Another Section on the Nashville Greenway

The rain has passed and we had a beautiful, sunny day, but the temperatures are markedly lower than yesterday.  The day was far to pretty to stay inside and we needed some exercise so off we went looking for a place to walk.

We drove over to the community of Hermitage and parked at the Stones River Bridge trailhead.  This is a continuation of the section we walked last where all the cows were grazing.  We just kept heading south toward I-40 and Percy Priest Dam.

This is really a nice section of greenway.  In fact, it may be my favorite.  There are a couple hills to walk over so it gives a pretty good workout.  The paved path follows the bank of the Stones River for 3 miles from the Stones River Bridge on Lebanon Road all the way to the Percy Priest Dam just on the south side of I-40.

There's a little color left, but not much.  It's fading fast.

We didn’t get an early start and by the time we finished with our walk, made a quick stop at the grocery, and filled up the car with gas it was almost 1 PM when we got home.  This afternoon I made a big pot of chili which we took over to share with Jack and Ansley.  Had to get a little granddaughter time and pick up our mail.

Yesterday, all of a sudden and for no apparent reason, I came down with “hitch-itch”.  I had been so content here for such a long time and we have really enjoyed our stay in Nashville this fall.  But I guess my body and mind are saying it’s time to move on now.  Today, to sooth that itch a little, we got out the map and looked closely at the route we plan to take to Summerdale right after Thanksgiving.  We found a big green spot labeled William B. Bankhead National Forest just west of Birmingham.  A little internet research turned up hiking trails which got us all excited about visiting a place we’ve never been before.  A plan is coming together.

We want to welcome our latest follower--Donna (aka Froggi) of 2 Taking a 5th.  Stu and Donna have been exploring east Tennessee and western North Carolina for the past few weeks.  They’re big into biking and have been riding the Tail of the Dragon.  That’s a pretty wild ride in a car; I can’t imagine what it would be like on a bike.  Anyway, we’re glad to have Donna, Stu, and Sadie tagging along with us.

Tomorrow, we’re going to try to work in another hike at Warner Parks.  This time we’ll go over to hike the loop trail at Edwin Warner.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for tagging along.

Exploring the Unknown

Well, this should be a real adventure.  I feel like I’ve set off into uncharted waters.  Even though I’ve been following many blogs at Blogspot, and I’ve been practicing for several days, this is all pretty new and different.  I’m still working on the page so don’t be surprised to see changes.

Thanks again to everyone who made comments or suggestions.  Those comments were all encouraging.  Rick (Rick & Paulette’s RV Journal) was immensely helpful and he didn’t even know it.  His extensive knowledge of everything technology and his specific posts and articles regarding Blogger were invaluable.  I regularly read several blogs posted on Blogger.  I’ve studied every detail of every one of those blogs.  You have all been a great help.  Thanks a million.

To get me away from the computer, we went for our morning stroll.  Today found us back on the Two Rivers section of the Nashville Greenway.  We parked at Wave Country where we’ve been parking to walk the Shelby Bottoms section.  Today, however, we went the other direction, over the hill, down by McGavock High School and up to Two Rivers Middle School.  That’s where we left the Greenway to explore the unknown.  We turned down a paved road just before the Middle School property.  That lead to the small Two Rivers Lake.  Beyond the lake was Two Rivers Golf Course.  The road came to a dead end so we backtracked to the Greenway.

At the Two Rivers Park Trailhead there is a dirt trail which leads off the Greenway--McGavock Spring House Trail.  Whenever we walk this section, we pass that sign, but have never taken the leap and turned down the trail.  Today we did.  That was more uncharted territory.

Except for the sign by the greenway, the trail is unmarked.  It’s definitely a trail and easy to follow.  However, it hasn’t been maintained recently.  Once we were away from the trailhead, the dirt path became narrow and nearly overgrown.  There were two blowdowns which had to be climbed over.  The trial drops quickly and is really too steep for the tennis shoes we were wearing.  Needed boots for this one and maybe even a trekking pole.

At the bottom of the hill we came to a rickety old bridge.  I let Gene cross first.  It’s our guess that this was the location of the spring house.  Of course, there’s no sign of it now; it’s long gone.  The trail continued on until it came to the lake and the road we’d been on.  We opted to take the road back to avoid crawling over the blowdowns and the steep hill.

The McGavock Spring was the water source for Two Rivers Mansion which is just up the hill.  The mansion was built in the late 1850s by David McGavock and three generations of McGavocks lived in this splendid old house until the mid 1960s.

The junction of the Stones River and the Cumberland River is just a short distance away which probably accounts for the name--Two Rivers Mansion.  Today, the mansion and the property surrounding it are owned by Metro Parks.  The mansion is used for special park events and can also be rented for weddings and such.

That’s about all the unknown I want to explore for one day.

Thanks for tagging along.

Another Movie Night

I can’t believe we watched another movie this evening.  We have been watching movies that have come out within the past 3 or 4 years, but tonight it was a blast from the past, well not that far past actually.  From 1998 (I guess that was in the last century), Cocoon, the Return.  I hadn’t seen the first Cocoon, so Gene tried to remember what he could and filled me in.  It was a real “feel good” movie and we both enjoyed it.

This morning we went for a walk along the greenway.  That was the first for that since the rain set in a couple weeks ago.  As always, it was good to get out and stretch and breathe in some fresh air.  We walked about 4 miles.  That was long enough to get really cold.  With the walk I didn’t feel quite so guilty eating a few pieces of the wonderful peanut brittle given to us by our neighbors.

We are beginning to concentrate on the festivities for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  We are going to my parents’ on Christmas Eve.  It will be a very casual soup supper.  I’m in charge of making the vegetable beef soup.  That’ll be easy.  Christmas Day most of my family will be coming here.  I don’t think I can count on the weather being warm enough to eat outside and since there isn’t much room in the Montana for very many to eat at the table, I had to be a little creative for Christmas Dinner.  How does sandwiches sound?  Kroger had hams and turkeys on sale this week so we stopped by to pick up one of each.  In my opinion, you can’t hardly beat a slice of roasted turkey on a dinner roll.  I think it will be fine.  If it goes well, who knows, it may turn into a real family tradition.

We are battening down the hatches for the cold weather forecast for tomorrow.  With a low tomorrow night of 13 degrees, we needed to take a few precautions with our water system.  Today Gene filled up our fresh water tank so we can disconnect our hoses from the water faucet outside.  All our holding tanks are enclosed in the “basement” in our Montana and the basement is heated.  As long as we have the furnace on we will be in no danger of any plumbing freezing.

We are looking forward to church with mother tomorrow morning then my dad is making Philly steak sandwiches for our lunch.  I’m licking my lips already.

Exploring on the Greenway

This has been a cold, drab, overcast day with a forecast of freezing temperatures tonight.  That didn’t stop us from taking a walk along the greenway this afternoon.  This is the same section we did on Friday, but were interrupted with a work call so we didn’t get to go as far as we wanted.  Today was our day, though, to see if the greenway has been continued past the Stones River.  To our surprise and enjoyment, an additional mile or so is not open past the bridge over the Stones River where the Stones River meets the Cumberland.  With this new section you can now bicycle or walk all the way from the Percy Priest Dam to Shelby Park near downtown Nashville with the exception of a very short distance at Lebanon Road.  It was a nice walk past the soccer fields, crossing the Stones River, along the bank of the Cumberland, and between a cattle pasture and golf course.

Bridge over Stones River

With the overcast skies, cool temperatures, and a pretty brisk wind I got cold.  I’m planning to snuggle up with an afghan in front of the heater (if Peanut will share his space) and enjoy a relaxing evening.

Ready for deer season, I guess.

Stones River meets the Cumberland

Tomorrow is another doctor’s appointment day.  My turn for a physical.  No breakfast for me.

A gator fan yard decor.

A Morning Walk and Preparing for Winter

The morning dawned bright and sunny after yesterday’s rain and even thought there was a bit of a chill in the air that didn’t stop us from a morning walk on the nearby greenway.  Nashville Parks and Recreation have been working on an extensive greenway system for several years.  Many sections are finished; many others are not.  However, they are making progress connecting the sections.  We had noticed that the bridge over the Cumberland River was open so we wanted to check out the section from the Wave Pool to Shelby Park.  It really felt good to stretch these old legs again.  We have been walking around in a circle in the various campgrounds, but haven’t been for a distance walk or a hike since we left the Adirondacks in August.  There is a new Nature Center at Shelby Park.  We went to check that out also and found free coffee and muffins.  That gave us a boost for the 3-mile return trip.

Greenway bridge over the Cumberland River

Shelby Bottoms Greenway kiosk.

Tennessee is in the South, but by no means the Deep South.  It gets cold here in the winter.  Freezing temperatures at night are normal and below zero temperatures are not uncommon.  To RV here in the winter requires a little preparation, especially for the water system.  This afternoon Gene insulated our outside water hose and spigot.  Our first winter in the Montana, he prepared a water hose which we now use just in the winter.  It has a length of heat strip which is held in place by duct tape which is covered with foam.  The foam is held in place by about 6 rolls of duct tape.  More foam on the spigot.  We have a garbage can which we put over the top of the water spigot to keep the insulation dry, but the slide is too close for the garbage can to fit.  For the time being he is using a plastic garbage bag until we can get something more suitable.  That should keep our water flowing on the few cold winter nights we may have during the next couple of months.  Our underbelly is heated so our plumbing and storage tanks will be fine.

Does anyone remember the rotary style phone?  That is the one with numbers in a circle and you stick you finger through the hole to dial.  There aren’t many of those left in this world, but my parents have one that they still use. Not only that, it’s a “princess” phone and it is blue.  It’s special, alright.  They had all rotary phones in their house until about 10 years ago when they broke down and bought a touch tone with an answering machine.

But it wasn’t until 2 years ago that they got a cell phone.  I thought this was great progress, but I soon realized that I seldom could reach them by calling the cell phone.  There were a number of reasons—they forgot to recharge it, they forgot to take it with them.  Whatever.  I got out of the habit of trying to reach them by cell phone and just called the home phone.  After about a year, they finally got in the habit of recharging and having it with them, but I can never reach them on that phone.  This afternoon I got a call from my mother.  “Did you call me?” she asked.

“No”, I replied.

“Well, I had a message that you called on my cell phone.”

I thought for a minute and could vaguely remember calling her about 3 weeks ago.  “I may have”, I said, “but it has been several weeks ago.”

“Well, I’m returning your call.”

I am still laughing.

Nashville Outdoors

We love to be outside. Nashville has a lot to offer for the outdoor enthusiast. There are two large lakes, Old Hickory Lake and Percy Priest Lake, and the Cumberland River for boating and fishing. The Harpeth River is a popular place for fishing and canoeing.

In recent years the city has made a concerted effort to complete a greenway system which is accessible from many areas around town. When completed within Davidson County, this would create 57 miles of paved trail for biking, walking, and jogging. It is my understanding that they eventually intend for the Clarksville/Ashland City Greenway, Nashville Greenway and the Murfreesboro Greenway to all be connected. That may be many years in coming.

Jack in the Pulpit

We are interested in the hiking, of course, and there are many miles of maintained hiking trails in several City and State Parks. Perhaps our favorite is the Percy Warner/Edwin Warner Parks (2 parks which sit side-by-side). By connecting 3 different loop trails a hiker can get a 12 mile hike on a moderately difficult trail. It is a fantastic resource within city limits. Another very popular place for hiking is Radnor Lake State Park. There are about 4 short trails in this park, but by far the most popular is the trail around the lake. Beaman Park is the newest of Nashville parks. We went there yesterday to hike the Ridgetop trail.

Trillium

For runners and bicyclists, these parks offer many miles of paved road. Of course, most of the road system is open to motorized vehicles, however there is a loop in Edwin Warner Park which is closed to traffic. Percy Warner Park also offers several miles of horse riding trails separate from the hiking trail.

The bell towers at Bicentennial Mall State Park

The Bicentennial Mall State Park is located downtown at the foot of the State Capitol. It was built to commemorate Tennessee’s 200th birthday. The park is a history lesson with a timeline of major events which have occurred over centuries and its memorials to Tennessee’s military. The park is landscaped with plants, shrubs, and trees native to Tennessee. At one end there are bell towers which play The Tennessee Waltz on the hour. The walkways within the park offer a wonderful oasis in the heart of downtown for walkers and joggers.

WWII Memorial

Other parks in the area include Shelby Bottoms, Long Hunter State Park, Montgomery Bell State Park, Bledsoe Creek State Park, Cedars of Lebanon State Park, and Centennial Park.