Day 21 - DC to Nashville, TN

On Friday morning, Kevin woke up early and began the long drive from D.C. to meet me in Texas. Since our house in Alexandria is vacant, he spent the night at Jack Berrigans and said farewell to his old friend before hitting the highway. Its impossible to do the drive in one day, so he planned on stopping in Nashville, TN for the night. He broke up the drive by making a few stops.

The first stop was in New Market, VA, the site of the Battle of New Market from the Civil War. According to Kevin, the South won this battle and forced the Union and its army out of the Shenandoah Valley with the help of VMI cadets. He stopped for about a half hour, walking through the expansive battle fields before moving on.

A little farther down the road Kevin decided to stop in Blacksburg, VA - home of the mighty Hokies from Virginia Tech. He toured the campus and football stadium, had lunch at the Hokie House and snapped a few photos. He said the campus was lovely, but seeing as how VT is a big rival for Kevin's Boston College Eagles, I don't think he will be cheering for their football team any time soon. See above photo.

Kevin rolled into Nashville around 9:00pm and checked into the Marriott Courtyard near Broadway (Nashville's main drag). He walked down Broadway and grabbed some world famous BBQ at Jack's which features sauces from all over the country including Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina and Kansas City. He reports that he liked the Texas sauce the best! After polishing off his Tennessee pork shoulder, he headed further down the street to Tootsies for some of Nashville's famous live country music. Kevin stuck around for a while to watch the Cavaliers play the Magic and then walked back to his hotel around midnight to get some rest for the next leg of his journey.

While Kevin was driving, my mom, her boyfriend, my sister and brother and I took my mom out to dinner for her birthday. We went to the famous Austin landmark, The Oasis. This local favorite was packed with people who were hoping to get a table outside on the patio overlooking Lake Travis so they could catch the clear views of the sunset. It was a perfect clear evening and we all had a great time!