Vol 15 No 3 May 31, 2011

Left Daytona Beach on Monday morning 2 May and delivered in Orlando - the steel plates from Michigan (photo).

Then deadheaded 140 kms to Gainesville, Florida and loaded a Genie boom lift. We loaded at the same place last Month - B & M Equipment going to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

We had a brief meet with Joe near New Orleans, he was going east. An unexpected visit!

We delivered the Genie boom life the next morning in Baton Rouge: Aerial Access Equipment.

Then 200km deadhead to Kinder, Louisiana and loaded part of a TV tower. The area had 40m

m (1 ½ inches) of rain the night before and resulted in a very boggy gravel road which was interesting!

Delivered the TV tower segments to another project near Littleton, North Carolina, then loaded a used CAT 980 fork lift in Raleigh, North Carolina. An LTL (less than truckload) shipment. The next morning we loaded another LTL shipment: a new chiller unit (large air conditioner) in Waynesboro, Virginia. Both shipments for Ontario, Canada.

We got to Buffalo, NY late Friday night and spent the weekend at Joe and Michele’s in our motor home. It hasn’t been opened since October last year. No leaks and no dead mice, but the baits had been eaten. Not too bad, the previous years there have been dead mice.

Nice Spring weather for Buffalo, cool but sunny - we took the motorbike off the truck. Visited a few people and our favourite Buffalo area foods.

Delivered the CAT 980 fork lift to a equipment rental company in Stoney Creek, Ontario Tuesday morning, then to Toronto.

All our paperwork had the address as 400 Kingston Road, Toronto, near downtown but when we got to the address it was a vacant apartment building. A few phone calls and we found out that the wrong city had been put on all the paperwork. 400 Kingston Road in Pickering - 35 kms the eastern side of Toronto.

We had to meet a crane at 10am. It lifted the old air conditioner unit off a four storey building, then put the new one we had in its’ place.

We were running late, but still loaded in Mississauga - seven skids of flat steel, then 1½ hours drive to Cambridge and loaded one small bundle of steel - full tarp. All going to Mexico

En route, we had to cross the Mississippi River which was experiencing an historic flood. Above average amounts of rain and snow fell throughout the middle Mississippi and Ohio River valleys from January through early May of this year.

Weather.com According to the National Climatic Data Center, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania all just had their wettest April on record. In addition, Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee all finished with a top five wettest April.

The heaviest rain event unfolded April 23-28. Over the course of these six days, 9 to 10 inches of rain fell in portions of southern Illinois, southern Indiana and northern Kentucky. Parts of southeast Missouri and northern Arkansas were flooded with more than a foot of rain. All of this water made its way through various streams and tributaries into the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers in a short amount of time, resulting in record flooding.

We crossed the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers join.

Active sandbagging along both sides of the highway on the western side, but water was still getting through. We stopped at the truckstop for fuel and the parking lot was inundated on one side. An hour later when we left, I looked back the way we came and water was completely across the highway we had just come down and reduced to one lane each direction.

More flooding in Arkansas and water was up to the highway in several places.

The shipment of steel on the trailer was “in bond”. We cleared Customs at the USA/Canadian border, but had to clear again at the Mexican border. We had no prior experience with the Mexican clearance and were a bit nervous because we had to get on the bridge that goes into Mexico and required several phone calls and reassurances that we would not end up in Mexico.

The entrance to Customs had no signage and a

narrow driveway towards a large shed. No problems with clearance, but then needed more reassurance about returning to the USA. The guard tried to get us to head to the Immigration lanes/gates, Jim was frantically indicating that we had to do a ‘U’ turn. Eventually a narrow gap in the fence was pointed out, had to cross six traffic lanes and through the gap, then down a narrow strip of bitumen in the median to get pointed in the direction we wanted to go. Quite a few anxious moments!

Delivered the steel to a trucking company to deliver in Mexico. Then we reloaded in Laredo. The first time we have hauled ‘earth screw anchors’, a whole truck load, 480 of them going to Thunder Bay, Ontario.

The earth screw anchors were 10 feet long ‘augers’ used to secure items to the earth. (Two photos below of the earth screws.)

Had good weather going north, though a fierce head wind dropped the fuel economy. We ate barbecue in Texas and Oklahoma.

Trivia: The name Oklahoma comes from the Choctaw phrase okla humma, literally meaning ‘red people’.

Oklahoma is known as the ‘Sooner’ state - I bought a postcard with the explanation: What is a Sooner? During the late 1800’s, land runs were held in what is now Oklahoma. The name “Sooner” was used for those land runners who snuck past the territory markers prior to the actual shotgun start in search of the best land areas.

The 150 mile piece of highway north of Two Harbors, Minnesota was new for us and we had not been to Thunder Bay, Ontario before. Awesome scenery along the edge of Lake Superior on a sunny Spring day.

The highway from Duluth, Minnesota to Thunder Bay travels along the north western side of Lake Superior. We were surprised how little traffic there was and only a few small towns and industry - a large taconite shipping facility and a power plant. Mostly tourism - recreational lake activities for summer and winter. We saw cliffs, bluffs and rocky shorelines.

Internet: Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and the world’s third-largest freshwater lake by volume. It has a maximum length of 350 miles (563 kms) and a maximum width of 160 miles (257 kms) The average water temperature during the SUMMER (!!!) is about 40 F (4.4 C). Lake Superior is the largest, deepest and coldest of the Great Lakes. The lake is fed by over 200 rivers.

Trivia: The native Ojibwe call the lake Gichigami, meaning “big water”. Gordon Lightfoot’s song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” refers to “Gitche Gumee”. (The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was the last major shipwreck on Lake Superior, sinking on 10 November, 1975 - all 29 crew members perished.

Storms on Lake Superior regularly record wave heights of over 20 feet (6 metres), waves well over 30 feet (9 metres) have been recorded.

There is a large solar park construction at the Thunder Bay International Airport, that was our delivery. Utilizing vacant land between the railway line and the runways. The earth screws are screwed into the ground with a special machine. About 20 cms of the post out of the ground where the rack is bolted, then the solar panels are put on top of the racks. Very interesting.

TerraFix website: Field installations using earth screws by Terrafix offers numerous advantages when constructing foundations without concrete. More economical than comparable concrete foundations, no damage to land, as earth screws are directly screwed into the ground (no excavated earth).

Reusable without deterioration, no disposal costs for waste material, time saving when inserting and changing position.

(Impressive frost the morning we delivered! It was 39 C / 102 F in Laredo when we loaded four days prior!)

After delivering, we sat at a truck stop in Thunder Bay for a few hours, hoping for a load out of there, but there were only intra Canada loads and USA trucks can not do intra Canada (from one Canadian city to another Canadian city). Same rules for Canadian and Mexican trucks in the USA. Can only haul to a foreign destination and back to their home country.

We were aware we would likely have a big deadhead out of Thunder Bay to get another load, but we had no deadhead in Laredo and the load paid well enough that even with an added 300 miles (480 kms) we would still make a profit.

Thunder Bay, Wikipedia: Settlement in the region began in the late 17th century with a French fur trading outpost on the banks of the Kaministiquia River. It grew into an important transportation hub, an important link in the shipping of grain and other products from western Canada through the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence Seaway to the east coast. The port of Thunder Bay is the largest outbound port on the Saint Lawrence Seaway System, and the sixth largest port in Canada.

Forestry and manufacturing played important roles in the city’s economy. They have declined in recent years, but have been replaced by a ‘knowledge economy’ based on medical research and education.

540 kms / 320 miles deadhead but we found a load for the next day near Minneapolis, Minnesota. Loaded Wednesday, 18 May at Pentair Technology Products, moving part of their operation to Mexico. We were the last of five trucks to be loaded and only two pieces left - a machine and a skid that had to be tarped. A very light load!

Strong head winds going south! Tore our tarps. We covered all the edges and poking up bits with old rugs and carpet pieces, but the wind and tarps flapping for 2740 kms rubbed through the protective carpet and the tarp, then it tore.

Delivered Friday afternoon in McAllen, Texas to a trucking company that will deliver the machines in Mexico. 250 km to Laredo to load on Saturday morning - another shipment of earth screws going to Thunder Bay, Ontario.

On the way south, Jim spotted a barbeque restaurant south of Dallas that had truck parking Up In Smoke, we had dinner there Saturday evening. A restaurant to remember!! We enjoyed it. They had ‘texas trash’ as a side item. Not the mix of cereal, nuts and hot sauces, this one was made with corn bread, and peppers! Yum.

Jim’s log book required a day off on Monday 23rd, we got a motel room in Story City, Iowa. A small farming community, has a 1913 Carousel, and a motel with truck parking.

We spread the tarps out in the parking lot and did some patching. It was hot (40 C/104 F), windy and a dirt lot when we took them off in McAllen, not ideal conditions for the job. Warm with a gentle breeze in Iowa was much better. Also laundry and cleaning done around the truck, but we relaxed as well (and had a ‘sit at a table‘ meal).

Delivered the earth screws to the solar farm project in Thunder Bay, Ontario on Wednesday morning - another big frost in the morning!. Then dead headed 550 kms south to Fridley (Minneapolis area) and loaded an asphalt machine.

The company where we loaded has many CAT machines that it ships all over the world - a lot of equipment in the yard will be shipped to Queensland - Hastings Deering.

Our load was a CAT AP655D track asphalt paver, it has rubber around the tracks. The front horizontal auger rips up the bitumen/concrete to required depth.

We delivered that on Friday morning to an equipment rental company in Evansville, Indiana.

Friday afternoon we loaded plastic pipe in Calvert City, Kentucky for Orlando, Florida. Arrived in Daytona Beach Saturday afternoon.

Delivered the pipe to a construction site in Orlando Tuesday morning and loaded machinery in Flagler Beach, Florida in the afternoon.

Vol 15 No 2 April 30, 2011

Friday morning, 1 April we left Nashville and headed up to Louisville, Kentucky for the Mid America Trucking Show - the 40th Anniversary.

Website: MATS 2011 - 40 Years of the largest heavy-duty trucking event in the world. The Mid-America Trucking Show is more than a tradeshow. It is the annual forum for the heavy-duty trucking industry, providing face to face interaction between industry representatives and trucking professionals. Attendees are driven to MATS because they can efficiently research the latest products and services to provide their business with a competitive edge. Exhibitors participate in MATS to effectively introduce new offerings, increase brand awareness, promote products and connect with suppliers, customers and prospects.

There are thousands of exhibitors and fill four large convention halls and several parking lots.

Photo is of the new style of International trucks - very futuristic!

We spent all Friday afternoon walking around the exhibits, then returned later for the free concert: Halfway to Hazard, Keith Anderson and Randy Houser courtesy of Mobil Delvac.

We went back to the truck show on Saturday morning to buy new straps, and a dash camcorder - both we needed or wanted and the companies had special show prices.

Got rolling late Saturday morning for New Jersey and delivered Monday morning at Fort Dix. Reloaded right away in Rancocas, New Jersey and delivered Tuesday afternoon at Koyo Bearings in Dahlonega, Georgia on Tuesday. Dahlonega is in north Georgia and a beautiful area.

Internet: In 1828 Dahlonega was the site of the first major gold rush in the United States. The Dahlonega Gold Museum Historic Site sits in the middle of the town square, housed in the old Lumpkin County Courthouse built in 1836. From its steps in 1849, the Dahlonega Mint assayor tried to persuade miners to stay in Dahlonega instead of joining the California Gold Rush, saying, “ There’s gold in them thar hills.”

(I had thought that phrase was about the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California - so learned something!)

We loaded one CAT roller at Ritchie Bros Auction in Newnan, Georgia that afternoon and headed to Florida. Delivered Wednesday afternoon at Ring Power in St Augustine then to the house.

Late Friday morning we left Daytona Beach and had a leisurely three hour bike ride to Withlacoochee RV Park for the Central Florida Moto Guzzi Rally weekend of 8, 9, and 10 April.

We had arranged for friends, Derek and Cindy to take our tent, sleeping bags and chairs over before hand. We set up our tent near the Withlacoochee River.

Website: Withlacoochee River encourages you to explore and enjoy paddling through Old Florida’s pristine scenic river filled with plenty of wildlife and mother nature at her best.

Tour the most unique tea coloured river flowing north through cypress swamps and hardwood timberlands of the Green Swamp to the sandy beaches that empty into the Gulf of Mexico.

Although residential and commercial development in the region is increasing, the watershed as a whole remains largely undeveloped.

There were thousands of hairy caterpillars in the campgrounds - on the picnic benches and chairs, on tents, cars and motorbikes - everywhere!

I did some research are found out they were tussock moth caterpillars - and I had an allergic reaction to them…

Internet: Each spring tussock moth caterpillars are abundant in north central Florida. Caterpillars of this species have a red head, two black "hair pencils" projecting forward like antennae, four dense tufts of hair on the back, and a single hair pencil projecting to the rear like a tail. Unique to this species are the orange-colored spots along the back and sides.

(Also noted) caterpillar hairs my irritate the skin. I was covered in little itchy blisters for a week!

Photo of tussock caterpillars I stole off a University of Florida website.

Jimmy and Derek had kayaks and there were canoe rentals available. The river was high and fast flowing after several days of rain early in the week. Friday afternoon Jim went for a kayak trip with Derek and he ended up in the river! Luckily the alligators were not looking for an afternoon meal! After falling out, Jim was bitten by ‘something‘. After dragging himself and the kayak to the bank, he checked his big toe - it had a fishing hook stuck in it, complete with line and sinker!!

The “tea coloured water” and “black water” describes a lot of Florida and south Georgia lakes and rivers stained by a tannin blend of dissolved organic substances mostly from the cypress tree roots and swamp vegetation.

Saturday Jim and I went for a bike ride to Floral City and Sleepy Hollow - had lunch and took some nice roads on the way back.

It was a nice gathering of guzzi friends - 65 people were there by Saturday evening.

Great weather - hot and sunny. Jimmy’s lady friend, Cindy attended her first moto guzzi rally and settled in and had a good time.

Photo: Rear L to R: Roy with nephew, Jamie, Derek, Lamont, Jeffrey, Tim, Jim. Front L to R: Jan, Cindy, Mary Lynn, Helena, Lesley and Jimmy. (Jimmy's Cindy took the photo.)

Arrived back in Daytona Beach Sunday afternoon. Spent Monday working on the truck and catching up on business.

Tuesday we loaded in Gainesville, Florida - one Genie boom lift and delivered it in Baton Rouge, Louisiana the next morning. Loaded a CAT roller near New Orleans late morning and delivered Friday morning in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

After delivering to an equipment rental business, we had to wait until 2pm to reload north of Baltimore, Maryland. Loaded at AAI Corporation - a ‘humvee shelter‘. Only put one on us - a light load and lots of room left on the trailer.

Website: AAI Corporation was founded 1950. Today, we are a global corporation providing a vast array of innovative aerospace and defense technologies. Our products and services include unmanned aircraft and ground control technologies; high-fidelity training and simulation systems; automated aerospace test and maintenance equipment; armament systems; and logistical, engineering, supply chain and operational support services.

Delivered it to Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Alabama. It was full of computer and electronics and attaches to the tray back of a military humvee.

Internet: Redstone Arsenal: Originally a chemical weapons manufacturing facility for World War II, the arsenal became the focal point of the Army’s rocket and space projects, including development of the first US ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles in the 1950’s.

Redstone Arsenal remains the centre of testing, development, and doctrine for the Army’s missile programs. Besides the US Army Material Command and the US Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command, Redstone houses the Tactical UAV Project Office, Ordnance Munitions and electronic Maintenance School, Redstone Test Centre, and other operations.

Redstone Arsenal also hosts the Marshall Space Flight Centre, NASA’s field centre for propulsion analysis and development, which developed the Saturn rocket family in the 1960’s and propulsion systems for the Space Shuttle in the 1970’s and 80’s.

An interesting place: rockets and rocket engines, military helicopters and small aircraft on display in front of buildings.

Took some back roads and loaded in Rome, Georgia at RSC Rental in the afternoon. Loaded four new Club Cars and delivered them the next morning to another RSC Rental in Tampa, Florida. Club Car makes golf carts and utility vehicles, the ones we had were 4 x 4.

Late morning we went to Anna Maria Island, south of Tampa. Parked the truck in the car park at Coquina Beach. The project was a ‘renourishment’ because the beach had experienced severe erosion.

Internet: A barge docked off the northern end of the island dredges sand - a submerged pipe

up to five miles long brings dredged sand from the barge to the north end of Coquina Beach and a bulldozer and front-end loader spreads sand on the beach. The project restocks island beaches with their trademark white sand. (Cost was almost $6 million.) The sand was dredged from Tampa Bay.

We loaded pipe sections and the large joins with valves. We arrived at the house that evening and Jim delivered in Green Cove Springs the next morning.

The purpose of the return trip to Daytona Beach after only a week was to load up the moto guzzi le mans on the truck for the summer here. But it would not run well. I looked for loads on a day to day basis, eventually set one up for Monday and hoped the bike would be sorted out. Friday evening we went to New Smyrna Beach to Peanuts with the Hewitts, Sunday we spent a few hours with Jimmy and Cindy, and had Easter dinner at Lis and Harvey’s in De Leon Springs.

Jim fiddled with the le mans for four days - just wasn’t meant to be. Seemed to be a gasoline problem, and he had it running good on Sunday, but not sure enough to load it up. Not fun working on it while away from the garage. Also, the new front tyre would not hold air for more than 24 hours.

Back in the truck on Monday morning, 25 April. Set up the new dash cam. It records 15 minute segments and put into folders. The 8 GB SD cards holds two and a half hours of recording, and it re-writes the earlier files. If I want to keep any of the videos, I download them into the computer.

Loaded in Rockledge, Florida at Liberty Tire Recycling.

Website: Liberty Tire Recycling is the premier provider of tyre recycling services. By reclaiming more than 33 percent of the nation’s discarded tyres, Liberty Tire annually transforms more than 110 million tyres into raw materials for smart, sustainable products that improve people’s lives. Much of the recycled rubber produced is used as crumb rubber or as rubber mulch in landscaping and playground applications. Scrap tyres are shredded and ground in to various sizes of powders, crumbs and nuggets.

Very interesting, there were large piles of old tyres and rubber mulch and bagged and palletized product. We loaded a crumbing plant - hoppers and conveyor belt. The company is expanding into Ontario, Canada and excess equipment is being used in the start up. Really awful tarp job though - sharp edges, loose lids, motors and parts - all odd sizes. Tarps flapped all the way and it rained.

Delivered in Tilbury, Ontario around lunch time on Wednesday, 27 April.

We loaded the next morning in Mason, Michigan, large steel plates and two skids going to Orlando, Florida.

Arrived in Daytona Beach 6.30pm on Friday afternoon, will deliver in Orlando on Monday.

Vol 15 No. 1 March 31, 2011

Flights back to the USA were OK, 25 hours from Brisbane to Orlando - arrived in the early morning of 1 March, Florida time.

Jim had to get re-qualified with Landstar. Physical and Drug Test, get the truck and trailer inspected and attend one day of orientation. We cancel the contract each year because it costs over $500 a month for insurances, registration, permits, transponders and Jim has to be available for random drug tests if under contract.

On Friday, 4 March Jim and I headed to Plant City, Florida for the Strawberry Festival. On the way we stopped at Camp Carlo where moto guzzi friends camp during Bike Week. We shook Wisconsin friend, Chris Collins out of his tent and went for breakfast with him. Jim and I continued to Plant City (about a 3 hour ride west from Daytona Beach) and got there at 1pm.

The Plant City Strawberry Festival is on each year in March and we have not attended before because it is usually the same time as Bike Week, this year Bike Week was later and we had no visitors at our house.

Florida ranks second in the U.S. in the production of strawberries (California is first). Florida produces 15 percent of the total U.S. crop, and 100 percent of the domestically produced winter crop.

Website: More than 8,000 acres of strawberries are planted annually in the Plant City area. This county is now one of the largest agricultural counties in the nation. The diverse farm production includes strawberries, citrus, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, squash, okra, peppers, beans, dairy products, eggs, ornamental horticulture, tropical fish, beef cattle, swine and other related products.

The Festival slogan is “Taste The Flavor of Fun”.

Apart from the fact that we both like strawberries, I wanted to compare it to the Chinchilla Watermelon Festival. Firstly it was held at the fairgrounds / showgrounds and cost $10 per adult admission and $5 to park the motorcycle. To me it was more like a District Show with agriculture, horticultural and livestock competitions, swine and rabbit show and a large sideshow alley. Some people wore strawberry patterned clothes and t-shirts. Souvenir t-shirts, hats, etc were available. Many strawberry items and food for sale.

You simply must try one of their famous strawberry shortcakes. Most locations serve it pre-made with your choice of biscuit (scone) or cake. But the most popular spot is usually the create-your-own strawberry shortcake. There is fair food throughout the place, including deep-fried everything and various foods on a stick. There's also strawberry cookies, strawberry sweet tea, strawberry syrup, strawberry funnel cake, chocolate covered strawberries, strawberries on a stick and fresh strawberries sold by the bushel.

We both lined up twice for strawberry shortcake!

Some strawberry fun competitions were advertised, but we didn’t see any of them. ‘Strawberry stemming’ sounded like fun…??

The festival is on for 10 days to include two weekends.

Several live bands played in arenas and John Conley was playing in the main arena when we left just after 3pm.

Several showers of rain and a cool ride back, we met friends at Peanuts in New Smyrna Beach for dinner and drinks.

Jim stayed busy during the week getting the truck and trailer ready for the work year. We went to the moto guzzi club pizza night and Jim went to the AMA Flat Track races.

We spent a day during Bike Week with Dave and Debbie from Tampa. Jim met Dave in Tara in 2008 and they have stayed in contact. Dave has a Harley Davidson and Debbie has a Can-Am Spyder. This is the first time we've had a Spyder in front of our house.

We loaded at Ritchie Bros Auction on Monday, 14 March - a truck cab and chassis and a small roller. Delivered on Wednesday to Caledonia, New York and over to Buffalo so Jim could see his mother. Also saw Joe, Michele, Tyler and Baillie. A quick visit then back in the truck and over to Mississauga, Ontario to load crates the next morning.

To Houston, Texas and delivered the crates on Monday at the Port of Houston for export to Argentina. Up to Lufkin, Texas in the afternoon and loaded one turbine. It was a ‘hot’ load, one skid at 6,000 pounds. We couldn’t even see it on the trailer when looking in the mirrors! That is all we had on.

A quick trip to San Diego, California and delivered Wednesday afternoon to Solar Turbines.

We waited 48 hours in Los Angeles for a reload. As of this year, California Ports will only allow 2004 model trucks and newer that have a ‘clean air’ sticker. Ours is a 1999, so we can’t go into the California Ports. Two container ships were unloaded on Friday - Cal Cartage pick up shipping containers from the Port and empty them at their cross docks and load trucks from there. Worked out good for us. We loaded and tarped 12 crates of converters for GE Wind Energy in Olive Branch, Mississippi (30 km south of Memphis).

Was cool temperatures going across country on Interstate 40. Fresh snowfalls in the mountains around Los Angeles and through Arizona. Raining, windy and cold in north Texas.

We arrived in Olive Branch mid morning on Monday, 28 March and started taking the tarps off. Three quarters into doing that, we were asked to leave them tarped because the crates were not for the Olive Branch facility. We sat for a couple of hours, while the correct destination was figured out - Sweetwater, Texas. 1100 kms back west, and definitely NOT a place to be looking for a load out of! After negotiations, we were paid per mile from Olive Branch to Sweetwater and 300kms back to Dallas where there were loads.

I have read about the Sweetwater Texas Rattlesnake Round-Up and we missed it by two weeks!!

Internet: Since 1985, the World’s Largest Rattlesnake Round-Up has been held in Sweetwater, Texas.

Sweetwater is the centre of the Western Hemisphere’s leading wind power generation region. It is sometimes called the “Wind Turbine Capital of Texas”.

Trivia: Movie “Red Headed Stranger” starring Willie Nelson was filmed in Sweetwater, Texas.

We delivered Tuesday afternoon at GE Wind Energy in Sweetwater. It was raining, windy and cold! We headed back towards Dallas/Fort Worth after delivering.

Wednesday morning we loaded two generators at the Naval Air Station in Fort Worth. Only took up half a trailer and was light. Jim didn’t have enough hours left on his log book to deliver in New Jersey by Friday, so we scheduled delivery for Monday, 4 April. Had five days to go 2400 kms.

We got to Nashville, Tennessee Thursday mid-morning. Left the truck at the truckstop and walked across the bridge to Lower Broadway, the entertainment area of Nashville.

We went to the Country Music Hall of Fame - it had been 20 years since we had been there in the old building, first time visiting the new building - very spectacular resembling a piano keyboard.

Internet: The original Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum opened on Music Row on 1 April, 1967 and was closed 31 December, 2000. The grand opening of this new $37,000,000 facility was in May, 2001.

Website: The new building’s exterior is laced with symbolic images of music. The most obvious are the windows that mirror the configuration of piano keys. More conspicuous images include the diamond shaped radio mast, which is a miniaturized replica of the WSM tower. The round discs surrounding the tower symbolize the different size of records and CDs used to record country music. When viewed from the air, the building is in the shape of a bass clef. The northwest corner of the building juts out like the tail fin of a 1950’s Cadillac.

Website: The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s core, permanent exhibit tells the story of country music from its pre-commercial roots in the nineteenth century through its vibrant life today. This exciting multi-layered experience includes artifacts, photographs, original recordings, archival video, newly produced films, touch screen interactive media and beautifully rendered text panels. The exhibit immerses the visitor in the history and sounds of country music, its meanings, and the lives and voices of its honoured personalities.

The Museum had three featured exhibits: “Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy“ Examines the personal lives of Hank Williams, and Hank Williams Jr, and explores the dynamics that inspired the most influential country music ever recorded.

“Tammy Wynette: First Lady of Country Music” The exhibit tells the powerful story of the ladylike but tough woman whose talent and determination took her from the cotton fields of Mississippi to the heights of stardom.

“American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print” celebrates the grand tradition of letterpress printing. (All those show posters!)

The usual museum artifacts - lots to read, look at, and watch: over 800 stage costumes, over 600 instruments, and hundreds of other objects from microphones to automobiles - documenting the history of country music.

Webb Pierce’s car has silver horses on both sides of the rear bumper, a chrome rifle on the boot, huge set of longhorns in front of the grill and a rearing horse and a six-shooter as the hood ornaments. The interior has a horse saddle as the centre consol, six-shooter door handles and decorated with silver dollars.

Elvis’s gold Cadillac: 24 karat gold plated headlights, forty painted coats of a translucent mixture of crushed diamonds and fish scales called “diamond dust pearl”. The interior included such touches as gold plated television and a record player with automatic changer.

Also, on display is Elvis's gold plated piano.

One film clip I watched over and over was Wanda Jackson singing “Hard Headed Woman” in 1958. She toured with Elvis in 1955 and covered several of his hits. She was called “The Queen of Rockabilly“, and “The Queen of Rock”.

In January 2011 Wanda Jackson released a new album “The Party Ain’t Over” at age 73 and is touring this year. Awesome lady. This is the film clip fascinated me, Wanda Jackson singing “Hard Headed Woman“:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzJ3hiqsi0U

She also performs: “Riot In Cell Block No 9”, “Long Tall Sally“, “There’s A Party Going On”, “Let’s Have A Party”, “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Goin’ On”, “Heartbreak Hotel”, “Right Or Wrong”.

We stopped at a few honky tonks on Broadway, but knew we would settle into Robert’s Western World - we always do.

Yep - at 3pm they were hopping to the very talented band, “The Sliver Threads”. They did some traditional music and some of their own songs. The female singer Eileen, performed “Hard Headed Woman” like Wanda Jackson. The band finished their set at 6pm, so Jim and I left soon afterwards and stopped at a couple more bars on the way back to the truck.

Photo shows Tootsie's Orchid Lounge the purple building. Robert's Western World is the third building to the right with the red cowboy boot above the sign.