Dorothy Piotrowski’s blog

Ah … sleep … something that we haven’t had a lot of in the last few days.  We decided to sleep in and then relax by the pool before starting our day.

Since I didn’t have a proper birthday dinner, Karen took me to Maggiano’s Little Italy, which is a fabulous Italian restaurant.  We had visited one in Washington, DC for Liz’s graduation dinner and knew that the food was going to be awesome (and huge!).  We enjoyed a lovely lunch and then afterwards we went over to the Sommet Center where we bought tickets for tonight’s PBR (Professional Bull Riders) event.

We walked over to the Ryman Auditorium, which is the heart of country music.  Took a tour that included going backstage, where we saw all the star’s dressing rooms, including the Cash-Carter room.  It’s a very cool place, and very moving, to think of all the stars that have performed on that stage … Minnie Pearl, Roy Acuff, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Bruce Springsteen, and of course Loretta Lynn.  The acoustics are phenomenal, and the history is incredible.

After the Ryman, we walked up and down Broadway St, stopping into Ernest Tubb record shop, Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge and ended up having lunch at Jack’s Bar-B-Que.  The BBQ was superb.

Because of the PBR in town, there were many, many cowboys walking around.  And boy were they HOT!  These were real cowboys, not just guys with a hat.

The PBR really puts on a fantastic show.  It started with lots of fireworks, cowboys rising up out of the floor on pedestals, a bunch of young people taking the oath to join the US Army, and the introduction of all 50 bullriders.  It was being televised live, so there was plenty of activity during the commercial breaks.

The bullriders and the clowns are real dare-devils.  Thankfully nobody got seriously injured, but there were plenty of close calls.  Justin McBride was the winner tonight, and the last cowboy to ride.

There were a lot of celebrities at the PBR, including Toby Keith, John Michael Montgomery, Stephen Baldwin, Rocket Ismail, Vanilla Ice and a bunch of other celebrity-bullriders who would be competing at Sunday’s event.  After the PBR we were headed back to the car and Stephen Baldwin went sailing by on a skateboard.  We got a quick photo with him, before he headed into the Palm Restaurant.

It’s the end of an incredible one week speed-reader’s version of Tennessee.  We’ve enjoyed every place we visited, and need to come back and spend more time in this state.  Tomorrow we’re making an 11 hour drive back to K-W, and back to reality.

We got up very early and headed back over to the Heartbreak Hotel to pick up Darren and Allison.  They had an 8:15am flight so they had to be at the airport by 7:00am.  We said our good-byes,  still not believing the previous day’s adventures.  We headed back to our hotel, packed up and made the 3 hour drive to Nashville.

We arrived at the Nashville Farmer’s Market and decided to have lunch there.  Travel tip … if you are in a food court and you see locals lined up at a booth, the food is probably good.

After lunch, we found the Big Pink Bus for the Nash Trash tour.  It’s a 90 minute jaunt taking you through some of the highlights and lowlights of Nashville.  The tour is run by The Jugg Sisters - Sheri Lynn and Brenda Kay.  Before we got on the bus, Brenda Kay was leaning out the window to tell us “she had to sober up Sheri Lynn, and get the smell off her, before she could start the tour!”.  The tour started by the sisters learning everyone’s name, and where they were from (approximately 40 people).

There were 10 wacky women from The Red Hat Society on this tour, and only four guys.  We spent the entire time laughing our heads off.  The Juggs told hilarious stories, sang wacky songs, and told awful jokes.  They would pick out people on the street, tell us they were celebrities, and then yell out the window at the people.  Apparently we saw Beyonce, Faith Hill, P Diddy, The Dixie Chicks, Randy Travis and countless other “celebrities”.  Travel tip … if you are ever walking in Memphis and see the big pink bus, run the other way before you too become a “celebrity”.

I highly recommend this tour.  You actually get hors d’oeuvres (crackers and cheese in a can) and alcohol is allowed.

After the tour, we went over to Centennial Park to check out the American Artisan festival.  It was 97 degrees and there was not a lot of shade but there were many beautiful things for sale.  These people were really artistic, and not just people with a glue gun and some wood.

Next we headed over to the Residence Inn Nashville Airport ($94 USD) and hit the pool.  Very nice hotel, and I would definitely stay here again.  After a little rest, we headed over to Opry Mills to do some shopping at Bath & Body Works, and have dinner at Dickey’s Barbecue Pit (highly recommended by our campfire neighbours).  Arrived back at the hotel, had some birthday cake and decided to call it a night.

This whole experience started with a phone call last Saturday saying that our friends Darren and Allison from Las Vegas would possibly be in Memphis on my birthday to do a private show.  I of course thought that this was all a joke, and he was trying to get back at us for surprising him on his birthday last February.  Once we saw the email confirmation, we started to maybe believe that it would be true.

On Tuesday night we had started making arrangements to get to Memphis, just in case this was all true.  We cancelled our Nashville reservation, and booked a room in Memphis.

Thursday morning started by waking up on Loretta’s bus, and opening birthday presents.  (Happy Birthday to me).  And no, we did not see any ghosts on the bus, although our campfire neighbours swore they saw Loretta when they stayed on the bus the night before us.

We headed west on I-40.  We’re goin to Graceland, Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee.

We checked into the Comfort Inn and Suites ($64 USD) near the airport.  We still didn’t believe that Darren and Allison would actually be in Memphis until we knocked on the door of their hotel room and Allison answered the door.  They were staying at the Heartbreak Hotel (which is directly across the street from Graceland).  They were in a very cool suite, decorated in black and red.

We’ve been to Graceland a few times before, but experiencing it with Darren (#1 Elvis Tribute Artist in the World) was a totally new experience.  The tour was great, as always, with a few new things to see.

After the tour of Graceland, Elvis Automobile museum and Elvis’ custom jets, we did lots of good shopping at the mall across the street.

This whole trip started when Darren received an offer from Mike to perform for Mike’s parents 40th wedding anniversary.  Darren had met Mike in Las Vegas after his show at the Stratosphere Hotel & Casino, and Mike pulled this show together in less than a week.

We headed to The New Daisy Theatre on Beale Street and met some VERY interesting people including Mike’s uncle Jerry Kattawar.  Jerry is the #1 blues piano player, probably in the world,and has played with the likes of Ronnie Hawkins, Muddy Waters, BB King, and various members of The Band.

Mike was a very generous host, providing pizza and a show for 20-30 of his friends and family, in the 300 seat theatre he had rented out just for this show.  Just because his Mom loves Elvis!

To indicate how generous Mike is … Mike’s daughter was on the TV show “My Super Sweet 16″.  For anyone who has seen that show, you know what kind of $$$ we’re talking about.

Marion Deaton opened the show with a short tribute to Willie Nelson.  This guy was phenomenal.  He sounded and looked exactly like Willie.

Let me tell you … Darren’s show was THE BEST SHOW EVER (For real!).  He performed two sets, and included all the big songs … “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”, “Sweet Caroline”, “Suspicious Minds”, “My Way”, “Hurt”, “American Trilogy”, and closed the show with “How Great Thou Art”.  Mike’s parents (Barbara and Mike Sr.) loved the show, and so did the rest of the crowd.

After the show we Walked down Beale Street to the Blues City Cafe, with Mike and some of his friends and family.  Beale Street was hoppin’ with bands and lots of people, even on a Thursday night.  We were treated to a fabulous Memphis dinner of steak, ribs, etc.  The steak was priced by the pound, so you can imagine how big these steaks were.  The food was die to for, and the atmosphere was electrifying.

After stuffing ourselves, we walked back down Beale Street to Silky O’Sullivan’s where Silky personally greeted Mike and his gang at the door.  This place is a bar with two piano players tonight.  Darren was introduced to the crowd by Jerry, and then wowed the crowd with a version of “Big Boss Man”.

We were then treated to a fabulous display of the talents of Jerry on piano.  He has the fastest left hand in the world … clocked at 93.2 miles per hour.  This guy can play!  Goodness gracious great balls of fire!

The evening ended with the four of us relaxing back at the Heartbreak Hotel and trying to figure out if this was all a dream.

The day started early as we got up and were checked out by 9:00am.  We made a few stops for some quick shopping .. Smoky Mountain Knife Works, Lodge Cast Iron and a Russell Stover (chocolate!) outlet.  The knife store was amazing.  The store was massive and there were so many knives it was hard to choose just one.

We got onto I-40 going westbound, and headed for Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.  Our stop for tonight is Loretta Lynn’s campground and we are staying on her tour bus ($150 USD).  I’ve always wanted to visit her ranch and when I went to her website, it said that you could rent her old tour bus for the night.  It’s the one that was in the movie “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (with Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones).

We decided to take the guided tour of Loretta Lynn’s former home.  The tour also included a recreation of her parent’s home in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky and the simulation of a coal mine.  Before the tour got started, Joannie (our tour guide with the Loretta-type drawl) informed us of some rules.  No smoking, drinking or picture taking.  A southern lady(?) on the tour then asked “Can you chew tobacco?”, and Joannie’s answer was yes .. but only if you swallow it.  We knew right then that this would be a fun tour!

We boarded the tour bus to go to Loretta’s house.  You only get to tour the main floor but it’s fascinating to see.  The house is left exactly as it was when Loretta and Mooney (Loretta’s husband) moved out.  They didn’t move very far .. right behind the plantation house, to a smaller more modern house, which you could actually see from the kitchen window of her old house.  And her new tour bus was parked out back, so we suspect she was just a few feet away from us!

After the house tour, we did the “Coal Miner’s Daughter” museum tour.  Loretta kept everything … every award, costumes, gowns, gifts from fans, etc.  She has enough interesting momentos to rival even Elvis!

After spending the afternoon touring, we had dinner at Loretta Lynn’s Country Kitchen.  It was good old fashioned home cooking.

Now I sit here, enjoying the summer evening, working on the blog.  We’re going to have a campfire later.

Continued later …

We went and bought a bundle of wood, made ourselves a roaring campfire, and had a great time sitting around the fire with our camping neighbours.  They were from Indiana and Georgia, and gave us marhsmallows and fresh Georgia peaches, in exchange for sharing our campfire.  We had tons of fun, and lots of laughs.

If this is camping, I like it.  I like the electricity in the bus, I like Dish TV in the bus, I like all the conveniences of home!

Just got into the hotel … it’s 2:30am … and I am too tired to post the last couple of days of adventures.

Let’s just say that it involves Elvis, Memphis and boogie woogie piano.

I promise that by tomorrow night, we’ll get all caught up.

Good night.