After driving down the road of death (hairpin curves, hills, a wall of trees and a 10-foot drop off into a creek on one side) we thankfully arrived in Nashville in one piece, with the Tomtom still intact on the dashboard and not in the trunk. And seriously… haven’t people in Tennessee heard of guard rails? Oh, sorry, swerve a little too wide? Yeah, you’ve just parked your car in the ditch or the mangled it around the side of that tree…sorry ‘bout that ma’am. No shoulder…just a nice drop off into a crick. I pretty much opted out of my “run through Nashville” after careening my car around that deathtrap road. If I were to try to run this route, I’d surely break a leg trampling down it, and there’s no way I’d be able to run UP those hills… Hmmm…perhaps some extra shopping or dancing at the bars downtown will suffice for my weekend exercise…
Our hostess for the weekend was my friend’s Aunt, who graciously opened her home to us. After looking for Mr. Urban all day (ahem, that would be, Keith Urban), our hostess made reservations for dinner at a little rinky-dink bar/restaurant/grocery store (not kidding) called Puckett’s. It just so happened to be Song Writers Night, and after our dinner of ribs, baked beans, corn bread and beer, we were treated to an acoustic performance by some of the top song writers in country music. A.J. Masters and Mark Alan Springer were two of the performers that evening and they entertained the crowd with their stories and casual on-stage shenanigans, tuning guitars, razzing the other musicians and pretty much making fun of themselves. Afterwards, we had a few moments to chat with them and I must say, they were truly humble, very kind, and showed us what southern hospitality is all about.
On Saturday, I arrived (almost late -- "Can I do 90 on this expressway?") to the book signing and got to meet a bunch of other great Indie Authors. Although my book sales weren’t very high, meeting such a fine group of successful women from all across the U.S. was priceless. After the four-hour event, where I filled my time talking non-stop, and was described as being “wicked crazy” by one of my esteemed colleagues (Heh heh…that made me chuckle), we ended our day at a steakhouse where the chatter and laughter continued, along with a few drinks. I was talked into getting some concoction called the Sydney Cosmo…yeahhhh…that was pretty much vodka, on top of vodka, with a splash of vodka. I also endured hours of harassment to come back to Nashville for the Young Adult book conference, UtopYA, in June…hmmm….
Afterwards, another author joined my girlfriend and me for a night out on the town. The busy streets of downtown Nashville still had white Christmas lights on many of the trees, and the neon lights from the bars lit up the night sky. I just love people watching… old people, young people, punk rockers, country girls and cowboys, big hair, faded jeans, sparkly belt buckles and cowboy boots… It. Was. Awesome. After squeezing through the wall-to-wall people, enjoying a cocktail and few tunes at the famous two-story “Tootsies,” we meandered over to The Big Bang, which was a dueling piano bar. Now that was some seriously fun entertainment! I had been to a dueling piano bar several times before, but this Nashville crowd was R.O.W.D.I.E (and that’s the way you spell rowdie!) The multi-talented piano dudes played everything from hip hop to country to classic rock and kept the place jumpin’. Almost as entertaining, were the waitstaff…who joined the piano dudes on stage every so often for a group number, sporting their “Bang This” t-shirts and tanks… (I almost bought one of those, and then thought better of it.) After several hours, we decided to hit one more establishment…The Stage. Good ole’ rockin’, country boys played a mix of pop-country and rock, but the crowd was absolutely ridiculous. After being shoved about 12 times by the d-bag near me who was “dancing” (I use the term lightly), we decided to head home. (Besides, I was actually tired by then since it was two in the morning…what time do these places shut down!?? Sheesh.)
Sunday was a lazy day, and our gracious host took us to some local boutiques and galleries, the Grand Ole Opry and the Opryland Hotel. After enjoying some margaritas in the beautiful gardens at Opryland, (and still having no luck spotting Mr. Urban), we headed back to our hostess’s home, changed into jammies and lounged in front of a chick flick with a bottle of wine. My friend and I were both kind of dreading the nine-hour haul we had to get home on Monday, but, after packing up the car, saying our goodbyes, we couldn’t put it off any longer. Once again, we filled the tank, cranked up the music, and headed down the highway.
We arrived home around 8 p.m. that evening, along with the evil Tomtom whore, who, once again, almost ended up in the trunk (or out the window). This trip began on the whim of an enthusiastic reader who really wanted to meet me. She had the gumption and motivation to set this event up so I was sure as heck going to do what I could to get there for her. Although some might have felt the trip was a waste of time, and didn’t do much for my overall book sales, I whole-heartedly disagree. I met some fantastic people, made some new business contacts, sold a couple of books, and the absolute best part? I got to enjoy the journey of getting there. Every goal we have requires a lot of steps. Too many people think of the end result, and miss half of the fun along the way… Slow down. Enjoy the road. Fill up your tank with memories, with motivation and most importantly, with inspiration. Crank up the tunes…get lost…take in your surroundings and talk to strangers… those will end up being some of the best times of your life.
June... Nashville... Anybody? (I still need to accidentally, on-purpose run into Mr. Urban...)