Days 4-5 Grand Ole RV Resort, Goodlettsville, TN

Goodlettsville, TN

Days 4-5

April 8- April 10

This leg of our trip wasn’t as relaxing as the last. We had to deal with some rough pavement for about an hour outside of Louisville, KY, and then when we were about 3 hours in and about 25 minutes out from our destination we hit dead stop traffic. A tractor trailer accident, about 8 miles up the highway, held us up for an hour. Needless to say, by the time we got to the Grand Ole’ RV Resort at 2:30 (Thank goodness for the change to Central time, it’s like the traffic jam never happened. Lol) we were ready to relax, enjoy some lunch and have a drink.

The staff here was the friendliest we’ve ever encountered at a campground. Absolutely loved the southern accent! Give me a month here and I think I’d come home with one. Each night the campground offered a dinner special, which is delivered right to your picnic table, as you enjoy their nightly music entertainment. After we took a tour of the campground and chatted with some fun people, we headed up to the pavilion to listen to the Thursday night headliner, Jeff Allan. We were super impressed with his vocal talents and guitar skills. We enjoyed music from Johnny Cash to Elton John. He had quite the range. A very talented solo artist for sure.

That night, we decided to head into Nashville to check out the night scene and walk the Pedestrian Bridge, since we heard there was rain forecasted for tomorrow. We really enjoyed the excitement of all the neon lights and the music streaming out of the nightclubs. However, the crazy nightlife scene just isn’t our thing and especially with the crowds and Covid, we kept our distance and stayed out of the bars. The highlight for us was to enjoy the city from a distance while walking the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge, one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the world. Who knew?! It was a pretty impressive sight to see the city skyline all lit up. After I took some pics of the nightscape, we headed back to the campground and called it a night.

As luck would have it, the weather forecast changed and Friday was absolutely beautiful, 80 degrees and sunny. Our first destination was the American Pickers antique shop in Nashville. We decided to take the bikes to tour the city. We figured we could cover a lot more ground that way, while also not having to move the truck from parking lot to parking lot. When we arrived at Marathon Village, we found we were more impressed with the history of the old Marathon Motor Works factory and the Museum Assembly line corridor walk. There was also a small auto museum across the street that housed 4 of the original 1912 and 1914 Marathon Motor Works ‘Southern built’ cars.

After we toured the Village, we hopped on our bikes in search of the ‘What Lifts You’ mural in the Grotto District. Kelsey Montague is the artist of these amazing murals. The one in Nashville is the largest she’s done yet, 20 feet high. I loved how she incorporated the spirit and history of the city with her design.

Before we left, we headed down to Printer’s Alley and historic district, just up from the Cumberland River, near Broadway. This was a great little find! After we pulled up, we grabbed a drink at the Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar and sat at a café table outside to read about the history of the Alley. We learned that Printers Alley was home to a thriving publishing industry with 13 publishers and 10 printers. In the 1940s saloons and nightclubs began to emerge and it became the showcase for performers like Hank Williams, the Supremes and even Jimi Hendrix. I think these kinds of finds are what makes touring our country so exciting and interesting. And I’m so happy my Night Club days are behind me!

We ended the evening with a fire by our campsite, while listening to the night’s entertainment and watching the trains go by! We are off to Little Rock, Arkansas in the AM.

Destination Goodlettsville, Grand Ole' RV Resort.

And we made it!

They set us up with a nice little piece of real-estate.

After that stressful drive, it's time to relax and enjoy Nashville!

It's time for the Grand Ole' RV Resort nightly concert!

Yep, we're in the South Y'all!

Jeff Allan was a super talented guitarist and singer. Great way to begin our stay.

1st stop on the bucket list, American Pickers Antique shop at Marathon Village

Beautiful Industrial brick architecture built in 1881. It's so awesome that entrepreneurs are willing to resurrect these historical landmarks and repurpose them while still maintaining the integrity and history of a bygone era.

Great history to the original brick buildings. Marathon Motor Works manufactured and sold the first car of the South.

Marathon Village is now home to the buildings that once housed the Marathon Motor Works from 1910-1914

Along with the flagship stores from American Pickers to Jack Daniels, the factory houses the Marathon Museum Assembly line, with many of the original tools and equipment used in manufacturing.