand still, but before we knew it 2 hours had sweetly slipped away.  Reconnecting with good nomadic friends we have met on our never ending odyssey is one of the 'cherries on top' of this vagabonding experience, and being able to sit with Merlin and talk for two hours was the highlight of our day rainy Thursday.  After saying our 'until next times' we bid Merlin adieu, knowing we will reconnect again somewhere in the future.  Love you Merlin!

From our lunch with Merlin we headed over to the local Trader Joe's to stock up on a few things we only get from them.  Trying to find a parking spot at any Trader Joe's can be challenging as their stores are always packed, and adding the rain factor into Thursday's adventure just made it more difficult, but after circling the parking lot a couple of times found a spot.  Getting out of the parking lot proved to be quite a bit more challenging, but in the end no small animals or children were harmed, and we escaped it's clutches without a scratch.

The drive over to the local COSTCO was a whole other matter.....there was an accident on the route we would normally have taken, so we opted to take an alternate route recommended by Google Maps, and it took about 30 minutes.  I've been wanting to transfer my blood pressure medication prescription to COSTCO for some time, and since I have just a month's supply left I decided to go through the process that day.  Upon our arrival at COSTCO we proceeded directly to the Pharmacy counter to begin the process.  I provided the proper documentation and the lady advised it would take about 45 minutes to an hour.  We then went and shopped, took out stuff out to the car, and then sat there waiting for the 'text' message to arrive on my phone announcing the readiness of my prescription.....after 90 minutes I went back inside and was told it would be another 10 minutes, but that stretched into another 30 minutes, but finally, at the two hour mark, it was ready and we were on our way home.  I knew it would be a little complicated, and even though it took much longer than I expected, it is now done, and I can get my refills at COSTCO wherever we may travel.

By this time it was after 4 pm, however, and smack dab in the middle of Nashville 'rush hour', and man do they ever have a brutal 'rush hour'!  It took us another hour to get back to the Newell where we arrived after a very long day about 5:15 pm.  While TLE put away the groceries I went inside to pay for our stay here at the Madison Elks Lodge.

When I returned TLE was just putting away the final things from our shopping and it was time for both of us to sit down and relax.  We watched a couple more Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel, and were in bed by 10:30 pm.  It looks like more rain will be with us on Friday until early afternoon, so I think we'll take a day off, and just rest.  If we were still working we would have been back at work Friday, so you can imagine the big smiles on faces this morning!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Thursday, December 20, 2018

One

6:41 am (Central Time) - Thursday - December 20th - Nashville, TN - 47º F, humidity  94%, wind 5 mph out of the northeast......cloudy, rainy today with a forecast high of 50º F.

LIFT OFF!!!

We were up around 6:45 am Wednesday....it's going to take a few days to get used to sleeping in past 7 am again after 8 weeks of getting up at 4 am.    We had little to do to get ready to roll our wheels.....TLE takes care of organizing the interior of the Newell so objects are not likely to become flying projectiles in the case of a panic stop, and I take care of the outside.....put away the mats, the step, dump the tanks, put away the heated hose, the sewer hose, the wheel covers, and then unplug.

We were ready to start the Newell for the first time in 4 weeks, and then reattach the trailer to the hitch.  We were ready to roll by 11:15 am and thus began our 127 mile drive south to Nashville......


.....we waved goodbye to the Campbellsville water tower just to the west of Heartland RV Campground, and then began a wonderful, sunny drive south to Columbia where we entered the Central Time Zone.....have to move all our clocks back 1 hour to be sure we arrive at the airport on time for our December 24th flight home!  Most of the drive was easy driving sitting on cruise control and just steering, but at the Tennessee border we ran into a 3 mile construction zone where the 3 lane Interstate 65 was compressed to just one lane.....


.....it took us about 30 minutes to go just 3 miles, but we finally reached the end of the construction zone, and then made use of a Rest Area at the end of the construction zone to take a break, and make a call to Sunset Isle in Cedar Key, FL to see if they had any availability for a few days after we get back from SoCal.  I got voicemail, so left a message.  About 20 minutes later a lady from Sunset Isle returned my call and TLE took the call.  10 minutes later we had secured a site (the same one we had 6 years ago), which also happened to be the only site they had available for the time frame we had requested.....PERFECT!  A few minutes after reentering the Interstate we entered Tennessee.....


.....and within another 20 minutes we had arrived at the Elks Lodge where we will park the Newell for 9 days....we will be here 5 of those days, and in SoCal the other 4.  Upon our return on the 28th we will then beat a path south to Cedar key arriving there 12/29 for 6 days.  

Once we had parked, and plugged in the Newell we changed clothes and drove into Nashville for a late lunch, and then a run by the Antique Archeology store.  We are big fans of American Pickers, and I have always wanted to visit one of their stores.  TLE selected Tennessee Brew Works for our late lunch and we were there by 3 pm.




 Baja Fish Tacos, and the Cheese plate with two Porters (Imperial for TLE, and Session for me)


The ambiance, service, brews and food were well worth the 4.5 star rating they have on Yelp on 823 reviews, and TripAdvisor on 140 reviews.  We lingered over a second brew, and then headed over to Antique Archeology arriving about 4:30 pm just as the sun was setting.....

 
....they are located in the quite old Marathon Automobile (1914) building which stretches for a least a block in each direction.  There are numerous interesting tenants in the nicely restored building, but my attention was completely focused on the Antique Archeology store.....


...I love how they do not restore things...sometimes they will replace the neon as on the sign below, but the rest of the sign is still as it was found with decades of patina left intact....very, very cool....




....I remember watching the episode where they 'picked' the Von Dutch motorcycle in the picture above....it was built by the very famous pinstriper named Von Dutch (nickname for Kenny Howard)....he installed a VW engine in a Harley Davidson XA frame.....it is not for sale.  Mike Wolfe had heard stories about this motorcycle and eventually came across it and was able to purchase it for quite a sizable price ($21,000)....very cool to be able to see it in person.....


 TLE took this cool picture of me from outside the store while I was examining the Von Dutch XAVW





....we were home by 5:30 enjoying the fact that we did not have to get up at 4 am Thursday morning.....we are free.....free at last!  What a cool first day of our 'Post Amazon' life!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which helps defray our travel expenses to a small degree.