Charleston, Daniel Island, Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee

April 29-May 10, 2024

After nine nights in Hilton Head, it was time to pack up and head out to Charleston area for our stay in Mount Pleasant. The KOA was the resort of choice, checked in on our lake view in front the gcity gin house lots next to each other and spent the day playing cards and enjoying some quiet time.

Tuesday, we all went over to Paige and Dusty’s new house on Daniel Island for our three night stay. Fun to stay in this beautiful new house with stunning views of the marsh land towards the ocean. Paige, Dusty, Ron, Kathy, Glenna and I went to the Costa Charleston Italian restaurant Tuesday night for dinner, this is one of Charleston’s hot spots and it certainly didn’t disappoint. We had a fabulous meal with a couple bottles of our friends Vinatieri wine spending time catching up and planning the weeks activities. Our ride back home was provided by George, a long time favorite driver of Paige and Dusty’s. Music, singing and rocking out is always in order when traveling with George. A couple of days enjoying their company, pool time, cards, MMT’s and long walks around the island filled our time. Thursday night we had “Pat’s Paella Party” with Ron’s friends (Shawn, Callie and Macy) visiting from Virgina and some of Paige’s neighbors. Really fun time with great food, wines and friends…..

Friday morning was golfing day for Glenna, Paige, Dusty and I at the Daniel Island CC where they are members. Teed of at 8:00 am on a beautiful, sun filled warm day hacking our way around the manicured course. Didn’t see any alligators around the ponds but still were cautious when hitting our balls close to the water. Fun day on the course and the lunch after in the clubhouse restaurant was a perfect way to spend the day with our great friends. Friday night we all met back at the KOA Resort to have a dinner on our last night together. Ron BBQ’d a few ribeye steaks, Glenna served up a baked potato bar complete with sautéed mushrooms and Kathy made a seven layer salad that was enough to feed the resort. We celebrated Macy’s 15th birthday with the Nothing Bunt Cakes treats that Kathy provided along with the Crumble Cookies that Macy shared with us. Paige brought us bottle of Nickel Nickel Branding Iron along with some Hall favorites, all were great and the weather was perfect for our outdoor patio dining.

Saturday morning was moving day, packed up and hit the road towards Sevierville, Tennessee. This six hour drive thru some rain still had gorgeous views of the Smokey Mountains. Lunch at a rest stop and made it safely to the Two Rivers RV Resort in Sevierville. Our side by side spaces were right on the riverbank overlooking this flowing waterway. Right down the street from us was the Smokey Mountain Knife Works, this is billed as the worlds largest knife store. Kathy, Glenna and I had to go check it out and it was incredible. Knives of every size, shape and color filled the store that reminded me of a Bass Pro Shop or Cabellas including all the taxidermy wildlife. Nothing that we absolutely had to have so back to the RV for some 3/13 cards, dinner and Woodford cocktails while watching the Kentucky Derby. Sunday morning was Ron’s turn to check something off his bucket list. Yes, a first time to eat at the famous Waffle House. We sat at the breakfast bar and had fantastic service from Paige, her very southern accent added to the experience. The waffles, and hash browns were the featured items so we had to try them. Carl the grill master cooked our breakfast while we sat and watched the orders come together. I’m just saying that for us, Paige was the highlight and we would be one and done with the Waffle House but Ron was happy as seen in the pictures below. Back to the RV, packed up and off to Nashville. This 4 hour easy drive thru more green mountains gave us great picturesque views all along the drive. Arrived at the Elm Hill RV Resort, checked in to our 2 sights overlooking the marina on one side and the reservoir on the other side.

Monday we went into town to Lower Broadway where all the music happens. One of our favorite spots is the Listening Room Cafe, today they had four song writers playing thier songs during this 90 minute show. Lunch was great while enjoying the latest tunes in the Country music world. Next stop was AJ Good TIme Bar, this Allan Jackson bar had live music so we had a cocktail before moving on to Rippy’s Honkytonk for a couple hours of fantastic music. This place was really jumping for a Monday afternoon. Dierks Bentely bar was another stop and a walk up and down Broadway taking in all the sights and sounds of downtown Nashville.

Tuesday we had the pleasure of visiting our good friends, Mike, Flora, Tyler and Megan over in Galatin, Tennessee. Quick tour of the house and beautiful property on Lake Hickory then into the boat for cruise. Mike showed us around this huge lake with beautiful houses lining the shores. Back to the house for dinner, stories from the past and catching up on life in Tennessee. Tyler and Megan have sure grown up to be young adults and a pleasure to be around. I think they all like the Tennesse life and it’s been great for this wonderful family.

Wednesday the weather was taking a turn for the worse, we decided to move on from Nashville and head to Memphis a day early to try to escape the tornado warnings. Turns out to be a very good move as a tornado touched down very close to where we we staying. Mike and Flora weren’t as lucky, they had hard rain, wind, lighting and thunder all night and had trees down, dock damage and flooding as the lake rose over 5 feet during this major storm. All were safe but lots of damage to the docks on the lake.

Our first night in West Memphis was a little scary and the rain, lightning and thunder rocked the rv and flooded the campground. Still not as bad as other areas in the state so we are happy to be here. Lunch on Thursday was time to visit the famous Rendezvous Charcoal Ribs in Memphis just back over the bridge in the downtown area. The ribs were the highlight along with a couple of ice cold pitchers of beer to wash down the dry rub that make this place so famous. Back to the RV for cards and hanging out relaxing before making the drive to Hot Springs, Arkansas for the next five nights.

Enjoy the pictures from these places and more to follow from Hot Springs….