THE JOURNEY BEGINS - Oct 31, 2007

We left Buffalo, NY following the conclusion of the SUNY Brockport Soccer season headed for Nashville, Tennessee. The first night we made it to Florence, Kentucky which is just south of Cincinnati. (I-90 to I-271 to I-71 SB). Had an awesome supper at Lonestar Steakhouse. We can already see the pace of life slowing down as we head south. Next morning continued SB to I-65 to Nashville, the Music City. We stayed 1 night at the KOA and attended a Gospel Concert at the campground. The next AM we checked prices at two other campgrounds and moved to Two Rivers Campground and saved over $300! Our second nite we traveled to downtown Nashville for supper and sights. WOW! The Broadway section of Nashville is full of honky tomks and watering holes each with a stage and live country entertainment. The talent of the acts on stage is unbelieveable! It seems like each group is just on the verge of making it big and is just waiting to be "discovered" by the right producer or record company. Remember "Bobbie Cutshaw". This 5 piece group sounded as good as the Eagles! We also saw Titans Stadium which is right on the edge of Downtown by the Cumberland River. We met a very nice couple from Michigan, Ernie and Ray, at Two Rivers. Ernie is a purple heart winner who served in Vietnam. They are both retired from Kelloggs. Saturday nite we went to the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville with Ernie and Ray. It was a 2 1/2 hour show cut into half hour segments for radio broadcast. The show was awesome! We got to see Vince Gill, Patti Loveless, Amy Grant, Sawyer Brown,

Jason Crabb, Mel McDaniel, Jesse McReynolds and the Virginia Boys, Riders in the Sky and more. The theme of the evening was a tribute to Porter Wagoner who died this week and was an original member of the Opry. They also recognized several Iraq War veterans and purple heart winners. The talent was again awesome, and the strong feeling of patriotism pervaded the performances. The Ryman Auditorium is the old site of the Grand Ole Opry and where the winter shows are performed. The acoustics and atmosphere were perfect. On Sunday, Nov. 4, we went to Church at St. Joseph's, a huge parish near Two Rivers. Believe it or not, they have an adult choir that was awesome! What else would you expect in the Music City? At noon we went to the Scoreboard Tavern to watch the Bill's game. We were invited to a table with some Bengal fans. The Bill's looked pretty good, especially on offense, and won the game 33-21. About half of this bar was filled with Packer fans. We found out it is one of three official sites in Nashville where Packer Backer meetings are held. Of course Brett Favre led a game winning drive at the end.

Bill and Jane signing off for now.

Sommet Center where the CMA's are on Wed. Nov. 7th and where the Predators play.