Nashville and the Election!!!!!!

Nanc cleans inside.
Jim works outside.
The shiny motor home with the Obama sign in the window.

Willie and friend.

Willie's gold and platinum records.

Willie's friends, Dolly and Nanc.

Opryland Christmas decorations.

It is still fall here in Tennessee

We stayed at Raccoon Valley for a week and worked on the RV every day. We cleaned the whole thing inside and out and did a few other maintenance things. The only time we left the campground was to shop for needed supplies. We did have a visit with Joe and Marcia, who we met at the Gypsy Journal Rally, when they stopped just to say hi as they headed to warmer weather in Florida. We also celebrated our 39th anniversary with a wonderful home cooked meal. Boy has our life changed, eating in on a big occasion. We are now staying at the Nashville Country RV Park for the next three days. We picked a place with cable so we could watch the historical events happening in the country. On Monday night we watched the Steelers defeat the Redskins in DC which assured that the incumbent political party would be defeated and Obama would be elected. True to form, on Tuesday America spoke and we watched the returns as Barack Obama was historically elected president. Even Nanc did not complain as I used the remote to go to every possible station including CNN, Fox, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC and PBS. We have really been into the election, working the phones in Iowa, and we celebrated when the announcement was made that Obama had won and our friend Mary Lou even called from Florida knowing we would be watching. This is the first time I can say I wish I was back in the classroom to talk with the students about this historic event. I emailed several friends who are still working and they said it was great and the kids were really into the election. (By the way, even as I write this that desire has passed.) We are so glad that a majority of citizens were able to get passed all the stupid Internet lies that were being spread and voted to give the government back to the people. In Nashville we toured the Willie Nelson and Friends Museum where we saw much of his personal memorabilia, including records, clothes and photos, as well as tributes to Patsy Cline, Elvis and many Grand Ole Opry stars. There was also a very interesting documentary about the group and music of The Highwaymen, which included Willie, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson. While we are not fans of country music we have been fans of Willie for years after seeing him perform with Leon Russell years ago and we really enjoyed the museum. We also drove around downtown and went to the Opryland complex, where the Christmas decoration were beautiful. We had been to Nashville before and had toured some of the other attractions such as the Parthenon and the Hermitage. We continue to follow the fall foliage with the trees in Kentucky and Tennessee at the height of their color and the weather being just a bit cooler than we like, but we have enjoyed clear skies for most of the last two weeks.