Watch and wait...

We are about 1,500 miles from home, so are at the mercy of the weather forecasters and news media for information about the impact of Hurricane Harvey in our area.

When we went to bed last night, the hourly forecasts were calling for winds of 101 mph in our area.  For the record, this is about 170 miles south of where the center of the storm will make landfall.  This morning, those predictions have been revised... thankfully, downward.  The weather weasels are now calling for 62 mph as the strongest wind speed today, with about 12 hours of significant wind.

Currently, the weasels are saying...
* Storm Surge Watch
* Hurricane Watch
* Tropical Storm Warning
* Special Weather Statement (rain of 2 to 3" per hour possible)

The next 12 hours will be telling for how this all plays out, but we are breathing a bit easier this morning for the conditions in our area, and sending good vibes for those in the path north of us.

Right now, the NWS (National Weather Service) is saying winds at 30 mph and the first of the rain bands are moving in.

We'll be watching from afar.

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Just got word from the management on our island:

"The LIV swing-bridge will be tied back & closed to vehicular traffic from 7 pm this evening until 7 am tomorrow morning. They may have to close it earlier as the tides are rising. We will keep you posted as more information comes in."

The bridge to our island is a swing-bridge: it pivots out of the way to allow boat traffic to pass through on the Intracoastal Waterway.  As the water rises, at some point, the bridge will open whether you want to keep it closed or not.  They will be tying the bridge in place in the open position.  This means no vehicles will be able to come or go from the island during this 12 hour period.  As the storm surge subsides, they should be able to close it again.

This is for the protection of the bridge (only way on/off the island, other than by boat).  During Hurricane Dolly, the bridge sustained damage and was unable to close on its own.  People who did not leave before the hurricane hit could not get off the island.  The Bridge Board, no doubt, wants to avoid another situation like that.

Nashville Nights...

No, not us out partying - that's the name of the dinner theater we went to this evening.  Country music and a southern food buffet.  The food was good, the musicianship was fine... not my style of music, but I can appreciate all music when it is well done.

There was some "schtick"... every player got to be featured... everybody is a song-writer.  The musicians in the band had played with stars like Alabama, Tammy Wynette, George Jones, and the comedian (there's always a comedian in these shows) had been on Nashville Tonight.

They showed a couple video clips of these folks performing with "the stars" - the fiddle player toured with Merle Haggard when he was just a kid...

This young guy is "an up and coming" performer.  Also happens to be the drummer's son and the nephew of the guy who owns the venue...

First the touristy stuff, then...

... the hurricane watch updates.

When in Nashville, a guitar player has to visit Gruhn Guitars.  I think it is a state law.

It used to be in downtown Nashville, but has relocated a bit further out.  They have a wonderful selection of guitars, heavy on Taylor and Martin, but lots of other great instruments.  Including the McPherson line, which offers wood and carbon fiber guitars.  I got to play both the Sable (larger, similar in size to my X20) and the Touring (smaller, and similar to the X7)...

The salesman's exact words were, "These are the cream of the crop for carbon fiber guitars."  They were very nice, but I definitely prefer the Emeralds over these.  No, I didn't say that in front of the salesman.  When someone is nice enough to let you try their wares, you don't say anything other than, "Thank you very much - those are nice."

Not to be a carbon fiber snob, I also tried a few wood guitars...

Taylor is well represented, and they do make excellent guitars - still my favorite in wood.  Nothing that followed me home, though.  Joan quite liked a lovely 562ce 12-string (4th from the right in the image above).  Typical of Taylor, the action on it was outstanding.

It was fun wandering around their store.  I had a few "I remember those days" moments, when I came across a Sears Silvertone amp... it was selling for $1,000.  I had one when I was 12 - seems they have appreciated quite a bit over the years.  ;-)  My only purchase was a t-shirt.

From there, we did a driving tour of the downtown area...

Some interesting architecture and plenty of honky-tonks...

The music was blasting out of the different bars.  We plan to come back another time to experience it "properly"... as we were told, after dark.

A light late lunch, then we are off to a dinner show this evening.  Neither of us are big country music fans, but we are music fans... and when in Nashville.  ;-)

Interesting city.

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Now, on the weather front... seems that things have taken a turn for the worse in south Texas.  Originally predicted to be a "mild" Category 1 hurricane or tropical storm, Harvey is now predicted to make landfall tomorrow as a Category 3 hurricane.  Coming over a particularly warm area in the Gulf, it has picked up energy and is continuing to build.  This is going to get ugly.  The landfall will likely be 150 miles north of us, so they are going to get it even nastier.

Yesterday, the winds at our house were predicted to be 45 mph on Friday... this morning, the predictions were raised to 70 mph... this afternoon, they are now calling for 101 mph.  101??  Apparently, rounding off wouldn't be as dramatic.  We have everything battened down at our house, but we have been letting our neighbor tie off his 36' catamaran at our dock (yes, the dock we replaced two years ago with the nice, expensive tec-wood stuff).  He can't get it back to his dock due to the dredge operation having that canal blocked off.  At 101 mph, I don't see any way that cat isn't going to do some serious whacking on our dock... probably damaging both.  Joan said, "Hopefully that wind won't flip the boat onto our house."

Oh, shit!  When Hurricane Dolly hit in 2008, there were places that had boats blown up on the seawall and into buildings.  Nothing anyone can do at this point but wait it out.  We'll know more about how our area fares by tomorrow night.  If we have to cut our travels short to go home and pick up the pieces, that's what we'll do.

Looking towards home...

No, the immediate plan isn't to head for home... but, we are keeping an eye on conditions there.  Looks like Tropical Storm Harvey is going to ramp up and cause some havoc somewhere along the Texas Gulf Coast.

The most current predicted track...

A day ago, the predicted track was lower, putting it more in line with our home.  This prediction moves the track further north along the coast, making landfall around Corpus Christi.  Looking at local forecasts for home, we can expect a 4 to 5' storm surge, winds to 75mph, and heavy rain.

Local officials are calling for moving high profile vehicles inland and warning for local flooding and potential wind damage.

We'll be keeping an eye that way for how this plays out.

The School of Hard Knox(ville)...

We left Pigeon Forge this morning, heading for Nashville.  About 25 miles east of Knoxville, we began to see signs like these...

Having seen these kinds of signs many times in the past, I expected one lane to be higher than the next (as in the lower sign).  Oh, nooo... they put blacktop on a section of road, then stopped as they came to the bridges.  Then started up again.  You would think the road construction people would taper the height difference between the new surface and the old... you would be mistaken, here.  We launched off the first drop in height, then hit what was like driving up a curb!  Yes, at Interstate speeds.

The impact (repeated about 6 or 7 times, but we figured it out after the first one - SLOW DOWN!) knocked the door open on the microwave.  Joan sometimes stores bread or produce in the microwave while we're moving...  a package of cherry tomatoes launched out of the microwave and scattered around the coach like marbles.  Fortunately, the glass turntable in the microwave didn't self-launch.  When we got down for the day, we discovered that a pants hanger in Joan's closet busted from that impact, as well.  Easier to find all the pants than the cherry tomatoes.

The traffic in Knoxville was crazy; it is obvious they like their NASCAR here... trying to stay with the flow of traffic, I was driving just under 10 mph over the speed limit and cars (and trucks) were blowing by me on either side.  And constantly changing lanes.  I was thinking I could use a pit crew to change out our tires after the earlier impacts.

When we got through Knoxville, the traffic eased off.  I could drive less than the speed limit again.

That lasted for almost a half hour and then...

Traffic stopped on the Interstate.  It took us about a half hour to go two miles.

The reason for the traffic jam: 100 yards of road repair that closed off all but one lane for a couple miles...

We wound up having to drive on the shoulder... which is big fun with the rumble strip there.  Once past the road construction, it was easy cruising again.  Looking in the Exit Guide, we decided to stop ahead for lunch - there was an exit that had plenty of food places and a Walmart (which means a place to park).  Turns out there were no food places anywhere close to the Walmart and the traffic was crazy.  Joan said, "I'll just make us lunch."  One of the many nice things about traveling with your "house."

Back on the road, we enjoyed the light traffic and mare's tails in the clouds...

With the help of a time change from Eastern to Central, we were able to meet our 2/2/2 Rule when we pulled into the RV park in Nashville.  This is a decent park, with nice folks at the front counter who offered some tips on what to see and do here.  And, a city ordinance we appreciate: no campfires!  Ah, blissful fresh air to breathe while sitting outside.  ;-)

Of course, little Izzy was in need of a walk-about once we were set up...

Supper out, some music in the RV park, and putting together a plan for what we want to see here.  Welcome to Music City!

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This campground has live entertainment a couple nights a week...

She sings to backing tracks (pre-recorded music), but does a good job engaging the audience.  She said this is her 6th year entertaining at this campground... and drives a cab when not singing (really, her cab was parked nearby).  If you aren't a headliner or a sessions musician, you have to have "a day job."

Pretty sunset this evening...

It has been a while since I've photographed a sunrise or a sunset - every place we have been lately has been very wooded.  I was able to get this shot because we were near the office (where the entertainment was) and it is more open.

A visit with Jay and Duke...

I mentioned in yesterday's post about passing the Bush bean factory on the way to our campground.  Since we didn't see the Visitors Center until we were already past it, AND there was no place in the next 10 miles to turn our rig around, I promised Joan that we'd go back today.

Who knew it would be such an attraction?  The parking lot was packed...

Of course, a couple photos with my buds, Jay and Duke...

The white building in the top photo is their cafe, the wood building further back in the Visitors Center, which is absolutely first class...

They no longer do a tour of the actual factory (we have run into that with all the "food place visitors centers"), but they have an outstanding 18 minute film showing the history and how the beans are made and canned...

They take a photo of you with Duke - and give you a print - no charge!  Good PR...

They have made a lot of other products over the years besided baked beans...

The "secret family recipe, protected by lazer alarms...

;-)    And, a gift shop (of course)...

If the photos don't show it for you, imagine an upscale gift area at a Cracker Barrel.  ;-)  We did not leave empty-handed.

We drove back into Pigeon Forge for a late lunch, then cruised around town.  I made Joan laugh when I described this place as: a countrified Las Vegas.  She said, "That is exactly what I was thinking."

The photos from last night's post didn't do it justice.  Neither do these, but it is what I was able to get with all the traffic...

From there, we drove through a small piece of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park and into Gatlinburg.  This is definitely the "old version" of Pigeon Forge.  In Pigeon Forge, there isn't a building that looks more than 10 years old... in Gatlinburg, we didn't see any new looking buildings.  May be the fact that Gatlinburg is in a gulch and Pigeon Forge is in a wide open valley - would sure make building easier and the businesses more visible.

Either way, it is all a bit more touristy than we care for, but you could certainly keep a family occupied for an entire vacation here.