WHAT'S DOWN with the BREHMS AS OF SEPT. 4, 2011

As you can see, we made it. Music City USA

"MOTHER CHURCH OF COUNTRY MUSIC"

Howdeeeee! Sorry, just couldn't resist the Minnie yelp. We are having a wonderful time here in Nashville. Joined up with sister Mary Ann and Brother (in law), Jurgen. We have taken a couple of tours and seen a lot. Tonight, we do the Honky Tonk by night thing. It's raining, and the smell of the grass is delightful. We will be here until the 7th. Hopefully we can wear out our welcome by then. From here, we move to Memphis for more of the same. Then we begin our slow, take it all in, return to San Diego. Should be there in Nov. or Dec. Hope you are all well and having fun. Love and God Bless..............Ray, Diane, & the fur fellas

STAGE AT THE RYMAN

We took a tour of the old Ryman Auditorium, previous home of the Grand Ole Opry. It was built as a church, and has the second best acoustics of any building in the country. The first is the Morman Tabernacle. The Ryman is pretty much a museum now, and is loaded with pictures, costumes, musical instruments and various memorabilia from the very early days of Country Music. The set from "Hee Haw" is still here.

NASHVILLE SKYLINE, RYMAN AUDITORIUM ON RIGHT

Nashville is a very modern, and large city. Home of Vanderbuilt, Opra Winfrey, country music, and others. In some areas, it is as metropolitan as New York, and in others communities, it looks like the turn of the century. The country side looks like a huge golf course. Everything is green and mowed. Homes range from huge mansions to decrepit abandoned and collapsing old homes, All are very scenic.

PARTHENON REPLICA, NASHVILLE

This is a replica of the Parthenon in Greece. Three such Greek Temples were replicated here at the turn of the century, for the worlds fair. After the fair, the buildings were all leveled. Later, they rebuild this replica. Glad they did! It sets regally on the hill.

HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM

We toured this also. Magnificient. Memorabilia, music, films that cover everything and everyone in country music. The Chet Atkins exhibit is wonderful.

GOLD AND PLATINUM RECORDS

This wall is maybe 1/4 of all the gold and platinum records displayed here.

THE NEW (since1974) GRAND OLE OPRY HOUSE

This facility has been the home of the "Opry" since 1974. It is enormous. We took a back stage tour. Visited the plush and elegant dressing rooms, the "Green Room", which is a lounge area for the stars to hang out in when they are not on stage. They have post office boxes for all the inducted members of the Opry. Most of their fan mail comes there. We also went up on the stage.

ON STAGE at the GRAND OLE OPRY HOUSE

Here we are on stage. The round piece of floor we are standing on has been used in every venue for the Grand Ole Opry since 1924. Every performer that has ever performed at the Opry has stood on this piece of history.

ATRIUM AT THE OPRYLAND HOTEL

Not far from the "Opry House", is the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. Magnificent! We spent most of our time in the indoor gardens of the Atrium. Nine acres under glass. Rivers, boat tours, rare tropical plants, ferns, and fruit trees abound. Waterfalls, huge crystal chandeliers, exotic fish, restauants, shops, and on and on. What a place....

WHAT'S DOWN with the BREHM'S AS OF 29, AUG.2011

GREETINGS from NATCHEZ TRACE, TN

Howdy to all our friends and family. We are in a beautiful part of Tennessee, South of Nashville.
We moved here last Thursday from the Memphis area, much nicer weather here. The same day we arrived, our good friends John & MJ showed up, and camped right next to us. What a treat. Did a little maintenence on the coach and the Jeep, and we are ready to take off tomorrow for Nashville, where we will meet my sister and her husband. This Natchez Trace I believe goes back to the Louisianna Purchase. It runs from Nashville to Natchez and is absolutely beautiful. Hope all is well with y'all. God Bless, Cletus & Cyrona

VIEW ACROSS FROM OUR CAMPSITE

Everything is so green and foresty here. This is the lake on the preserve we are camped at. This area is almost like driving on a golf course. Many beautiful homes here, some castles, most on many acres of land. On the other hand, there are run down shacks, almost consumed by the ivy that grows wild.

BRIDGE TO SERENITY

What more can I say? There are so many peaceful scenes here, I just had to take this pic.

CAMPGROUND CAR SHOW, NATCHES TRACE TN

Talk about ammenities, this preserve has swimming pools, hot tubs, workout gym, food service, live bands, trading post, and yes, it's own car show

SUPER CLEAN 50'S CHEVY PICKUP

WHAT'S DOWN WITH THE BREHMS, 8/8/011

Crossing the Mississippi River from Arkansas into Tennessee

GREETINGS FROM TENNESSEE

Howdy Ladies & Genamums. That is the famed Memphis Pyramid right on the Memphis side of the Mississippi. It's been another interesting week. Three States. Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee. We are camped at Cherokee Landing, about 50 miles East of Memphis, almost on the border of Mississippi. We are all healthy. Ross gets a little more feeble each day, then all of a sudden he seems chipper for a while. The rig and Jeep are doing great, and we are getting anxious to see my sister and bro in law. The weather has been hot and humid even for the South. Didn't seem so bad when I lived here in the 60's. And it's not really that bad now. Hope all is well with you, and look forward to hooking up with you next time. Love and God Bless, Elvis & Aretha............

THOUSAND TRAILS PRESERVE

Wow, it is incredible how empty all the campgrounds are. Cherokee Landing is a great preserve with full hookups, pool, tennis courts and other ammenities, but there are 6 rigs here in a park with 240+ campsites. 3 of the sites are occupied by construction workers, and three of us are recreational campers. Have never seen anything like this in 10 years of living on the road full time. Fuel prices, unemployment, and threats to Social Security have, I suppose had a major impact. Hope we can turn things around in the next few years.

LAKE CHEROKEE

The lovely, serene, lake that the campground is built around.

CAMP CHEROKEE LANDING

This is us. Talk about plenty of room.

OZARK HIGH RISE

I am a devotee of old buildings. There is something about the history of people who have hewn a home out of the environment, raised a family, a farm, affecting several lives. And now it sits abandoned, but somehow filled with great stories of the past. A memorial to a simpler kind of life.

1850 LOG CABIN

This old homestead was probably once a rather grand home. It was built in 1850, and occupied by the same family until 1904. It is a true log cabin. The caulking is all gone, but the wood logs are still in pretty good shape. There are several out builings and coops adjacent.

LIMESTONE CLIFFS OF THE OZARKS

MOUNTAIN KID'S SWIMMING HOLE

Now is this cool or what? As we hiked through the forest toward the limestone bluffs, we could hear the laughing and screaming of kids. As we came to the edge of the trees, there were all these mountain kids just having a ball.

WHAT'S DOWN WITH THE BREHMS, 7/31/2011

ALMOST STUCK IN THE OZARKS

Greetings from Ozark Arkansas. This past week has been a traveling week. Since our last report, we have been in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The trip was trouble free, and we landed in Ozark, the home of good friends Johnny and Georgia. One of the original DADBRs. We are camped at a Army Corps of Engineers Camp on the Arkansas River. Here we are having a ball off-roading in the Ozark National Forest. Weather has been mild, hot, muggy, some rain, but comfortable. Hope you are all enjoying your summer. Next move, West Memphis via Little Rock. God Bless, Ray & Diane.............

AH... SOME GOOD GERMAN CUISINE

As a real nice surprise, Johnny and Georgia Johnson took us to a German Restaurant at a winery outside the town of Ozark. The food was delicious and the company was exhilerating. Ya..

ELEGANT CABIN IN THE OZARKS

What a neat place to live. Our friends Johnny and Georgia built this beautiful home on 38 acres of the Ozark National Forest. It fits perfect in the idiginous woods. Appears rustic, but has more modern conveniences than an illegal alien on welfare. They also have a 40'X50' workshop up on the hill. And Johnny has his own off-road park, and a deer stand right on his property. What a deal! It's good to see nice things happen to nice people.

JOHNSON'S LIVING ROOM

All it needs is a bearskin on the wall, a deer head on the opposite wall, and an Armadillo by the fireplace.

CAMP OZARK

The camp built by the Army Corps of Engineers is fantastic. Paved site for rig and car. Big covered picnic table, 50 amp service, lots of trees and the Arkansas river, including boat locks right in front of us. What a view!! All this for $10 per night.

ARKANSAS RIVER AT OZARK

This the view out the front of our motorhome. Man do I love roughing it..............

WHAT'S DOWN WITH THE BREHMS AT EL MORRO, 7/24/11

BANDERA VOLCANO GODESS

Kind of a pleasantly unexpected week here in Grants NM. We pride ourselves in our investigative/explorative natures, but Grants turns out to be a big surprise. We have spent the night here a few times in the past. Refueled, and headed on to interesting places. After spending time at Parker AZ, and Cottonwood AZ., Grants turns out to be very comfortable. The campground is no 5 star, but the weather is much cooler, the winds are just breezes, and there are no *@!&% bugs. We decided to spend a week. Grants is a small cowboy and Indian town. No fancy houses, lots of rusted old cars, lava beds everywhere. No local attractions. Main St is old Route 66 but the folks are friendly. Today we took a drive out hwy 53 into the country. Nice drive, and we wound up climbing the Bandera Volacano, which is over 8000", then we hiked down to to the Ice Cave where the temp is 31 degrees, that's below freezing. We continued our drive to El Morro Nat. Monument. It is breathtaking, beautiful, and loaded with history you can wittness. The pics help. In case you didn't know, you can click on any picture to enlarge it. You may want to so with the "inscriptions". It turns out the walls of El Morro have been inscribed by the indiginous Indians in the 1400's, the Spanish Conquistadors, and the American pioneers heading west. I have many more pics if you're intrested. All is well here, hope the same for y'all. Love and God Bless..............


Ray & Diane & the Fur boys.

BANDERA CRATER

This is a large hole in the midle of a volcano, the Bandera Volcano. They call it a crater. I call it a physical challenge for a mature male. This puppy is over 8000' in altitude but I made it. Hopefully Medivac will chopper me out before the snows come.

ICE CAVE AT THE BOTTOM OF A VOLCANO

It's not enough to climb a stinkin volcano, I have to crawl down into an ice cave caused by a lava tube from the same volcano. 31 degrees F. And we have to climb out, yippee...............

FROZEN WATERFALL

I had nothing to do with this! It was like this when I got here. There is a small waterfall to the pool in the ice cave. It's frozen, like me...

CIRQUE DU HUMMER

This feeder hangs outside the ticket booth at the volcano/ice cave. The hummers are prolific and well fed. Probably on Govt. assistance.

EL MORRO POOL

Incredibly beautiful scene. At the base of El Morro, is this wonderful pool. the hourglass looking rock formation in the back wall has been carved by a waterfall that must appear in the wet season.

AMERICAN PIONEER MEMORIAL

Be sure to click on this pic to enlarge it. It is the inscription of a pioneer from Baltimore, probably headed for the California gold fields.

SPANISH CONQUISTADOR BILLBOARD

In the 1600's and 1700's the Spainish conquistadors came in search of Cibola, the City of Gold. As they passed El Morro, many of them inscribed their names and messages. This is one.

ANCIENT INDIAN BILLBOARD

In the 1400's, the predessors to the Zuni, Hopi, and Navajo lived or passed by this huge mesa. These are petroglyphs that date back to that period. Note the snake and the bighorn sheep.

CORNERSTONE FAVORITE

This is the corner of El Morro, and obviousely a favorite place to inscribe proof of pressence, as it has examples of all three groups of travelers.

SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE

On our way to explore the sights, we passed through the Continental Divide. What a holistic trip, dude..............

WHAT'S DOWN WITH THE BREHMS AS OF 7/17/2100

You have just been mooned from Arizona..

"AND A FINCH IN A BIRD FEEDER"

Sorry, I know every week I have to tell you about the birds. It's difficult to get pictures of the more exotic species, but we enjoy their company anyway. It's been a nice week. Weather has been in the 80's & 90's with some 5-10 mph winds, and humidity around 7%. Today the weather is starting to change back to T-storms and monsoons and 100% humidity. We have been well, no physical, mechanical or mental problems, and old Ross is still kicking, slowly but kicking. Thursday we pull stakes in AZ. and head for New Mexico for a couple days and on to Oklahoma. Hope you are all doing well, happy brithday to John and Jan. Keep in touch, we love you and God Bless............

Ray, Diane, Ross & Satchmo.................

KABOB UTAH?

Yummmm, I got to feeling creative the other night so I whipped up some kabobs. Pork tenderloin medallions marinated in a pepper sauce. Bell peppers, onion, cherry tomatos, baby portobello mushrooms, and baby red potatos. Zingers.....................

UNAUTHORIZED CAMPSITE

A couple of days ago, we were leaving the camp, and there, on the road to the campground, was this camping trailer on it's side off the road. Ahead of it was a nice new Ford pickup. The road is straight and rarely driven, so we figure the driver was on the phone, or texting, or adjusting their GPS. Must have been terribly distracted..

CREW CUT MESA

Every morning I wake up to a view of this mesa. It always reninds me of that guy with the shades and that Butch Wax crew cut. I guess Diane thought it was cool too. She took the picture.