Nashville.

I finally got those shots done from Nashville. If you want to see them all, go to the FlickR site here. Otherwise, here are some of the better ones.



This is me, grading tests in my room at the hotel Friday night. Yea, I know. But I had stuff to do.



Of course, I was assisted in me work by a few tall glasses of George and Diet Coke. You ever wonder if your teachers get loaded before they graded your stuff in school? Well, yep. Whatever works baby.



This is my buddy Mushy, taking a shot of the long line we found when we walked up to the fairgrounds, with lots of folks wanting to pay to get into the regular gun show Saturday morning. We chose to avoid this line and went into the Civil War show first. There wasn't any line there.



As you can see here, the Civil War show was HUGE. We were both amazed. And this is just a shot of one of three showrooms.



There were lots of reenactors around in their period gear. I love it, seein' these folks glorying in their love of our history, and/or their heritage. Makes me want to join up, but I ain't there yet. Maybe some day.



I loved seein' all this Native American stuff too. It was a surprise, and I really enjoyed seein' it.



Check out that war club on the left, with the spike jutting out of the ball. It's like an eagle talon holding a rock. Cool, eh?



Lots of cool stuff on sale, including original uniforms and other artifacts.



After walkin' through the show for a few hours, we got back in Mushy's truck and he drove us up to town and we looked for somewhere to get a beer and a meal. He's always tryin' to plug in an address into his GPS, which is built in to his fancy "King Ranch". Accept for a few u-turns in the projects, and a short stint up the wrong way on a one way street, we did just fine.



We ended up choosing Bailey's Sports Bar, just down the way from the Ryman.



They guided us up to the second floor. It was great. They brought us two tall mugs of Yuengling and we ordered lunch.



It was great stuff... Some sort of chicken tenders, slathered in a sweet and mildly spicy sauce, over apple slices and greens (Check Mushy's post for all the details of everything... He's got the time to look it all up). It was all great! The chips and queso were even decent.



Being two camera geeks, we both got the waitress to take our pictures, with both of our cameras. She did a damn good job too. The one you see over at Mushy's place was taken just after we sat down. This one was after we'd killed one round and seriously wounded another. Notice the more "relaxed" poses. That's two good pals there, and we were havin' a wonderful time. Real quality time.



Four beers and lunch later, we walked around, checkin' out the bar and cigar lounge, and then headed out onto the street. We wandered over to the Ernest Tubb record store, which turned out to be filled with country music (Duh, slapping head with palm). Who'd a thunk it? It was cool anyway.



After that we headed back over to the fairgrounds and walked through the conventional gun show. The lines were gone by then, but the place was still full. Both Mushy and I fingered a few things, and I spent $10 on a pistol grip for an AK. Ya can't have too many of those, right?



Later on I got this picture, showing both our hands, stamped with the mark that a lot of liberals would dearly love to erase. I've been goin' to gun show ever since I was in high school, and I'd sure miss them if the upcoming regime gets it's way and makes them impossible to hold.

Later, we went back to my room at the hotel to relax. Mushy busted out the Chivas Regal and we watched the first half of the Alabama - Florida game. Eventually we decided to find a sports bar somewhere where we could watch the game, drink another Yuengling and smoke a cigar. The place we found turned out to be very nice, all but for one drunk who kept thinking that he needed to sit and talk to us.



The place was really nice. The fact that Mushy and I were just about the only White folks there kinda had him weirded out, but the folks there were very welcoming. Each time the drunk drifted by I could see that other folks were ashamed of him, and feeling sorry for him. They quietly assured us that he was OK. But we knew that.



The next morning Denise drove down from Kentucky and the three of us went off in search of a Cracker Barrel. This was where Mushy's GPS really came in handy. The food was great, as usual. We said our goodbyes in the parking lot, with me giving my big brutha a good hug, and then Denise and I headed West for home.



On the way to Nashville Friday afternoon, about 50 miles West of Memphis, we'd found a stray dog living at a rest stop. The attendant told us that the dog had been there for about 6 weeks and that she was being fed by just about everyone who drove through. We decided then to try and stop by there again on the way home and bring what Denise called "proper food".



When we stopped there again on the way back, sure enough, the dog was still there. Her name is "Sugar". Some guy who goes through there regularly named her, and wants to catch her, but she won't let anyone near, unless the have food in their hand. She ate ham from Denise's hand once or twice. We sure hope someone gives her a nice home.



The con trails in the sky were cool to watch, as we sped home on I-40, just east of Little Rock. You see a mix of old ones, drifting off in the wind, and a new one there at the bottom. The sunset really made them look cool.



We stopped there at a Ruby Tuesday's for dinner, and to watch the rest of the Cowboy game. I got in there and two shitty things happened. I found out I was in a dry county and had to settle for diet coke, and the fuckin' Cowboys figured out how to lose the game to Pittsburgh.

We ended up gettin' home by 1;30, and were snuggled up in bed by 2. It was a great trip, but we probably won't do it again for a while. At least until next December, when the next Civil War show goes down. Cheers!