Pay It Forward Tour Highlights - Tennessee

When I first came up with this idea to do a pay it forward tour, I had grand plans of sleeping in my van to save money. Well I chose to drive the southern route along I-40 because there were some places I wanted to see. The southern part of the United States is not exactly a cool climate this time of year. Tennessee was my first introduction to the heat. And so it begins,

Knoxville Tennessee

I ended my night of driving after leaving Gary’s house in Knoxville Tennessee. It was 93 degrees at about 9 pm. I was determined to make van life work so I parked at Walmart. I went inside for food and supplies and after eating decided to bed down for the night. I bought an inflatable mattress to sleep on. I blew that up and started my attempt at sleeping. At about 3 am it finally cooled down enough to let me fall asleep. After maybe 5 hours sleep I woke up sweating and just decided to drive. I also decided I would save money on the return trip, but from now on I was getting a motel if it was crazy hot.

Memphis Tennessee

Memphis was just a short 5 hours or so from Knoxville so i was there by mid afternoon. I checked into Motel 6 and then headed for Beale St. When thinking about Beale St., I imagined a laid back bluesy feel which it was, but WOW! The lights, the music, the people, it was like I would imagine Bourbon St. in New Orleans. I spent some time just pushing up and down the street taking in all the sights and sounds. I found horse drawn carriages on one side street. There were barbecue joints everywhere. The smell of food filled the air. I eventually made my way to Rum Boogie Cafe where I found a friendly couple who let me sit with them since there wasn’t an open table in the place.

Queen Anne Hines

The music was amazing. Queen Ann Hines was singing accompanied by The Memphis Blues Masters. If you ever get to Memphis you need to find where they are playing . I ordered the Memphis platter while I listened to the band. The platter was fried catfish, dry rub ribs, fries, red beans and rice, and hot buttered bread. It was amazing! It was also very expensive oops. Oh well I was in Memphis and I was going to experience Memphis. After I was finished eating I moved away from the table to give someone else a chance and just sort of sat in the open floor space. Well Queen Anne decided to start calling on people to dance and to my surprise she pointed at me. I pulled off a few wheelies and spins and made the crowd cheer. It was super fun. After the band finished Queen Anne called me over and wanted to talk. I told her about my trip and what I was doing. She said you are inspiring and I am going to tell all my audiences about you from now on.

Scammer

I decided that was a good way to end the night and started to make my way back to the van. Well there was a guy standing in one of the door ways and he called to me. He gave me some spiel about being homeless and the shelter costsing 5 dollars a day so 20 would get him 4 days. Did i think I could do that. He definitely didn’t appear to be stereotypically homeless but I have no idea. He very well could have been. Unfortunately I was trying to save every penny for this trip so I had to tell him I couldn’t. He then offered to walk me to B.B. King’s which I had never said I was even going there. I let him walk in front of me but I think he was trying to get behind me to go through my book bag. Luckily I was smart enough to not let that happen.

Nashville Tennessee

The next day I set me sights on Nashville. I wanted to stop and see the Antique Archaeology store and some of the historical places in the city. I arrived at the Marathon Motor Works building which is now all retail space with a museum of the old car company. I spent a good hour just looking at all the cool old artifacts from when cars were made by hand and not robots. I was stunned at the size of some of the machines. They had old singer sewing machines which I instantly wished I could show my mother. They had pictures on the walls of the old cars and people working with the machines. It really was a stroll back in time

Antique Archaeology

The only reason I wanted to see Antique Archaeology is because I watch American Pickers. This is their Nashville Tennessee location. As I entered the store I could see a lot of things they had bought on the show. It was really interesting to remember seeing them make the deals and where they had purchased various things. I saw everything from Evil Knievel’s jacket to old motorcycles and everything in between. Of course I had to pick up souvenirs so there went 80 bucks on a shirt and 2 hats. Remember when I told that guy no to save money. I kinda feel like a hypocrite now.

Cooters Place

My next Nashville stop was Cooters Place. If you have never watched the Dukes of Hazzard, Cooter was the mechanic and tow truck driver. The real person Ben Jones had accumulated memorabilia over the years and opened a mini museum that is free for the public. He had all the original cars including the General Lee, His tow truck and Daisies Jeep. Unfortunately it was mostly a lot of toys on display from when the show aired but was still very cool to see.

Willie Nelson and Family General Store

My last stop in Nashville was the Willie Nelson and Family General Store. I was a bit disappointed by this one. I went in and it was basically just a bunch of merchandise that really had not a lot to do with Willie. There was supposedly a museum behind a door if you paid ten dollars. Given it was just a normal wooden door with no security it didn’t seem like there would be much to see back there. I didn’t stay long but was still glad I went in.