Nashville is the kind of city you explore a bit, and it leaves you with the distinct sense that you'll never see the rest of it. I arrived in town feeling partially lost, and very tired.
I walked around a bit, took a nap in the lobby, and as mentioned, got some excellent biscuit based pastries at Biscuit Love. I reserved a room, and while it was a little odd that they claimed "all reservations guarantee a room," and then had no rooms available, I eventually got one, and slept, very hard, for about 14 hours. The following day, I woke up, packed my things, and loaded up the car. I decided to grab a bite to eat at the place across the road - Martin's BBQ. I got something called the Brisket Burger, which is a thin, well charred burger topped with brisket, pickles and onions -- it was incredible, or very credible, as Martin's BBQ house staff made it :) I also got 2 dry rubbed ribs which I drenched in their hottest bbq sauce, and uh, it was pleasant but didn't set my mouth on fire.
The decor of Martin's is nice, it was previously a music venue and was converted into a restaurant by the addition of an open air roof, a bar, a side seating section, and a little makeshift trailer using deconstructed car parts and aluminium siding. Charming to say the least. I decided that as I was packed up and my schedule was doing ok, I could spare some time to do a painting. I free painted, something I don't normally do, and ended up adding something of a fish eye effect to the perspective, but I like how the colors came out, and think it's a decent representation of the feel of the place with a more contemporary style. The sky kept the weather somewhere between pleasantly cloudy and threatening to rain. The atmosphere was nice, and the only interruptions I received were from curious onlookers and ash falling from the sky from the active bbq'ing going on.
After finishing it, I signed it in negative & dedicated it to a their front of house manager named "Nashville Snoop Dogg" (Nashville for copyright apparently, it might be Snoop Dogg Nashville, sorry Snoop). Anyways, I left it with their front of house staff and got on my way up to Philadelphia to see some friends before heading back home.
The trip up to Philly was a good time, although I got very tired around 300 miles from Philly and ended up napping for a couple hours in a rest stop. Refreshed, and a little grimy, I set out for Philly and had a pleasant trip for the rest of the way.
^ there's a sculpture carved out of a tree stump that resembles a giant dick, a killer whale, or a man with a cloak - why not all three. This sculpture is a wonderful example of the difference between intent and interpretation.
Philly is a really nice city, and of what I saw it is steeped in history. When I arrived, we took a trip down to the pier and enjoyed the summer sun, drinking a few beers and relaxing. We then made our way back to their house, chatted and had dinner. A pleasant evening featuring a few rousing games of Fibbage / Drawful & a watch-through of Wizard People. It was truly a pleasure to spend time with them, and experience just a little of what Philadelphia has to offer.
I had a good sleep on their sofa, and the next morning said my goodbyes and headed back up to Massachusetts.
^ I made some celebratory lamb chops topped with lemon, amish butter, onions, fresh garlic & thyme when I got home. Then the next day made a sandwich with a onion brown sauce reduction.
I am now enjoying having some stability, and a full kitchen to work with - not being at the whims of other people's food & hospitality (even though across the board it was all very good / nice). I need to get a job, but do not want to be burdened with thoughts of mortality racing around my head during interviews, so I am going to wait until after the funeral and the catharsis that brings.
I also only completed about 3/8 of my trip, not too shabby, but there were a number of cities I really want to see for potential employment opportunities. One thing that gave me some measure of hope however, was nearly every city I visited was welcoming, even when the rougher edges revealed themselves. I also did not get to some of the sights I was particularly looking forward to, however the highlights like Villalobos, seeing friends, Harry Potter world, and various other historic cities and sights was awesome.
I have thought quite a lot about what to bring, and how to better optimize my trip the second go around, as I am planning on going the opposite direction - north through Vermont, into Canada, and west to California, finishing the trip by revisiting Austin, as I did not give it a fair shake, or really any at all. I am looking forward to my next adventure, though I will certainly be traveling lighter, and will plan better around allowing for painting.
I learned quite a lot from this journey, met many wonderful people, and generally opened my eyes about the state of our country, both good & bad.
