America 2015: Day Sixteen (14 August 2015)

Only in America
Dreaming in red, white and blue
Only in America
Where we dream as big as we want to
We all get a chance
Everybody gets to dance
Only in America

                                                                                                                   - Brooks & Dunn

Friday 14 August

All my problems started late last night when I decided I would take advantage of the upgrade to Windows 10 that Microsoft was offering for my Surface. Little did I know, but the update would mean the screen flickered constantly, with ‘Critical Errors’ in some areas, and necessitate a very long phone call with Microsoft (after an equally long online chat) for troubleshooting purposes.

It’s pretty annoying when Microsoft says, “Hey, download the new Windows,” and you do, only to be besieged with problems. It’s worse when the Microsoft people admit there are problems with the new upgrade and suggest that perhaps I shouldn’t have gone ahead with it in the first place! It doesn’t help that the people giving you the technical advice are located in the Philippines and have limited command of the English language, coupled with a thick accent. Needless to say, it wasn't a fun time.

Thankfully, I was able to backdoor my way into my files, extract them from my hard drive, (just in case…!) and then followed instructions to roll back my system to the old Windows. It did the trick, thankfully, but it was a long process that lasted half the night, so I’d barely had any sleep when the alarm went off to get me up at 7:30am for breakfast before we left St Louis and travelled south through to Kentucky and into what’s known as Music City USA, Nashville, Tennessee.

On the way, we drove through Kentucky, and got our first real look at the way things are done down south. I’m talking one-lane roads, narrow bridges, stores offering hunting gear and shooting supplies, big trucks, the works. It’s not an exaggeration to say that they do things different down here. As much of an eye opener as that was, people are extraordinarily friendly.

 

Taking some advice from Will (all the way from Hawaii…thanks, man!), we stopped at Cracker Barrel in Patucah, Kentucky. For the uninitiated, CB is throwback-themed diner that serves a lot of very traditional American and southern-style foods. It’s one of Will’s favourite places, so we figured we’d give it a whirl. Turns out it wasn't too bad. I actually had a salad with a lot of greenery and some grilled chicken. Our server told me she could “listen to my accent all day long – it’s beautiful,” and seemed very surprised when I knocked back a refill on my Sprite. I’m drinking too much of that stuff as it is.

 

Mid-afternoon, we arrived in Nashville and I took the opportunity to have a bit of a snooze before we boarded a bus bound for Opryland on the city’s outskirts. Broadcast on 650AM ‘The Legend’ WSM in Nashville and around the world online, the Grand Ole Opry is the longest-running radio broadcast in history – ninety years strong – and continues to showcase a wide variety of country artists.

 

Originally, the Opry was broadcast from the legendary Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville, but it moved to the Grand Ole Opry House in it’s current location in the mid-seventies. There’s a giant convention centre, luxury hotel and a mammoth shopping complex around the Opry House, and, until the mid-1990s, even a theme park. It’s a sprawling facility you have to see to believe.

I like a little country music – the modern stuff, like Keith Urban, Jason Aldean, Brantley Gilbert, Florida-Georgia Line etc. – so it’s fair to say that a lot of the traditional artists who were on the stage tonight went over my head. Even so, it was a pretty amazing spectacle, and you can’t help but admire the musician’s talent, and the laundry list of awards all the performers have amassed over the years. Plus, it’s a Nashville icon, so we pretty much had to go, right?

We happened to be on the same bus as a group of girls on a bachelorette weekend from North Carolina. The announcer at the Opry – who has an amazing voice – actually said that Nashville is becoming one of the more popular locations for bachelorette weekends in America.

The girls we ran into were very loud, very excitable…and very unpopular with the older folks at the front of the bus. You could see their looks of disapproval whenever they turned around! We liked them because they decided to start playing music on the ride home, as we sat through a traffic delay, and it was all the sort of modern country I love: Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt, etc. The way they were going, they’re going to be nursing some pretty sore heads come Saturday morning.

Australia's Keith Urban features on the giant poster outside the entrance to Opry House

 After last night and this morning’s technology disaster, I’m looking forward to exploring more of this great city!