Day 11 – Scooters, Guitars, Gumbo and the Grand Ole Opry

By this stage of the Barbecue Road Trip, we’re starting to lose track of what day it actually is.

Day 11. Possibly Day 10.

Either way, we woke up in Nashville and that was good enough for us.

The morning began with a split operation. Ro and I headed off to the famous Pancake Pantry for breakfast while Mikey and Liddy decided to do something completely unreasonable and spend time in the gym.

The Pancake Pantry has been a Nashville institution since 1961 and is famous for drawing queues that often stretch down the street. Fortunately, we arrived early enough to avoid the worst of the crowds and enjoyed a magnificent breakfast that reminded us why Americans take breakfast very seriously.

Following breakfast and sweaty showers, we set off to explore Nashville properly.

Originally, the plan involved scooters.

Instead, she! decided to walk.

This seemed like a perfectly reasonable idea until we remembered it was approximately 30degrees with humidity levels normally associated with tropical rainforests.

What looked like a pleasant stroll on Google Maps quickly turned into an endurance event.

Liddy, Mikey and Ro marched ahead with purpose while I gradually fell further and further behind, muttering complaints about the heat, the distance and the general lack of air-conditioning in outdoor environments.

By the time we reached the Nashville Farmers’ Market near the State Capitol, everyone was thoroughly cooked and ready for a cold drink.

The market was worth the effort, although I maintain there are easier ways to see Nashville than walking across it in what felt like the surface of the sun.

While it wasn’t a full market day, many of the permanent stalls inside were open and there was plenty to wander through. The market has been operating in one form or another since the early 1800s and remains one of the city’s best-known gathering places.

While exploring the food hall, we stumbled across a stall serving gumbo.

This turned out to be a significant moment.

The gumbo was absolutely sensational.

Possibly the best gumbo we’ve had on the trip so far.

The stall was called Market BBQ and immediately set a very high benchmark for the rest of the day.

Leaving the market, we hired scooters and set off again.

If you’ve never toured a city on a scooter, imagine all the risks of riding a bicycle combined with all the concentration of driving a car while simultaneously trying to read Google Maps and headed for Gibson Garage.

For Mikey, this was something close to a religious pilgrimage.

Gibson Garage is part showroom, part museum and part guitar heaven. Hundreds of guitars line the walls and every instrument looks like it belongs in the hands of a rock star. Watching Mikey walk through the front door was a bit like watching a kid enter Disneyland for the first time.

From there we made our way through the city towards The Gulch, one of Nashville’s trendiest Yeah neighbourhoods. Once an industrial rail district, The Gulch has transformed into a precinct packed with restaurants, bars, apartments and enough murals to keep Instagram alive for another decade.

Lunch was at The Gumbo Bros.

Unfortunately, after the brilliance of the morning’s gumbo, expectations were high.

Perhaps too high.

The food was good but salty, not quite in the same league as the shared bowl we’d demolished earlier at the market.

In hindsight, we should have gone back for seconds at BBQ Market.

Following lunch, Ro and I returned to the hotel for what was intended to be a short rest and accidentally became a proper afternoon nap.

Meanwhile, Mikey and Liddy headed off to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum to immerse themselves in Nashville’s musical history.

At around 4pm we were awakened by what sounded like the end of the world.

A thunderstorm rolled across Nashville and dumped an incredible amount of rain in a very short period of time. Streets became rivers, gutters overflowed and visibility disappeared almost completely.

By the time Ro and I emerged from the hotel, Mikey and Liddy had taken shelter at Doc Holliday’s in music row.

We dodged the rain, scooting from cover to cover, and head down to them.

Unfortunately, Alan was denied entry.😳

Not because of bad behaviour.

Not because of intoxication.

Not because he looked suspicious.

No.

Despite being 65 years old, he was refused entry because he didn’t have a physical ID on him.

Apparently in Nashville, looking old isn’t enough.

Proof is still required.

After recovering from this personal insult, we jumped in a uber and headed for the highlight of the evening.

The Grand Ole Opry.

For anyone who loves country music, this place is sacred ground. Since 1925 the Opry has hosted many of the biggest names in country music and remains one of the most famous live music venues in the world.

The show itself was fantastic.

Seven different acts took the stage throughout the evening, each performing a handful of songs. The variety was incredible, ranging from traditional country through to modern performers, all backed by a professional production that somehow felt both polished and intimate at the same time.

Even for those of us who aren’t hardcore country music fans, it was impossible not to appreciate the history and significance of the place.

By the time the show wrapped up around 10pm, we’d all had a terrific night.

Well, almost all of us.

As we returned to the hotel, Mikey discovered he was suffering from a severe case of post-Opry hunger.

While the other three crawled happily into bed, Mikey launched a late-night mission in search of fried chicken.

The outcome of that mission remains unclear.

Tomorrow is another day.

I’m sure you all noticed, barbecue seems to be missing from the menu more and more. I wonder if there’s a reason?

See y’all tomorrow 👋