Made it to Nashville!

When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.  ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

This will be (relatively) short because I’m already in bed(!) and am really tired.  But I wanted to let you all know that we made it to Nashville!  Got here a daily earlier than planned after a relatively uneventful trip.  We had reservations at Seven Points Campground (a Corps of Engineers park) on J. Percy Priest Lake in Hermitage, TN (just outside of Nashville).  What a beautiful park!!  I had reserved a site across the road from the lake because they didn’t have any sites available right on the lake.  When we arrived, I asked if they had any on the lake by chance.  Lo and behold, they had one available for 5 nights and then we would have to move for the last 3 nights.  We jumped on it!  It’s a really beautiful site right on the lake.  Last night we sat outside and had a campfire (with our “Lil Red Campfire – gas – perhaps a little less toxic than a wood fire?) and watched the sun set over the lake.  It was SOOOO nice. 

It feels really good to be here, but I wish I could report that things are great and everything I had dreamed of and hoped for.  Unfortunately, I’ve been feeling pretty lousy since we left Titusville – not really terrible, just far from great.  I just have that underlying “yucky” feeling all the time, along with the terrible taste in my mouth, the watery eyes, and the sore and ugly fingernails.  Now, to make matters worse, I think I might have lymphedema in my right leg.  It has been very painful to walk on it for a couple of days.  I figured it would just “go away,” but it hasn’t, and the right leg is quite swollen and significantly larger than the left.  Why did this have to happen now for crying out loud??!!  I’m not in a very cheery mood, and right now all I can say is “Cancer Sucks!”  Sorry to be so blunt, but that’s how I feel at the moment.  We’ve been looking forward to this trip for so long, and I really wanted us to have a nice, relaxing, fun time.  Now here we are at a beautiful campsite on a beautiful lake, half an hour from downtown Nashville, and I’ve been in bed since 1830 – with my leg wrapped in an ace bandage and applying hot packs and cold packs.  Man, oh man, sometimes it just never ends.   

So I don’t sound like a total whiner/complainer, I have to say that we did manage to have a little bit of fun today.  We drove to the Grand Ole Opry because we wanted to make sure we knew where it was for tomorrow night’s show.  We found it no problem, and they were just about to start one of the backstage tours, so we decided to take it.  It was pretty neat, and we even got to meet Vince Gill as he was coming out of his dressing room for an interview he was about to do.  Of course, I wouldn’t have had any idea who he was if our tour guide didn’t tell us…..LOL…..that’s how “up” on country I am! 

After the tour, we went downtown and had a late lunch/early dinner at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville.  And the highlight of the whole day was this guy who rode his motorcycle to Margaritaville, also to have lunch, and he had his 2 motorcycle-riding dogs on the bike with him.  They were the cutest things – complete with dreadlocks and goggles – and they just sat on the bike the whole time the guy was in the restaurant.  Kenny went and talked to the guy afterwards.  The little white dog is 18 years old(!) and the black one is 3.  They’ve both been riding since they were puppies.  I would say at least 100 people stopped and took pictures of them (including me) while we were eating – we had a great table at the window.

I guess that’s enough rambling for today.  I’m going to try to post some photos – of our campsite and of the adorable dogs.  Hopefully my next post will be a little cheerier.  I really want to tell you that I’m feeling great and life is good.  HUGS to everybody.  Time for me to go to bed.  (I’m not sure what time will show up on my post, but we’re on central time now; it’s 2000 as I’m finishing this).  G’night all! 

You know you’re a cancer patient when…..a trip to the grocery store calls for a nap when you get home!

Our campsite at Seven Points Campground

Campsite at Seven Points

Sunset over the lake from our site

The cutest motorcycle-riding dogs! Can you find the white one? (He's sleeping up by the windshield) 

Isn't he adorable??