Day Thirteen-April 23

We spent the night in Nashville and visited the Gibson Guitar Center and the Country Music Hall of Fame this morning. The CMHOF was a trip down memory lane for all of us. We grew up listening to the radio with Hank Williams, Lefty Frezzell, Red Foley, Bob Wills, Jim Reeves, Willie Nelson, Kitty Wells, Patsy Cline, Gene Autry, the Carter family and more. It’s as big a part of our history as the Porters and the Taliaferros. Some of my earliest memories are of Bob or Richard playing guitar and singing these old songs. On Saturdays in particular, Mother would play the radio and sing along with Jim Reeves and Willie as she cleaned house.
After the Hall of Fame, we went over to the Gibson store. Richard has been asking Santa for a blue Gibson ES-335 with F-holes. They only had red ones. How sad! If anyone knows where he might find this left-handed monkey wrench, let Richard know at rlp4129@aol.com/
We stayed in Nashville until about noon and then headed out for Branson via Memphis. It was a long, long day, but we stopped in West Plains, Missouri for dinner for some very good chicken-fried steak and smashed taters with the skins on—my favorite. As we left the restaurant, it started to rain gently; as we got closer to Branson, it rained cats, then dogs, then donkeys. It will be nice to be able to relax for a couple of days, repack and reorganize everything.
We plan to attend one show, go to Silver Dollar City and see if we can find a movie that suitable for Bob’s innocent view of the world. (He’s not as jaded as the rest of us.)