Part 1: Nashville to New York City!

It is woeful how long it has taken us to post since leaving Nashville.  I'll leave all excuses behind and get on with it as there is much to fill in!  Since the last post we have made our way through ten more American states, reentered Canada, driven well over 3000km and again, met some of the most fantastic people that live in this world.

Let's begin in Nashville after an overall pleasant but noisy and disruptive nights sleep in the Nashville Downtown Hostel.  Nashville is yet another happening town filled with bars, restaurants and pubs playing live music day and night (indeed mostly country).  There is always somewhere great to eat and drink, and as long as you aren't trying to figure out the bus system, it is easy to get around.  There are bicycle paths and designated bike lanes scattered around town and people seem friendly and proud of their music city.  We had a great time exploring the streets of downtown and the various surrounding neighbourhoods.

 Downtown Nashville

After a night in the hostel, we had arranged to stay with a Warmshowers host, Victoria, who lived 15 minutes by bike across the river in the popular and hip neighborhood of East Nashville.  Meeting Victoria was by far the highlight of our time in Nashville.  Victoria is a wonderful, avid cyclist who took us into her home, introduced us to her delightful rescue dogs Barkley and Lucky, and very soon we became old friends.  She is an active board member of Walk Bike Nashville, a non-profit organisation working to build a more walkable and bikeable city, and as such runs bicycle tours of Nashville every Sunday.  We were fortunate to join Victoria for a Sunday tour of town which was brilliant!  Victoria is really knowledgeable on Nashville history and for two hours led us around town to various points of beauty and historical interest.  We had a great time staying with you Victoria, and hope you'll visit us in Oz soon!

The bike bus

Touring the city

Victoria in the Green Fleet Bicycle Store after our city tour

The wonderful Victoria

Lucky and Barkley

After four days in Nashville, we picked up another rental car, said our goodbyes to Victoria, Barkley and Lucky and set off to Kentucky and the bourbon trail.  We had planned to visit Kentucky briefly before heading off towards New York City, but decided it would be better to rent a car a couple of days earlier as time would be of the essence if we wanted to get to Brooklyn without stress.

Kentucky is a really beautiful part of America.  The roads are windy and the houses, large and wooden, sit majestically in the middle of massive pieces of green, mowed land.  Horses graze happily in fields and old barns hold rolls and rolls of hay.  All this before you arrive at beautiful bourbon distilleries.  We visited a few over the two days in Kentucky including Wild Turkey, Woodford Reserve and our favourite, Willett Distillery.

Distillery warehouse at Wild Turkey

Beautiful Kentucky

Touring Woodford Reserve Distillery

The first night we were welcomed into a beautiful bed and breakfast - 1898 Red Bud BnB in Lexington.  We planned to camp the next night to save some money and test our four season tent and warm gear.  While heading in the direction of the campground we stopped in at the family-owned Willett Distillery in Bardstown.  We met an incredibly friendly and quirky lady named Kandi who offered us a tasting of their bourbon while giving us a bit of history on the place.  After finding out we planned to camp that night, Kandi immediately and without any hesitation insisted we stay at her place.  So after trying a selection of really fantastic bourbon and buying a bottle for the road, we followed Kandi to her house in downtown Bardstown (voted the Most Beautiful Small Town in America).

Kandi's house in Bartstown

On arrival we quickly found ourselves in the most enchanting little house - a converted coppersmith's shop that had been restored and renovated.  It turns out Kandi usually rents her home on Air BnB, so after receiving a quick tour, Kandi handed over the keys, wished us a good night and left us to it!

After two great days, and some top quality bourbon, we made our way back to Nashville where we were due to pick up a different rental car to take us and our bikes (being stored at Victoria's house) to New York.

Rav 4 - fits two bikes upright with front wheel off

The following week was beautiful and picturesque as we drove the Blue Ridge Parkway through the stunning Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and hiked 13km along the infamous Appalachian Trail.  We stayed in the beautiful town of Gatlinburg TN, which only ten days later was tragically devastated by wildfires.

Autumn colours in the Smokies

Taking a stroll along the Appalachian Trail

We then continued driving north through North Carolina and Virginia and the awe-inspiring Shenandoah National Park.  The scenery was incredible - we would loved to have done more hiking along the way but our time frame and minus degree temperatures didn't really allow for it.

Snowing and windy on the parkway

Shenandoah National Park

Freezing and windy on the Blue Ridge Parkway

When we reached Virginia, we spent the night with the most lovely lady Shirley, and her dog Cookie in her Air BnB in Woodlawn.  Shirley lives in a grand house on 100 acres of rolling grass and beautiful pine forest.  Neil and I had great fun taking Cookie for a walk in the forest before setting off for the day.  It was such a pleasure to meet you Shirley, we will keep in touch (and thanks for sending me my shirt!).

Cookie 

Taking Cookie for a run

Horses at Shirley's back fence

Shirley and Cookie

On we went toward Staunton, another picturesque small Virginian town in the Shenandoah Valley.  I had chosen for us to stay in Staunton as I wanted to visit Polyface Farm in Swoope, about 20 minutes out of town.  I have spent the last couple of months reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dillema (a brilliant book, highly recommended).  Polyface Farm featured heavily in part three of this book and I was really keen to try the farm fare and see it for myself.  So the next morning we drove on out and did just that.  It was fantastic, and we enjoyed fresh eggs for breakfast and a delicious curry that night made with Polyface beef.

Checking out the chickens

Farm pigs

Our last night was spent in New Hope Pennsylvania, a quirky little river town that was recommended to us by another Air BnB host a few nights earlier.  We had a delicious meal at the local tavern and a little look around town, but unfortunately didn't see too much as we had to get up early the next day to make it to New York City in time to drop off the car.

It was quite an experience driving into New York, seeing the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building in the distance and experiencing what Thanksgiving gridlock was like in this pulsing city.  We made it safely, arriving at Artie's parents house in a beautiful part of Brooklyn, ready for the next chapter.  We are so excited to be here seeing Artie again!  In an hour or so we will head to Thanksgiving celebrations at Artie's Aunt Martha's house - lots of food and drinks to celebrate this holiday that doesn't exist where we are from.  Bring on the turkey and pumpkin pie!  Will write all about it in Part Two!

Trio Reunited