Today is the day that we get back on track, following the detour to Birmingham, and return to our Blues Highway route with two nights in "Music City" - Nashville
Our quickest and most direct route (200 miles) would have been to drive north straight up Interstate 65. We chose a rather more convoluted route (250 miles) to take us cross country to another iconic place on the American, if not the world, music map Muscle Shoals and specifically to one of its two famous recording studios - Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, 3614 Jackson Highway The list of artists that have recorded there is almost endless but includes Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Rod Stewart, George Michael, Lynryd Skynryd and, of course, the Rolling Stones (3 tracks on the Sticky Fingers album including Brown Sugar and Wild Horses - apparently, or so the story goes, Keith Richards composed the final two verses of this whilst "medicating" in the studio toilet).
20 miles west of Muscle Shoals runs the Natchez Trace Parkway so, having driven the most southerly Natchez to Jackson section (80 miles) a week ago, on Day 7, we picked it up again to drive the northern end, the Cherokee to Nashville section (120 miles). This section includes the final resting place of Meriwether Lewis , he of the Lewis and Clark pioneers of the early 1800s that explored the American north west, oh, and some bends (curves) in the road, too - quite a novelty.
Situated less than a mile from the end of the Natchez Trace Parkway on the outskirts of Nashville is The Loveless Cafe (thank you, Martin) so what better place to stop for dinner? Click on the link and enjoy the menu - we did!
We rocked up at our hotel for the next two nights in downtown Nashville, The DoubleTree by Hilton having driven through light rain - the first sight of rain that we have had since leaving Lafayette on Day 5. The Weather Channel claims that the last few days have been the warmest Spring days (the temperature has regularly been in the mid to high 80sF/30C) in the southern states of the US since 1981 - how lucky are we?
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