It has been raining a lot in the northeast and we didn’t ride as intended. We did find a really good restaurant very close to our hotel.

Huge menu, fast service, and huge portions – Billie and I split meals and still got too much food. The cake display was an eye-catcher as you walked in the door.
We ate here 4 times in 2 days. JD’s Shepherd’s Pie was about 8″X5″X3″ – he finished it all!

We gave in to temptation with chocolate almond raspberry cake.

6 am and we’re out the door.
Loaded up and ready to drive to Pittsburgh PA.

We stopped to look at the New River Bridge, the world’s longest single-arch steel span bridge. At 876 feet above the water, it’s America’s second-highest bridge.

To get a better look, we descended quite a few wet and slippery steps.

Canada has Tim Horton’s, The west coast has Starbuck’s. Here, Sheetz are everywhere. Made-to-order specialty coffees with about 50 choices as you enter your order on a computer screen. By the time you’ve paid, your order is ready.

4 am and Phyl is headed to the airport.

But not me. I waited around until the evening and got myself to the Greyhound station for an overnight (uncomfortable) bus ride to Roanoke VA.

There were 6 acts in the 2-hour show. Jeannie Seeley opened.

I didn’t recognize some of the performers and most of my pictures didn’t turn out well. Here are a few of the artists I did know. The Swon Brothers.

Hunter Hayes.

Rascal Flatts.

When we left at about 10 pm, it was 82 degrees with 91% humidity. Just awful. From now on, I will appreciate the comment about Sacramento’s hot weather, “But it’s a dry heat.”

Breakfast at Biscuit Love. This is the Lily mentioned in a previous post:

We went to an exhibit at the Frist Museum.

Italian design from 1945-present. I was in heaven!

Country Music Hall of Fame. Phyl did this one (I was still at the Frist).

A stop at Tootsie’s on Music Row.


A walk past the Ryman Auditorium.

Carnton Plantation, the site of the historic Battle of Franklin in 1864.



By chance, there was a vintage base ball game taking place in a nearby field. There are about 10 teams in the league, they play by the 1864 rules – there are only 31.


Musicians played nearby.

The origin of the name – an old bottling plant.


Excellent popsicles. I had blackberry.



Their motto:

At the top, a 56-foot cast iron statue of Vulcan, the Roman god of the forge and metalwork, which symbolizes the iron origins of Birmingham. He was created in 1904 and appeared first at the 1904 World’s Fair.

Views from the top:

We went to visit Phyl’s Aunt Myrt and her family in Birmingham.

L-R: Jodie, Mike, Myrt, Phyl, Kim.

The largest bas relief sculpture in the world.

Confederate Memorial: Jefferson Davis, Robert E Lee, and Stonewall Jackson.

90 X 190 feet. The deepest point is at Lee’s elbow, 12 feet to the surface of the mountain’s surface.