Adventure comes in all shapes and sizes. On this adventure, I left the fishing rods and guns at home and the truck never left the asphalt. Interesting enough, that put me a little out of my comfort zone. But isn’t that what adventures is all about, exploring outside your norm and comfort zone? Nashville here I come.
Since a mere lad, I have been a country music fan. I like the older and manly harder edge stuff. Hank, Waylon, Merle, George (both Jones and Strait), Johnny, and David are some of the names I’m most familiar with and can relate. Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, Justin Moore and Jamey Johnson are some of the newer guys I dig.
With that said, I rarely purchase music and music has not been a huge part of my life. I guess you could call it background music. The lives and achievements of the artist intrigues me as much as the music itself.
Life is nothing if not a list of experiences. A visit to Nashville listening to live country music and checking out an open mic night for singer song writers was one of those things I wanted to experience. Problem comes when you check out the cost of a travel package or the hotel rates. I had a better idea.
Fifteen minutes out of town is the Anderson Road Campground operated by the Corp of Engineers on J Percy Priest Reservoir. For $15 a night, I had a place to pitch the tent and take a hot shower.
Thursday after work, I hit the road for the 10 hours and 600 mile run. In the dark I set up the tent and caught a few hours of sleep before beginning my exploration of Nashville. Not much was planned for Friday and Saturday, organically I walked the streets, visited a few museums and spent most of my time visiting different bars listening to live country music.
Sunday morning, I broke down camp and grabbed my favorite southern breakfast of country ham biscuits before the return north. Monday I went to work with new stories to tell.
I often get asked how I can afford to find the time and money to take trips like this one to Nashville. A quick trip like this is very doable, you just gotta’ toss the bags in the truck and go.
Here is the break down on what the trip cost me:
- One day of vacation time from work
- $175 in fuel. My truck gets about 17 MPG
- $30 in lodging. I slept in my tent and the camp site cost $15 a night.
- $60 in gifts for family
- $27 for admission to the Country Hall of Fame
- Food – You eat no matter where you are, but to keep the cost down I cooked a big breakfast in camp and ate BPJ for lunch on Saturday in camp.
- $200 for my bar tab, including tips for the bands, food and beer. I allotted $100 a day for myself and that was plenty.
Adding it all up the total cost of the trip was $492.
Not too bad for a life experience I’ll remember for a long time for less than $500.
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