Aug. 28, 2010 St. Louis to Nashville, Tn

Leaving St. Louis we drove south along the western side of the Mississippi River. As it was getting toward lunch time we looked for a place to have a picnic. We happened onto Ft. Defiance Park near Cairo, Ill. I soon got excited when I realized that Ft. Defiance was at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Having just been to see 'Big River', the adaptation of Mark Twain's 'Huckleberry Finn' I immediately thought back to the part where Huck and Jim, on a raft heading south, were looking for just this part of the Mississippi River. They meant to leave the Mississippi River and move north along the Ohio River to get to a northern state where slavery was not allowed and thus to secure Jim's freedom.
That and so many more bits of history, especially concerning the Civil War, occured at this meeting of the two mighty rivers.

We got into Nashville in the afternoon and drove around for our own little 'tour'. But at 7PM we were at the War Memorial Auditorium downtown. Yep, despite my desire to see the Grand Ol' Opry at the Grand Ol' Opry next to the Opryland Hotel, or even the Ryman Auditorium which is the original site of the GOO, we were sidelined to the War Memorial Auditorium. The flood in May left it impossible to use the current GOO, and apparently the Ryman was being used for a previously scheduled show--we went to the WMA.

Suzy Bogguss and Ronnie Milsap were there as well as Little Jimmy Dickens, Jeannie Seely and Jack Green. We moved from the main floor, back row seats to front row seats in the balcony. Great seats. Good show. History in the making.