VanLife in the ScuttleBuss.: May 20-23: Nashville "Here comes the trolley!"

Memphis was on the way from Jackson to Nashville (a 6-7 hour drive total). We knew we'd have a chance to stop in Memphis on the way to the Southwest after our Midwest break, so figured we wouldn't explore too much. We drove straight to the book's recommended soul food restaurant, planning that to be our one stop in the city before continuing the journey. It seemed to be through a pretty bad neighborhood, and when we arrived it was quite clear it wasn't open (what with the vacant parking lot and bars and locks everywhere). Ah, forget it. We jumped back on I-40 and arrived in Nashville before sundown, to the abode of our friend DV. That night we wandered from his place to "five points" neighborhood for a dinner and drink before setting up the tent for KG (whose illness and cat allergies where still at dangerously un-fun levels).

The following morning while DV was at work, KG, Yoshi and I decided to walk 25 minutes to the Sky Blue Cafe where we had dined with DV during our visit the year previous. Snapped a few shots on the way:

On the walk, we noticed a tap room at a brewery called "Fat Bottom" near DV's abode:

We like checking out local breweries, and tap rooms are usually pretty fun... so we made a mental note to bring DV there when he got home from work, and continued on our path to breakfast.

We were enjoying our meal and coffees on the outdoor patio -- there were nothing but blue skies at Sky Blue that morning. It felt pretty darn hot, but beautiful:

After the first gorgeous hour... these not-at-all-blue skies appeared out of nowhere and the temperature was sliced in half:

As you can see in the photograph, I was a tad nervous about a torrential rain on the 25 minute journey home. As you can also see in the photograph, my iced americano was still quite full. I commenced "chugging" and we were on our way, just as the winds whipped everything into our eyeballs and the pins and needles of relentlessly cold water began to attack from every direction.
We. Were. All. Wet.

When DV arrived home, we returned to the tap room! At first he doubted it existed, then that it was any good, but it was real and GREAT. In fact, he fell in love with their burger..and insisted we return later in the week. You'll see.

Awesome place, good beer, good grub, cool bar, cool patio, pretty retro lady adverts. A win.

We decided to see the Great Gatsby the next day - we'd hoped to use the kayak all together, but it was supposed to be another "scattered thunderstorm" type of day. Cool looking theater, eh?
We enjoyed the movie much more than everyone else seems to have.

That evening we all wandered back down to 5 points to find a place to eat. As we were wandering, I realized an old (ridiculously creepy) man with a cane was following behind us. After a few seconds, I realized for an old (ridiculously creepy) man with a cane, he sure seemed to be gaining on us uncomfortably quickly. Before we knew it, we was walking as a part of our group. Three had become four. We all exercised unspoken communication and attempted cleverly tricking him with the "we-will-pretend-to-stop-walking-and-look-at-buildings-while-you-keep-walking-and-gain-distance-ahead-of-us, ya creep" move. We stop. He walks a few steps ahead, then stops when he is directly in front of us.
CK: Hey, guys... downtown doesn't look too far, look at all the buildings! How long would it take to walk there?
DV: 40 minutes or so...
KG: What if we RAN.... downtown?
CK: I don't know... what do YOU think?
DV: 15 minutes?
The man, un-phased in his creepiness, waited a few steps ahead for us to continue our stroll with him. We continued walking, quickening our pace in the hopes that his age and cane would keep him at a distance. It did not. I saw a cop up ahead, parked next to where we were all about to pass by... I wasn't sure if/what I could even say to him, it was all happening in such a socially awkward and somewhat comical nature. It didn't feel like we were necessarily in real danger, since it was broad daylight and we were almost to 5 points -- where there are people and public places to duck into at every "point". The cop saw me nervously considering approaching his vehicle, and waved to me as he watched the three young'ns power walk by with the creepy cane man attached to their heels. He caught up with us fully and as we stopped hiding the awkwardness of trying to lose him, D says out loud: "Really guys, this is getting ridiculous." Yep. He was at our side and turned and smiled at me when I was brave enough to look to my right. Shudder. Maybe a lonely crazy man who wouldn't harm a fly, or, you know, the other option. We were approaching the fancy cafe/fine dining restaurant Marche... we decided to walk past it, and then quickly duck back and run up the ramp. Surely he wouldn't follow us in there, Jack White eats in there! At first, he stopped against the railing, staring up at us as though we'd finally escaped his frantic attempts at eternal friendship and he didn't know how to deal with it. As we caught our breathe and decided what to grab to go, he made the decision his goal was not out of reach and followed us inside. He sat at a table near the door and put his head in his hand. The waitress approached him and he waved her away, shaking his head (I'm not sure if he could speak or not). We told them he had been following us and we weren't sure what was up with him, or if he would continue to follow us when we left. They said they'd try to deal with him and at the very least direct him out the other door.

We left him there and continued on to a nearby bar patio, where we were all looking over our shoulders for a while. Once he was gone, although we enjoyed the humorous amount of creepiness the experience held, we almost felt bad for ditching him. It seemed most likely he was a delusional old man who became convinced we could all "hang". DV assured us adventures that unnerving only seem to happen when we're in town. Always a reassuring thing to hear.

In other news, as KG's illness began to subside, my health did the same. We thought he'd caught a version of my horrid-ness, but apparently it was a new enough version that I got to experience all new and worsened symptoms! Slowly the sinus headache and blocked nasal passages and horrible cough and throat and missing voice all came to the party. The next day, I was so ohsosick. Bought the medicines, took it easy, had kleenex up my nose, the works. We tried to go out to a thai dinner, even parked in the dark underground lot where all the restaurant signs said we should.... even though all the signs seemed to also point to danger... they were creepy signs, could have been made by baldy-crutch-creep-man:

BUT the thai restaurant was closing. So we went back in the creepy lower garage and fled before the lower garage monster got us.

We ended up at the hip pizza joint and I tried my best to enjoy dinner that night, but as you can tell from the picture below, I. Was. So. Sick.

Our last full day in town, DV offered to let us back on his trolley tour for free. That's friendship. We love D's tour! The best part about this particular one (other than his great tour guide skills) was that we'd all agreed he'd throw in one falsehood that we'd all know about that he'd throw in at some point.
DV: "That is where Andrew Jackson went to church... also, a little know fact about Jackson. He always kept a full beard, but requested to be depicted clean shaven as he felt it to be more 'presidential'."
Ooohs, Ahs, and "really?"'s echoed through the bus. K and I held each other and hid our tears of laughter and shaking shoulders. Was it wrong? Probably. But was it incredibly fun? Yup.

We "hopped off" the "hop-on-hop-off" trolley at the Parthenon to relax and take in the beauty until DV drove back with his next tour group.

DV's trolley ended up breaking down, so we hung around a while and hopped the next fella's who came through. He lacked DV's tour guide charm, but that's alright. I'm sure he's a good man.

We hopped out back downtown:

We caught DV's third attempt at a working trolley, he was back in action after two breakdowns:

This costumed cowboy fella was being recorded doing the "Gangnam Style" dance with a couple of pretty ladies in front of him. The trolley riders got a kick out of him.

We hopped out at the famous antique store from the show American Pickers. Some pretty neat stuff in there.

There happened to be a delicious cafe in the antique warehouse building, always a plus. Also, a very interesting vintage etc store nearby "Moonshine Nettie", which I will type about momentarily.

A pretty cool hop off from the trolley. Good for some pictures as well.

The vintage shop was run by two sisters, fascinating ladies. Chatted with us for over an hour (we missed DV's final trolley pick up as well as the tour guide after him, but he was kind enough to pick us up after his tour ended). The ladies had been living in New Orleans, where we'd just been, and had recently moved to Nashville. We discussed our journey and they told us about towns they've enjoyed in their travels. They also told us about the artist grants that were given out in Paducah, Kentucky... you could live there for free (for a year, I assume?) to create art! Music, visual, whatever. What a concept. After our long discussions of what we each have learned about places to live in this vast country, I bought some owl earrings and we waited for our private trolley escort. A pretty great store, I highly recommend you stop by next time you're in The Nash. Even awesome looking from the outside:

Our private trolley ride arrived!

After dropping off the trolley, Dan pointed out the skyline on the drive home before it was blocked by a semi:

The next morning was errand day. Laundry, packing, dog bathing and most importantly... KG going to Goodwill to put together a "suit" creation for the wedding in Louisville that was to be our next stop. Option yellow shirt, blue, and winning green.