Being the flexible, people-pleasing person I am, I agreed. Ok, maybe its more a testament to Katie's powers of persuasion than my desire to make people happy.
We left right on schedule after work yesterday. We were officially on the road by 5:30 pm. Everything was going smoothly until we crossed the border into Missouri, then snow started falling. For awhile it wasn't a huge deal, but then visibility was significantly decreased and we had to use the rumble strips to indicate whether or not we were still on the road while only seeing maybe 100 ft ahead. It was dark, snowy, hilly and curvy. Not a great first impression of the Show Me State.
As we entered the St. Louis metro area the snow was piling up and the roads were starting to get a little dicey, but not bad if you stay at a constant pace and don't turn or change lanes. We came upon an eschelon formation of snow plows taking up all 3 lanes of traffic and moving about 20 mph. And not really clearing much snow from the road. It was frustrating to say the least. Finally, Katie managed to pass them and almost as soon as we got around them we came upon another snow plow feat. This happened at least 3 times.
Finally we arrived at our destination for the evening- Katie's brother, Ben's place. He and his fiancee, Kate were wonderfully hospitable and provided us with fresh baked banana bread, a comfy couch and air matress, and 1.5 bathrooms! The accomodations were wonderful, as well as the hospitality. Thanks Ben and Kate! It was nice to see you guys!
This morning we came outside to this:
Tons of snow. They called off school in St. Louis. After we dug the car out and got on the road we were listening to the radio and they advised people to avoid traveling as much as possible. Awesome... we were on our way to Nashville. Slowly, steadyily, gradually, the weather and roads improved. By the time we arrived in Nashville the roads were simply wet, and it was simply raining.
We met up with my cousin, Gerilynn who works in the music industry. She took us out to lunch at Arnolds- a local joint with great food and really friendly staff. Yum. (It's actually been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives).
She then drove us around Nashville and explained how the music industry works down there. Music Row was fascinating and not at all what I expected-- it's mostly a bunch of converted houses. Downtown was pretty neat, too.
This is Tootsies Lounge. Back in the day, famous artists would perform at the Ryman Auditorium, then head over to Tootsies.
This is Union Station. It used to be the train depot, but they have converted it into a really neat hotel. Freight trains still go through, but no passenger trains,
And at Gerilynn's office I may or may not have brushed shoulders with some pretty good song writers (who wrote songs like Strawberry Wine and God Bless the Broken Road). Crazy. And I guess we missed Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen by a day.
It was wonderful to catch up with Gerilynn, since I haven't seen her for a couple of years. Thanks, Gerilynn, for showing us around!
Then it was back on the road again. And more snow and poor visibility again. Bummer. We were going to make it to Birmingham for the night, but got sick of the snow so we are camped out in Decatur, AL for the night. In the morning we will drive through Birmingham and on to our destination, New Orleans.
Thanks for all of your prayers. The Lord has certainly been with us as we have traveled and granted us safe passage through a lot of white stuff. He is faithful!
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