On Tuesday we planned to explore Nashville. Since we were only about an hour away we decided to take the morning and visit the Corvette Museum that we passed on the way to the Bowling Green CB. We had a CB breakfast and headed back north about 5 miles. The Corvette Museum is not something we would normally seek out, but going by it on the highway got our attention. The design includes a large spire or cone that can be seen from the highway. The designer did it “To establish an interstate presence” , I guess he knew what he was doing because it drew us in and we were not disappointed.
Of course the museum is filled with classic Corvettes but it has much more. There is all kinds of interesting history and stories about cars, not just corvettes. They have a whole section on designs of Carl Casper including the car he did for Batman Returns (Michael Keaton). This vehicle is huge and even more impressive in person than it was in the movie.
Most people remember seeing on the news that a sink hole swallowed a bunch of rare corvettes back in 2014. We did not realize until we were in the exhibit that it was this museum. They have created an exhibit that tells the whole sad story. The sink hole swallowed eight of the rarest and most special Corvettes on Earth. Of the eight, five were put back on display unrestored, and three were brought back to their original condition by General Motors. They change the displays often but we really only could identify one of the cars from the sink hole. Anyway, it is an interesting story and they did a great job with the display, some of the pictures would make you cry.
If you buy a Corvette you can get it delivered to the NCM and take delivery at the museum. There were about 6 on the floor with the new owners each getting a personal introduction to their new Vette. They literally drive them out of the museum, we watched as one left, it was very cool.
If you have some time, the National Corvette Museum is worth the stop, you can spend an hour or all day, there is plenty to see and do.
Around noon we headed for our campground in Nashville. The highway was under construction for 50 miles and jammed with big rigs, but at least it moved along without traffic jams.
We arrived at the Nashville KOA around 1:30PM and they checked us in early, nice. They have a shuttle that runs downtown every hour ($10pp) so we took the 3PM shuttle.
We walked the streets a bit, it was about 60 and a bit chilly but Nashville was hopping.
We walked the typical tourist streets, like Broadway. We eventually stopped for music at Tootsies Honky Tonky Orchid Lounge.
From the roof top bar you can see what a great place it is to hang out in better weather.
We stopped for more music at Honky Tonk Central, we got drunk table #2 according to the lead female singer. It was a fun bar with a great band but we had to pace ourselves so only stayed for one.
From Honky Tonk we walked some more and then had a nice meal at Martin's Bar-B-Que. It was the best brisket burger I have every had, great place. They also had good beer on tap.
After dinner we tried to get into FGL and Kid Rock but they were just too crowded, so we stopped into the Whiskey River Saloon. They have about every bourbon or whiskey on the planet. It was nice but when they charge $25 for a shot of Bulleit bourbon on ice it takes a bit of the shine off.
The shuttle picks up downtown on the half hour, we caught the 9:30 shuttle back to the KOA and called it a day. It was a fun day.
Who would think a Corvette Museum would be so interesting! Seriously, well worth it. And then there's Nashville! Another great day.
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