​Hank had to see a dentist because a crown broke. The dentist glued it back on temporarily. Hopefully, it holds until we get back to Seattle. In the meantime, Angie took the opportunity to get an oil change and a haircut. 

We had lunch at the home of Hank's niece, Heather, and her husband, Rabiou, in Union Deposit. Rabiou cooked a delicious meal of lamb, rice and salad. We all ate too much. We enjoyed coffee while getting a tour of their yard and vegetable garden.

For dinner, we travelled over the mountains and up the valley in Perry County to the home of Hank's cousin, Tina, and her husband, Kurt, in New Bloomfield. Their home sits in a narrow rural valley. Kurt was born and raised in Perry County. He and Tina have a large circle of friends. Their home is set up for large social gatherings around meals and football games.

We had drinks in their covered pavillion in the background while some played with their grandchild, Ronin, and the dogs. We moved inside for a feast of Puerto Rican white rice and beans, smoked pork loin, deviled eggs and salad. For dessert, we enjoyed orange cream pie, prepared by Hank's cousin, Aaron-Nicole, who Hank hadn't seen in 15 years.

​At 5 am, Hank awoke ready to get the day started. He woke the dogs up for a change and they all went out on a short one-mile run. After a shower and breakfast, he got a lot of work done on the blog.
The three of us drove to Jean's church, which met on a shady lawn. Jean is mobility-limited, so she had not previously attended the outdoor service. Having Hank and Angie along to help gave her a chance to check it out and enjoy church in the great outdoors.

After the service, Hank and Angie made a quick costume change and headed to the Susquehanna River where we met Hank's nephew, Ralph, and his half-sister, Rose for a kayak trip. Susquehanna Outfitter drove us up the river and dropped us off so we could float with the current back to our cars. The river level was extremely low, less than a foot deep for the first 30-minutes. We had a challenging time finding a route through the rocks, especially since we were initially paddling upstream.

We quickly tired and turned downstream. Soon the depth increased to about 18 inches for the middle part of the trip, which was a lot more relaxing. We beached the boats on an island to wade around among the crayfish and get a good group photo.

The last part of the trip was an easy paddle through three feet of water back to our cars. The view of the state capital on the east shore, with City Island in the foreground, was a highlight. Also, the views up-river to the gaps the river had carved through the mountains were captivating. Another highlight was an impromptu sculpture some created by a clever passerby who placed a plastic deck chair on top of large tree trunk and root ball sticking up out of the water. 

Ralph's half-sister, Tracy, met us for a meal after the float trip. Ralph discovered these two half-sisters just last year, as a result of a genetic test. They have had a delightful time getting to know each other over the past year. Hank and Angie were enjoyed meeting them.

​Hank did a short trail run with the dogs. By 8:30, after showers and coffee we were on the road. We only needed one gas stop (in Stanton, VA). We arrived at the home of Hank's Aunt Jean by 2:45.

There was much trepidation as we approached Jean's house, because we needed to back up an S-shaped driveway, avoiding tree branches and a carport awning to park transvers to a three-car garage/barn. Angie called it our "final exam" of trailer backing. The scariest part was that her driveway entrance is on a pretty busy road. Luckily traffic was light and we nailed our first approach, which allowed us to get the truck off the road pretty quickly. The rest was pretty easy, because we had ample time. Even though the driveway is narrow, the grass was hard from lack of rain. So we got away with coloring outside the lines of the driveway.

Jean is one of Hank's favorite people in the world - sweet, kind and gracious. We spent a couple hours catching up, before Hank turned in for a nap. That gave Angie a chance to have uninterrupted one-on-one time with Jean.

Later we went shopping for a new pair of water sandals for Angie. We also got some Stromboli for a late dinner. The sunset over the cornfields and mountains was amazing. Later a first quarter moon shone through broken clouds. The greatest Artist was in rare form.

Facing an 11-hour drive to Harrisburg, PA, (Hank's hometown) we decided to stop back in Radford, VA to explore a camping spot we been unable to reserve our first time through town during Hank's Family Reunion. We could only get a primitive campsite, but we were very interested in checking out the state park that we had heard so much about. The centerpiece is a 21-mile long reservoir.

We made a mid-morning stop at a brand new Buc-ee's in Crossville, TN. A couple of people had raved about this travel stop chain and they did not exaggerate. It was huge, friendly, well stocked and cheap! We paid $3.99 a gallon for gas, had amazing brisket and stocked up on some drinks and snacks. Fuel pumps were arranged in a large matrix that had about 80 pumps. They hard a large dog play area, too, but we didn't have time to enjoy that. If you ever get a chance - don't miss a visit to Buc-ee's. They started in Texas, where they have the most locations with sites in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennesee. They plan to expand to Missouri, Colorado and Mississippi.

A drizzle started just as we arrived at our campsite, which was adjacent to a a couple of sites where two families with a pack of kids were having a loud game of cricket. We didn't appreciate them walking through our campsite, especially while we were backing our trailer into our campsite. 

We didn't expect anything more than a light rain, so we took a three-mile hike to the lake shore. About half-way through the hike, we were hit by a pretty steady rain that lasted about 15 minutes - enough to soak us and the dirt track. Angie slipped in the mud and fell onto her injured wrist. Her brace helped absorb some of the impact, but it still smarted.

We were almost dry by the time we arrived back at the campsite. We fired up the grill and turned on some country music to drown out the loud cricket game of our neighbors. The rain started again, so we ate inside the trailer. We had a delicious meal of leftover pulled pork, which Angie had vacuum sealed and frozen at the start of our trip, along with roasted brussels sprouts and salad with strawberry vinagrette. My girl knows her way around the kitchen!

We started our day with a two-hour visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Hank was most looking forward to learning about the history of country music, which turns out to be very eclectic. The old-time music was derivative of folk music from England, Ireland and Scotland. The movie "Song Catcher" is a delightful re-telling of how this was discovered and documented. The banjo was introduced by African Americans, the accordion by Germans and the mandolin by Italians. There were many regional and stylistic variations over the years - bluegrass, cajun, blues, cowboy songs, rockabilly, and outlaw. After Elvis, many people thought that it would be the end of country music but it just absorbed the influence and continued to evolve. Quotes on the outside of the museum capture a couple of artists view of what country music is. Hank Williams said that what it all has in common is "sincerity". Merle Haggard said "Country songs are the dreams of the working man."

We also visited the full-scale, detailed replica of the Parthenon, which was built for the city's centennial exhibition in 1897. For a small entrance fee you can:
- Read about the design and construction of the original Parthenon in Greece as well as the replica in Nashville
- See a full-scale replica of the statue of Athena (42-feet tall!)
- Learn about the Centennial event
- See exhibits of classic and modern art work
At the time of the centennial, Nashville viewed itself as the Athens of the West, due to it's commitment to knowledge and education. So the Parthenon seemed a fitting centerpiece.

We returned to camp to feed and exercise the dogs and take a short rest for ourselves and then headed back to Broadway for one more night of live music. Our first stop was Kid Rock's Honky Tonk, where we hoped to see our favorite front-woman again, but there was a different band on the stage where we expected to see her. On their main stage we found another great act - Noah Gardner and Fiddlerock 

Noah's description of Fiddlerock says it best: "FIDDLEROCK combines the honesty of a country lyric with the energy of rock ‘n’ roll, with me sawing my fiddle like a rock guitarist shreds his guitar." Noah fiddled on the dance floor and up and down the aisles of the bar. He danced and sang on the bar along with a dozen women he had invited to join him for the song. They played a combination of rock classics and country. We enjoyed every tune. We spent most of the night there, before dropping back in on Kelley's Heros at Robert's Western World. It was a fitting way to wrap-up our last night in "Music City".

​Angie awoke with a sore wrist. It was the one she had fallen on while cycling at Cade's Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains. She decided she had better get an x-ray and treatment. While she was out, Hank and the dogs went paddleboarding on the reservoir.

When Angie returned with a brace for her sprained wrist, we eschewed more paddleboarding in favor of a nap before another night on the town. In the meantime, we had a hard rain, which gave us a chance to check whether our window repair was effective. Our ugly caulking repair turned out to be effective and we stayed dry. Whew!

We drove to town and started at Kid Rock's Honky Tonk where we found a packed room around the main stage on the first floor. There were four floors with three bands. We quickly understood why the crowd was so big. There was a kick-ass band playing behind lead man John Stone (#johnstonecountry). Requests and tips were rolling in their 5 gallon bucket. People didn't hesitate to fill the bucket because these guys were so good.  The couple behind us paid $100 for them to play "I'm in a Hurry" by Alabama. The lead singer John Stone was charasmatic and had a great voice. His brother on lead guitar, totally nailed a Stevie Ray Vaughn number later. They also had an excellent sax player. We stayed quite a while until Hank got sort of claustrophobic from the growing crowd, which kept nudging us on our bar stools.

For a change if pace, we explored a few clubs on a quiet side street off Broadway. We found a sparsely populated bar with an excellent cowboy singer, Kyle Austin (kyleaustinmusic.com) with a mediocre band behind him. He did a very nice version of "Dixieland Delight" for Angie.

Back on Broadway, we discovered a trio (Kelley's Heros) at Robert's Western World that knocked our socks off. The lead guitarist was a prodigy whose facial expression implied that he as in a trance like the banjo player in the film "Deliverance".  He burned it up! He even played the guitar behind his head and with with his teeth during their finale. There was a stand-up acoustic bass player who was an incredible showman. At one point he played while standing on the side of his bass, which was tilted 45 degrees from the floor. We had never seen anything like these guys. They play there four nights a week and we resolved to return to catch more of their show.

​Our route took on us a couple of remote two-lane, hilly, curvy roads between sections of four-lane state highway. It was about 50-50, which made for a tiring drive. But the scenery was bucolic. 

The landscape that we saw was remote and rural. At one point, a car in front of us stopped on a hill behind a tractor that was mowing the shoulder on a steep bank. We waited a minute for him to pass the tractor, which was several feet from the road. When he didn't, we passed him - nevermind that we were pulling a trailer. No one followed us. Perhaps we broke a cardinal Kentucky law, because none of the cars behind us followed suit. We may get a ticket in the mail. But it sure felt good!

After setting up the trailer at the Corps of Engineers campground on the shores of  J. Percy Priest Reservoir 25 minutes east of downtown Nashville, we exercised and fed the dogs and set off for Broadway. We found a barbecue restaurant/bar with live music (Ripleys) and got a table next to the stage where a trio (two guitars and a piano) was playing country music. The food was great! The band was fun.

The band leader noted our enthusiasm right away. He asked where we were from and whether we had a song request. Hank asked for one of his favorites - an Alabama song, "If You're Gonna Play in Texas You gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band". Which was of course, improbable since they didn't have a fiddle player. Doh! (Pause to wipe egg off face.) They graciously played another Alabama song for us - "Dixieland Delight".

The band leader was personable and fun. He told us he had visited a friend in Bremerton and saw a nuclear submarine transiting an inland waterway. Later, from the stage, he told a story about attending a recent live concert by the 89-year-old Willie Nelson. He said Willie announced his age and noted that he had recently released his 80th album. 
​
After dinner we walked from club to club on Broadway sampling the different live acts - all free of cover charge. We found a band at Legends with a good lead guitarist and a very entertaining female vocalist. They mostly played rock classics. She had a great voice and a charasmatic and charming stage presence. She interacted unselfconsciously with people in the crowd. We watched them a long time and really enjoyed the show. We returned to her act later in the evening after sampling several other clubs. We found out that she was scheduled to play Kid Rock's Honky Tonk on Thursday with a different back-up band. We made a mental note to drop in. Due to a combination of her lack of self-promotion and our own inattentiveness - we failed to note her name. We both regretted that.

At another club, we found a band with a fiddle. Their lead singer looked like Walker - the guitar playing cowboy from the "Yellowstone" TV series. We asked them to play "If You Wanna Play in Texas". They demanded $20. We balked and "Walker" - whose real name is "Nick Cross" - said, "How about we play it for you and you decide what it's worth?" 

The band pointed out that they have to split their tips five ways between the members of the band. Apparently, the clubs don't pay them. I don't think the clubs even give them free drinks because a couple of bands told the crowds what they were drinking, in hopes of finding patrons to wet their whistles. The fiddle player did play our song and he tore a horsehair on his bow while performing our request. 

Nick had a good voice. He was also quite a character. He came and sat at our table to chat for a bit. He was from Georgia - not the West. He learned our names, and later, addressed Hank personally from the stage several times. Nick was also trying to chat up a couple of girls at another table in the bar, as he publicly noted from stage. When they left later, he looked at us and shrugged. This was his sixth performance in five days, so maybe he was a bit worn.

​Cathy met us at our campsite for a hike at Laurel Lake with our dogs. We found a really cool boat-in campsite with about 30 sites of which only about 10 were occupied. There was a big, sandy beach where the dogs enjoyed some swimming before the humans decided to seek respite in the coolness of the shady forest.

We returned to our campsite for a cool drink before meeting Todd for lunch at Cracker Barrell. We continued our visit at Todd and Cathy's home, where they graciously offered us access to their laundry room. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit. Todd and Cathy are interesting and gracious people and we were all eager to learn more about each other and our respective nuclear family's history.

​We hung out at a coffee shop in Ashville, where the dogs were treated by the staff to small cups of whipped cream. Their parents took the opportunity to catch up on updates to the blog. 

A pleasant drive along the old Wilderness Road brought us through Eastern Kentucky to the home of Hank's niece Cathy Stokes and her husband, Todd.  Cathy and Todd met us for lunch at DuPont Lodge (yes, those DuPonts) at Cumberland Falls. After a buffet lunch we took a short drive to the falls and walked along a trail to the bottom of the falls, where we got some great pictures.

We stopped at a hardware store to pick up some clear caulk to repair the leak in our front window. Unfortunately, Hank bought the tube that is intended to be used with a caulking gun, which we don't have. So he had to push on the plunger with his thumb to get the caulk out. That was kind of tricky, given that he was standing on top of the propane tank on the hitch in order to reach the top of the window. He called for Angie's help to spot him. The best she could do was to sort of prop up his butt while he worked. That provided at least an illusion of security. We completed the job, which ended up looking pretty sloppy. But at least no one can see it from street-level. Fingers crossed that it stops the leak!

Then we headed back to our campsite to feed and exercise the dogs. We drove to a marina on Laurel Lake, where the dogs got to swim in a little cove. We learned from the camp host that a fireworks show was planned that evening at the Marina, so we took the dogs home and played our audio book "Follow the River" loudly. Between the book and the air conditioner noise, we didn't even hear the fireworks. We stayed up until 1:30 a.m., entranced by the rugged journey of Mary Ingalls through the New River Valley as she walked through the wilderness to return to her family near Radford.

We got up early to start a day of hiking at this amazing, historical spot. The Cumberland Gap was the passage through the Allegheny Mountains, first blazed by buffalo seeking salt and grazing, then by Indians for hunting and trading, later by long hunters like Daniel Boone, who finally blazed a trail that would become the Wilderness Road, connecting North Carolina through Virginia to Kentucky.

We drove up to a Pinnacle Overlook at 2,440 feet elevation. We hiked north a bit on the Ridge Trail before backtracking to the parking lot where we found a trailhead to the Cumberland Gap historical marker some 800 feet below. From there we saw the Daniel Boone Trail monument a few feet away and signs to the Tri State Marker where Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia all meet at one point. It's a 1.6-mile up and back trail, climbing 400 feet. Our cumulative walking distance was about 7 miles and about 2,000 feet of elevation. It started raining about 20 minutes before we finished. 

It was really pouring by the time we returned to the trailer. We put the dogs inside and headed down to the quaint town of Cumberland Gap, TN, founded in 1890. A ranger had recommended an excellent restaurant called "Nineteen 19", where we enjoyed tasty IPAs and street tacos, followed by espresso drinks.

We had a rude surprise upon returning to the trailer - our front window had sprung a leak and soaked on edge of our queen-sized bed. We had a few hours of sun following the shower, which allowed us to dry out the linens. Angie used a hair dryer to dry the mattress. We used ever handy duct tape to temporarily seal the outside of the window. When we have a stretch of dry weather, Hank can run a bead of silicon sealant over the top of the window.