After work on Thursday I took the Indygo Bus from work at 38th and Meridian to the Indianapolis Airport. I picked up the car that Courtney had helped me reserve. It was a Mitsubishi Lancer. I liked it.
On Friday morning I worked on a Spreadsheet until about noon. And then packed everything. I went over to Jenny McKinleys apartment. She cut my hair. I tuned her new “Keith Urban” acoustic guitar.
She said that it had just arrived by U.P.S about an hour before I got there. She took a pic of me playing it and posted it on Facebook.
I drove to Brownsburg to pick up the girls. I tried to make it to Azure’s bus stop to meet her when she got off the bus. I missed it by 30 seconds. I was right behind the bus but couldn’t get out before she got off the bus.
I went into Missy and Danny’s house. I spent about a half hour there. Courtney, Tim and Remy were there. Missy gave us a car package of snacks and food.Including M&M’s and Cheetos. She also gave us money to go out to eat. That was unexpected but very appreciated.
We hit the road about 5:00 P.M. I set the girls up in the back seat each with their own laptops. I had loaded each one up with a bunch of movies to keep them entertained while we made the 5-6 hour trip to Nashville.
We only stopped once the whole trip. We got to Nashville area around 10:00. But it was 9:00 P.M. There. We checked into the Doubletree in Downtown Nashville. I used SIRI for the FIRST time to get us to the hotel. I am only saying this because I sometimes don’t pickup all the latest tech things on Purpose.
Gary and Dawn walked over from their temporary apartment at 555 Church Street. Which was just 1 or 2 blocks away. They greeted us in the lobby. Dawn said she would’t have even known it was me if she wasn’t expecting to see me. They bought us dinner at the restaurant in the hotel. I had Cheese Enchiladas. So did Azure. Zarah wasn’t really hungry. Gary told me that today was the 10 year anniversary of the car wreck they had been in while returning from a Pittsburgh Steelers game in Pennsylvania. It took me a second for it to come back but then I remembered it. That had been scary. Azure was only about 6 months old at the time.
We got to room 322 around 11:30. we stayed up until about 1:00 am. the girls woke me up at 7:00 am. they were ready to roll. We went downstairs and had breakfast. And then set out by foot to see the sites.
We walked over to Broadway and went through all of the tourist shops. I got Azure and Zarah a couple of Key chains from the Ernest Tubb Record Shop.
This guy had a Cat sitting on his guitar.
Zarah kept saying, “Look daddy there are 4 of me!”
We got back to the hotel around 1:00. I didn’t think there was a swimming pool at this hotel. It didn’t see it mentioned on the website. So I didn’t pack any swim trunks. But we found one on the second floor when we accidentally got off the elevator a floor too early. The girls really wanted me to get in the water but I hadn’t packed any swim trunks but I went upstairs and put on some Spiderman boxers.We swam for about an hour and a half. I have never in my life been in a pool where the water as bathtub warm. It made you not want to get out. Because the air felt so cool.
After that we went to the Musicians Hall of fame. I knew the girls wouldn’t be that into it but they seemed to have fun while dad checked everything out. Then we went to a Cheerleading Competition that was going on next door. The weather was sunny and in the mid 50’s the whole trip. It was nice.
There are 250 REAL guitar behind us. With Strings on them. You can play them.
Then we got back got cleaned up and left to got see Joey and Rory around 5:00 P.M. I found a parking ticket under my windshield wiper. But that was still cheaper than the parking that the hotel offered.
We took I-65 south about 30 Miles. Then we had to go out in the country several miles.
We accidentally passed Marcy-Jo’s restaurant.(This is the place where Joey and Rorys Cheater Cheater video was partially filmed) I had checked the joeyandrory.com earlier and it said that Marcy-jo’s was only open until 2:00 P.M. But as we drove by I saw an orange neon sign that said OPEN.
We went in had had Dinner. I had a Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Aritichoke Soup. It was good. The bread was a real thick sourdough I think.
Azure and Zarah had PB and Jelly Sandwiches. Azure ate about 2/3 of hers Zarah took one bite of heres. They had Potato Chips and root beer and lemonade on the side.
Zarah wanted a blue glass christmas tree ornament from the gift shop upstairs. And Azure wanted a bracelet with a blue guitar charm hanging on it.
I bought them for them. Our waitress took our picture and we drove another mile to the “Barn” where Joey and Rory perform. I didn’t realize that the place was next door to their house. But I was dark out there in the country and wouldn’t have been able to see it anyway. Several guys in the lot directed us for parking with flashlights.
We got in side around 6:00 Pm. The show didn’t even start for another hour but there were only 8-9 seats left in the back row and a couple on the very edges. Soon every seat was filled.
There was a nice family from Knoxville beside us. We started talking about Joey and Rory. I told him I was in a band with her about 20 years ago. He seemed really amazed by that.
The girls were given a couple of giant peppermint sticks from a booth out front.
The show started at 7:00. They started with a song about Joeys memories of Indiana. it was only Joey, Rory, and Heidi on stage but they did a great show. People were laughing and tearing up over their songs and stories. I was too.
About half way through. Joey had to leave to attend to a problem with their baby. I didn’t know until that show that they had named the baby INDIANA. Rory said “Well this has never happened before: but he kept the show going with out any interruption. He played some of the songs he had written with Paul Overstreet. And ones that had been recorded by Blake Shelton and Travis Tritt. He played “Some Beach Some Where”. Heidi sang two songs. Joey eventually made it back. Sometime later they brought Indiana out. They talked alot about the baby and about Joey having Indiana at home with only a Midwife. They told stories and played until 8:30. I loved the show but the girls and I were wore out and wanted to get back to the Hotel. But I wasn’t gonna come all this way with out talking to Joey and Rory first.
So when the Show was over we made a dash for the “Meet and Greet” line. We ended up being 2nd in line with about 100 people behind us. The guy and his wife in front of me had driven from Georgia just for the show.
When it was our turn Joey was super surprised to see me We gave each other big hugs and she said really loud and excited. “Rory! Rory! Michaels here!” . She met the girls and shook their hands, Joey chastised me for not telling here we were in town. Then she wanted to exchange contact information.
It was great. I didn’t want to hold up the line behind us for long so. We got our picture taken with then and said our goodbyes.
The first words out of Azure’s mouth when we walked away were.”They are nice”. We got in the car to make our way back. Both the girls were asleep in 5 minutes.
20 Years ago…. wow
We got back to the hotel and went to bed pretty much right away. The next morning we got up around 8:00 am. We went down and had breakfast again. Then we went swimming again. Zarah can ALMOST swim. I worked with her both times we swam on how to float. She just needs a little help keeping afloat. She will get it soon. We got back to the room at 11:00 A.M. We packed all of our stuff and checked out at 11:45. AM.
Azure with her Minecraft toy she got for getting STRAIGHT A’s this semester
Then we walked back down to Broadway. Both the girls wanted to walk around and neither one complained once about being tired of sight seeing during the whole trip. It was Sunday at noon in the morning and almost every bar had a band playing. I was amazed. Someone told me that Kids could go in them until 7:00 P.M. So went into multiple places and watched a song or two from each band. They were all really good. I was Impressed, Intimidated and Inspired by all the great music. I put money in several of the buckets of the street musicians and “homeless” people.
Zarah wanted to take a horse and carriage ride. But it was 35 dollars for 20 minutes so I didn’t really want to pay that right at that time. So we got Ice Cream instead. We went in and there was a slide show on a T.V. Screen showing Pictures of all of the famous people that had visited Mikes Ice Cream. Then they had slides of some of the famous people that had visited that they didn’t manage to take pictures of. One of the slides said Joey and Rory. I took a pick of it. There was a lady behind us in line dressed up with a pretty 1965 ish vibe. I told her I liked her look. She Beamed at that compliment. Azure said “what did you say to her?”.
Gary and Dawns Apartment Building in the far Background.
Really great band. Note the Femle Drummer.
On screen inside Mike’s Ice Cream shop
Gimme the Beat Boys
We walked around until about 1:30 P.M. and then made our way to Garys apartment. He came downstairs and let us in. The kick off for the Seahawks – Greenbay game was just about to happen and they had that on the T.V. Gary showed us picks of the House they went and looked at the day before and showed me picks of the Pontoon he wanted to buy to put on the lake behind this house.
The view from Gary and Dawns Apartment
Zarah on Gary and Dawns Balcony
Azure on Gary and Dawns Balcony
We had a great time. Zarah sat on Dawn’s lap and giggled and colored pictures most of the time we were there. Finally it was time to headback. I thanked Gary and Dawn again for the hotel room and all the hospitality.We left around 3:30 and walked back over to the car by the hotel. We made two quick stops on the way back. Once for Gas and a Veggie Flatizza from Subway. I had been craving one and can’t find them in Indiana anymore. And later we hit a rest area to take a break for a minute I was getting pretty sick of driving at this point. I listened to the rest of the Seahawks game and the whole Colts game on the way back. We hit Carmel Indiana just as the colts game ended. It was about 10:00 Pm. ( Back on Indiana time). I got the girls happy meals at 96th and Meridian. We got back and Frank met us at the exterior garage door. We walked to the Piano room the girls fell right to sleep on the mattress. I brought some of the stuff from the car to the house. Brooklynn came down around 11:00 and wanted to give a gift to Azure but she was asleep so I told her we would be up around 8:00 am and she could give it to her then.
With the stuffed animals that Brooklynn got for Her and Azure.
Then next morning the 3 girls played in the basement. They had a blast doing dances and cheers and stuff. Yudi made fresh Fruit and bacon and Eggs for the girls for breakfast. I could hear Zarah laughing hysterically 3 rooms away and on a different floor from me. It made me smile several times.
Finally we had to go around 3:00. Zarah cried and Azure looked liked she was going to. But we eventually made it out the door.
We blasted the new T.S. 1989 CD all the way to The ballards house in brownsburg. I went in and showed some of our pictures to Tim and Courtney and Missy. Dan made it in a little later. I stayed for about a half hour. We said our goodbyes and I left to take the car back to the airport.
I got the car check back in and Yudi met me at the Airport at 5:45 Pm. The girls and I had a wonderful time.
