Doing Nashville, TN

Our plan for yesterday had to change a little bit as a result of our poor internet connection at the site. We are located on a fringe area and the signal keeps getting weak, and sometimes drops altogether. There was a Verizon store in the town of Gallatin, so we went there to see about getting a booster antenna. That is something we have been thinking about for awhile, since we occasionally are in areas that are like this. We ended up spending a couple hours at Verizon because we purchased what they call a "Fivespot" which is  data card replacement and creates a mini network in our RV. That allows both of our machines to use the internet simultaneously, rather than using one card for having one computer at a time having access. It also has a stronger access antenna and should eliminate the need for a booster. This card is suppose to operate without a direct connection to any computer, and that was the problem. It worked fine in the store while connected to my system, but not in stand alone mode. The net of the whole thing is that if that problem persists and Verizon Tech Support cannot fix it, I am to bring it back for a replacement. Sheesh!

We then stopped at a local Lowe's to pick up some waste lumber ends that we could use as blocks for under our the jacks on our RV. That cost us some more time as they ended up cutting a board for us - a treated 2 x 10, into 12 blocks - and only charged us $5 for the whole thing.

It was then off to Nashville and the Grand Ol Opry House. There was a huge flood in Nashville last spring that severely damaged the facility and they were just now getting it ready to reopen next weekend. We took these pictures of the facility:

We weren't able to see the inside but we were able to go into the Opry Shop and we looked at all the Country and Western apparel, gifts and autograped CD's and albums. We will return to this attraction again in the future when we are able to go inside and maybe even see a show.

It was a beautiful day, so we went to the downtown area - Broadway St. in Old Nashville:

It was a different experience as it was basically a tourist trap with tons of Pubs, Taverns and gift shops with all kinds of Country and Western goods. There were horse and buggy rides available all up and down the street:

We walked around the area and stopped to have dinner at a place called the Wildhorse Saloon that we heard about while talking to some locals before we came to town. It was a rather pricey meal as you might expect, but we were glad we went because it was a unique place and one with a history of producing some great Country stars.

Our day ended at about 8 PM when we arrived home and settled in for the night. We received an email from Patty that had the headline story of the playoff game that appeared in the Naperville newspaper the day after Austin's game. It went like this:

Warriors running back comes up big

October 29, 2010 BY JIM OWCZARSKI jowczarski@stmedianetwork.com

http://yourseason.suntimes.com/football/2848670,1029-waubonsie-valley-brother-rice-football.article

Quite a few ghosts were exorcised Friday night at Waubonsie Valley, as the Warriors ended a string of playoff appearances that resulted in first-round losses. It’s been nine years since the Warriors last advanced to the second round in 2001, and they got there on the strength of an incredibly stout front seven on defense and the legs of an unlikely offensive hero — running back Austin Guido.

The Warriors run a balanced option attack, but on a night when the passing game was flat they turned to the 5-foot-8-inch, 180-pound Guido to carry the load. The sophomore was a workhorse, plowing through and dancing around the Crusaders’ defense 22 times for 211 yards.

It was a career night for Guido, highlighted by a 96-yard TD run in the fourth quarter that was the exclamation point on the Warriors’ 33-7 victory.

We are very proud of him as you may expect. His next game will be tougher as they will be playing one of the favorites to win the State Championship. No matter how it turns out, we know we will be proud of Austin.

That's about it for now. Today is our final full day before leaving for Campbellsville, KY, and our Amazon.com experience...