Ramblin'

(Nashville, TN)

The first song that came on the radio when Katie and I drove out of Saint Louis yesterday was “Ramblin’ Man” by the Allman Brothers Band. We took that as a good sign. Can’t believe it was only yesterday.

Before we left I showed Katie around my wonderful hometown. We hit the Arch and Grants’ Farm, and we saw a Cardinals game. The best part was how shocked Katie was at the giant mass of baseball fans. I think it’s a significant point of pride that every properly raised Saint Louisan loves the Cardinals, win or lose.

Now in Nashville we’re staying with a friend of Katie’s from high school, Sarah, who has a grown up job doing PR for some pretty big names in country music (including Zac Brown Band, one of my favorites). She took us out last night to her favorite bar called Dan McGuinness, and from there we went to the main downtown strip, Broadway, on our own. A quick rant: Tennesseean boys need to apply the less is more rule to headwear. Apparently they never take their hats off (baseball caps, cowboy hats, and the worst, visors) even if they’re in a bar and the sun set 5 hours ago. Every single one had something on his head. They look ridiculous. Our favorite was wearing a khaki visor upside-down and backwards. How old are you?

Anyway we explored downtown, encountered a very unenthusiastic bachelor party, and listened to some karaoke singers who were actually so good it was intimidating. Had so much fun, and today was even better. Live music starts in most places along Broadway at ten or eleven a.m., so this afternoon we went down again to wander and hear some bands. At the second bar, Legends Corner, we managed to make friends with the band, whose lead singer taught the bar patrons to Holler (yell) and Swoller (aka swallow/take a drink of your beer). They made sure everyone in the bar paid attention to us, I guess because we were the only single girls under age 40 in the place. At one point Katie accidentally told the whole bar her name was Peggy. I made King of the Hill jokes for the rest of the day.

All in all, nothing beats a free beer and listening to a live Johnny Cash cover at three p.m. on a sunny summer afternoon.