Starting our Panama Canal Trip In Tennessee

April 2014

10 April, from 37,000 feet over Montana

This morning we were picked up at 0400 for transfer to SeaTac where we boarded a 0620 United Airlines flight to Nashville, Tennessee, via Chicago.  Our first stop is a visit with Joe and Sarah Druessi, longtime boating friends who kept their Roughwater 42 “Bearoness II” at Anacortes Marina until they sold the boat and moved permanently to Franklin, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville.  We will spend four days with Joe and Sarah, including a visit to the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg.  Joe and Sarah nominated us to be “Squires” at Jack Daniels and we will get to see our little piece of the property (perhaps).

After an uneventful flight from Seattle, we landed early in Chicago and spent several hours waiting for the flight to Nashville.  This flight segment was on an 65 passenger Embraer 145 regional jet, with no room for carry-on bags, which were checked at the gate and then returned when the plane landed, like Horizon Airlines in Seattle.  The flight was late by 40 minutes, but it was only a little over one hour to Nashville, where our bags were already on the carousel in baggage claim by the time we walked from the gate to baggage claim.  The weather was a welcome change, 75 degrees, sunny, but breezy which felt good.  After picking up the rental car we headed for Franklin and the Drury Plaza Hotel, our home for the next four nights.  Joe and Sarah Druessi met us at the hotel for an early dinner at the Granite Grill Restaurant, with tastings of local brews, before we called it a night after the long travel day.

April 11, 2014

After enjoying breakfast at the hotel we headed out to Dreussi’s in Franklin.  The map was accurate and we arrived about 1100 after a stop at the Cool Springs Galleria to pick up an adapter for the ipad which we had forgotten in Bellevue.  Sarah soon had lunch ready and as we chatted and reconnected we enjoyed a variety of sandwiches.  After lunch we walked around the Willowsprings Lakes, seeing many birds enjoying the spring-like weather, including red cardinals, geese and swans.

Druessi Townhome in Franklin, TN

Sarah, Miriam and Gracie

Sarah and Joe had prepared a slow cooked brisket for dinner, which we started with some Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey to get our palates tuned up.  Dinner was accompanied by a bottle of “Arrington” red wine, produced not far away in Tennessee.

By the time we were ready to head back to the hotel, a thunderstorm had moved into the area and the rain and lightning were spectacular as we tried to find our way to the hotel.  Arriving in driving rain, we joined hordes of young ladies in town for a cheerleading competition and had to wait for elevators to get to our rooms.

April 12, 2014

The hordes of young cheerleaders were in the lobby and breakfast area the next morning as we headed down to breakfast.  The staff was overwhelmed, and the breakfast area looked like a swarm of insects had denuded the buffet and left much of it on the floor.  We managed to get enough to eat, even though they were even out of coffee for a while.

Arriving at Druessi’s a little before 1000, we then loaded all of us and “Gracie” , their black lab, into their Ford Expedition and headed to Lynchburg, Tennessee to the Jack Daniel’s distillery.  The drive was about 90 minutes through the rolling hills just blooming into spring.  After the public tour of the distillery we all went into the “Squires” room and received our gifts as “Squires”.  Joe and Sarah had nominated us several years ago.  We were not able to see our square inch plot of land however.

Miriam, Joe and Patrick at the distillery

Main Square in Lynchburg, lots of Harley's

Antique Car in Lynchburg

Relaxing at Jack's with our bottle of "Relaxed Rye"

Miss Mary Bobo's Restaurant

After the tour we headed into Lynchburg proper, just a few blocks away, and had “dinner” at “Miss Mary Bobo’s”, a former and famous rooming house just off the small main square in Lynchburg, which is in a “dry” county, so no alcohol can be served.  The meal was served family style with a hostess for each table of 10 strangers, with a Lazy Susan in the center of the table loaded with the food.  Our meal included fried okra, southern fried chicken, meatloaf, mac’n cheese, string beans, potatoes, muffins, etc., with fudge pie for dessert.

After the drive back we headed to the hotel and stopped for a disastrous snack at the hotel restaurant which was inundated by the cheerleader groups.  The manager recognized the problem and adjusted the price for our late and overcooked, but cold meal.