Vintage Roadside: Goodbye Nashville - Hello Kentucky!

Approaching fourteen hours on the road, we passed the sign for Goobertown, Arkansas around 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning while discussing the merits of Bob Seger's "Night Moves" playing on the only rock station we could find.

After another twenty minutes or so of driving and a riveting game of Name That Tune, we unanimously voted to pull over for the night.

We're waking up in Jonesboro, Arkansas with people to thank and photos to share.

Let's start with our thanks before heading up to Kentucky and the fabulous sight of Wigwam Village #2.

This year's National Preservation Conference was fantastic. Great staff, an incredible line-up of sessions and speakers, and a group of attendees who impressed and inspired us with their knowledge and enthusiasm for preservation.

We have a few personal thanks for:

Susan Neumann, who called us the first day Vintage Roadside officially opened to lend her support as the National Trust's Director of Member Engagement. A great friend and dinner buddy.

Daphne Gerig, who helped us pull together research for this year's road trip and is instrumental in spreading the word about This Place Matters, one of our favorite National Trust programs. We met her in person for the first time in Nashville and are keeping her!


Andrew Gorman, the man with the answers armed with a walkie-talkie and a smile at all times. Without him we might possibly have missed the Western Regional Reception and the beer stylings of the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium.

David Brown, who is always a pleasure to talk to as well as a pretty mean musician. We hope you enjoy Squirrel Lodge and look forward to seeing you next time you're in Portland.

Another big thanks to Barbara Sidway of the Geiser Grand Hotel for giving us such a fun send-off on our road trip to Nashville.

Although we couldn't catch everyone for an impromptu session in Vintage Roadside's photo booth, thanks to you all for making this such a great conference.

Finally, thank you to Governor Phil Bredesen for honoring Vintage Roadside with a welcome to Nashville.

A leader known for his commitment to historic preservation, Governor Bredesen was honored by the East Tennessee Historical Society earlier this year for his historic preservation efforts across the state.

He also recently announced, along with the Tennessee Historical Commission, that "a total of $579,000 in Historic Preservation Fund grants has been awarded to 23 community organizations for programs and activities that support the preservation of historic and archeological sites, districts and structures." TN.gov

On one night on the town, we also found that Nashville is a great place to satisfy your BBQ cravings.


On our way out of town, we snapped one final sight in Nashville:

Now, on to Kentucky!

You might wonder how we ended up in Cave City, approximately 90 miles in the opposite direction of where we should be headed home.

The credit goes to Karen Keown and Becky Proctor Gorman of the Kentucky Heritage Council. It's obvious they must be good at what they do because they convinced us in very short order to head northeast instead of southwest. After seeing the wigwams, we would have kicked ourselves if we hadn't taken their advice.

Number two of seven original Wigwam Villages built from the design plans of Frank A. Redford, Cave City's Wigwam Village is one of only three remaining. The other two are in Holbrook, AZ (visited, loved it) and Rialto (next on our list).



We were also persuaded to visit Cave City and Wigwam Village by the stories of one very special Eartha Kitsch who welcomed us to Nashville with a gift bag o' fun. We'll have a picture of that tomorrow minus a few cookies.

Before heading west once more, we took a few more photos around Cave City - definitely our kind of town - with a quick jog up to Jellystone Park for a fiberglass fix.



At dusk, we stopped to admire the remains of a motor court built of stone on the outskirts of Bowling Green (home of Holley Carburetors since 1952). Can't wait to do a little more research when we get home.

Before our "Night Moves" sing-off in Goobertown, we drove by Ferrell's Hamburgers in Hopkinsville. We'd already had dinner so didn't stay to eat, but seriously, this place may have the best smelling hamburgers we've ever come across. Nice people, too, as we got a wave from the counter when they caught us taking photos.



Not much in the way of sit-down space, but there was a brisk stream of take-out. Did we mention how good it smelled?

And there you have it, the first day of our road trip back to Portland, Oregon.

Since we have to scoot back in fewer days than we had coming out, we won't have as much time for writing. Instead, we're going to take you on a photo journey from Arkansas to Portland with a dip through the Southwest.

For additional Vintage Roadside updates from the road, you're welcome to join us on Facebook.

Thanks for following along and see you all tomorrow!

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside