24. June 2025
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Six US States And Nashville (Day 2 – 31st May 2025) – Back To Music City

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

After the first day of my trip report was more or less a pure transfer one, my Six US States And Nashville trip report feels to in fact kick off with the second day. I started in Evansville in Indiana and ended up in Nashville, after having some interesting interesting stops in between. And it ended up with meeting a friend. How could life be better? Here are my first 340 miles of road traveling in the United States in May and June 2025.

 

Time Zone Trouble

A key issue, especially on the first day of my trip, were the US Time Zones. Obviously, continental North America has a couple of them, but they are typically not in line with state borders. Evansville and Nashville are both in the Central Time Zone (i.e. seven hours time difference to Germany), while all of my key stops of the trip are East Coast Time (i.e. six hours difference). You could say that I “lost” an hour in the morning and “got it back” in the afternoon. That’s majorly sensitive in regards of opening time of attractions, so that I wanted to leave very early at the Hampton Inn Evansville Airport. Okay, I failed with that – and finally departed at about 7:20 in Evansville after a typical Hampton Inn breakfast. After passing Evansville Airport (EVV) again I headed North to the I-64 Eastbound towards Louisville (Home of the Slugger, a baseball bat). I even passed the exit to Santa Claus, Indiana. I might have a stop there before going home.

Before I reached could reach Louisville (which has some interesting museums), I headed South and crossed Ohio River towards Kentucky. The second state on my trip welcomed me with the city of Brandenburg. Not the only witness that there is some German heritage in the region – Brandenburg is a city and state of my home country.

 

Where the Gold Bars Are

You might not spot it in the first pictures, but I rather quickly reached a very special and interesting area. The fences on both sides of highway US-31W starte to tell that. I was on a public road right inside the Fort Knox Military Reserve. As a German citizen, it is a bit of tricky to get in there. If you try it spontaneously, it also depends on the mood of the respective officer. However, the General George Patton Museum of Leadership is open to anyone and even comes with free admission. A very interesting exhibition about the life, but also the spirit and idea of the General. He was very successful, especially in WWII.

I had a brief visit at the Fort Knox Visitor Center. The center as such at least tells you how huge the military reservation is. You also see the main gate. The likely most interesting spot, the Gold Vault, where major part of the US gold reserves are located, is rather close to the highway. You are allowed to take pictures of the reserve from outside, but not once you are inside. Thus, this was perfect to me – and definitely a highlight of the trip.

 

Beavers and Sports Cars

US-Americans tell you to support your country. So I did, and stocked up at the Aldi in Radcliff KY, before heading South. Once I reached it, I headed South on the I-65 – the first time on my trip I read Nashville on a road sign. My in fact destination was Bowling Green in Kentucky. The area along the interstate is very touristic and offers quite some attractions, which I skip on this trip. One experience I just had to take, however, was refueling the car and having a look into the Buc-ees at Smiths Grove. A German YouTube creator praises that road stop chain, which is much more than a gas station. Their stores are amazing, with tons of merchandise and a lot of really nice (and comparably affordable) food. I ended up with both, before just driving a few more miles to Bowling Green.

Again, Bowling Green would definitely deserve a longer visit. I designed this trip in order to check off some items on my bucket list. One of them is the National Corvette Museum, where I had my next stop. America’s Only Sports Car, as a sign in the museum stated, is in fact assembled in Bowling Green. Factory tours have unfortunately been suspended in early 2025. Nontheless, it is a very interesting and well-made place. I was even a bit of ahead of my expected timeline so that I had a rather relaxed trip South thereafter.

 

Nashville!

The Kentucky-Tennessee State Line was not too far away any more. That also meant that I was close to Nashville. Music City welcomed me “traditionally” with congestion. My GPS suggested that I should rather not get too close to city center – and so I did. I still had a few views of it (heartwarming…), before reaching Brentwood TN in its South. My stay for the next two nights would be the Hampton Inn Nashville/Brentwood I-65S. The hotel is very nicely located right at the Interstate I-65. I would have loved to go for one of the posher Hilton Group options – but US Hilton Hotels do not grant me free breakfast, in contrast to the rest of the world. The hotel is rather reasonable and has a nice outdoor pool. However, the welcome gift, a pair of socks (hopefully) from the guest before me made me struggle to believe in the efficiency of their housekeeping, though.

 

A Good Old Friend and Good Food

The day was not over yet. I headed on to Franklin TN. The city is known for that many country artists live there. After finding a spot in the (free!!) parking garage, I had time to explore the Old Town, which is absolutely worth visiting. I loved that I ran into a historic car as well as into a Tesla Cybertruck.

The rationale of my evening visit was, however, the show of my dear Jenn Bostic, who played at the Grays on Main in the heart of Old Town. It is a restaurant with a separate level for concerts. Some guests were really disrespectful and loudly chatted the whole show. The light was low, so that I could not do good pictures with my point and shoot camera. Nonetheless, Jenn was amazing – and the food was great as well. It made my day that they even had Früh Kölsch. Kölsch is the local brew of my home town Cologne (in fact, it was really brewed in Germany and imported…). Thus, not only Jenn was heartwarming. By the way, I really loved the staff there as well. After that, it was time to get back to the hotel. Good night!

 

My Song of the Day: Jenn Bostic – Jealous of the Angels / Amazing Grace

This trip is about music. Thus I felt present one song each day which somehow accompanied me every day. And I added a playlist of these songs – and some more – on my Spotify account as well:

The highlight of the day was meeting Jenn Bostic again. She was outstanding, regardless of the weird atmosphere. I would have loved to go for her Imma Shake It Up – but the song is simply not on Youtube. Thus, I went for the updated version of her Jealous of the Angels, which is a Song of my Life. She makes me cry with that one again and again. I included Imma Shake It Up to the playlist as well. During the trip, I was switching between different Sirius XM channels. Two classic tracks which stayed in my mind are Pancho and Lefty by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson and Down On The Farm by Tim McGraw. Two rather classic listens.

Here is the full playlist, which will grow day by day:

 

Six US States And Nashville – Daily Episodes

Here is an overview of the daily postings. I will link them once they

There will be no Day 12 report, as this would only cover the flight back to Germany.

 

Travel (Nashville)

Here are all my travel postings related to Nashville:

 

Jenn Bostic on Flyctory.com

Here are all postings related to the US-American Christian music / country artist Jenn Bostic:

 

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