Mac daddy and I headed out to Nashville for an audio competition a few weeks ago. We left at 2 and it was so dang hot. We were driving his 1986 Chevy pickup that has a kick ass stereo/ speaker set up but has no Air Conditioning! We got about 30 minutes down the turnpike and he realized that he forgot his tools. We called our daughter to meet us right off the turnpike with the tool box. By the time we got back to where we had turned around, we had to stop again to top off with gas. His truck “Bad Karma” only gets 11 mpg. Yeah, it just kept getting better.
We were cool as long as we were moving. We were headed south for awhile and the sun was beaming down on me. The windows are tinted so I tried rolling it up but then I got hot. When I get hot, I get pissed. We were almost to the Arkansas line and I guess he knew I was getting irritable. He put on our song and sang to me. It made me cry. Then he was on a roll. He sang and sang until we were laughing and dancing in the truck. From then on, it was smooth sailing.
For some reason 1-40 was shut down for several miles. We took an hour and half detour through some little towns just before Little Rock. We stopped again for gas and were told to ‘just follow the trucks back to l-40’. We were happy to get on the road again. So far, we were 2 hours behind schedule.
We drove by Woolly Holler park, which was just a few miles down the road from Toad Suck, Arkansas. For entertainment, I wrote down vanity plates. I saw the boring TAYLAR, COLEMAN, TIF, the funny KNEEKAP, GADGETS, GOOD, NUTS, CHIKEN and the obscure RINZLER CHESSIE, ROGASE3.
We stopped at Burger King someplace in Tennessee at 10 for a quick bite. Friday night and the lobbies were closed at 3 different fast food places. We had been in the truck all day but we had no choice but to go to the drive thru. We parked and ate while standing outside the truck, using the hood for our table. Yeah, it was a romantic white trash moment but we had a good laugh. We finally arrived at 2 something in the morning. We had a nice hotel and it was just a few miles from the event.
Event check in was at 9. We got up early, had breakfast at the hotel and then headed out. At the stereo competitions there is usually a car show too. We saw all kinds of hooptys Apparently, the newest thing is called a donk. You’ve seen them. An old impala or caprice on tall tires. There were several neat cars in all kinds of bright colors.
It started sprinkling on us just a bit. As luck would have it we were backed up against a garage where a few girls were practicing roller derby. They let us put our chairs just inside the doors so we were protected from the rain and they had fans! For the life of me, I still don’t know how you practice roller derby. Would it be Suzie telling Nancy “ok, now you knock me up against the wall then I’ll do you”? We wanted to go to their show that night but didn’t make it. They were rough and took frequent smoke breaks to compare tattoos.
While waiting for the judges we met several people and had a great time. Finally, the judge made it to Bad Karma. Robert was very nervous and fidgety. In a sick way, I kind of enjoyed it. Haha. After the judge left, we had to wait for results. I guess it was at 3 when they handed out awards. Bad Karma won first and got another trophy. Yeah!
We headed out to Lebanon, Tennessee for the next show on Sunday. We again ran into a detour. 65S through Nashville was closed. We managed to find our way and keep moving thus, keeping cool.
We were able to park right in front so Robert was able to tune things and be better from tomorrow. He knew there would be more competition there. I stayed in the room watching TV and reading on my iPad. (A total lifesaver all weekend). At 8:45 my phone rang. It was a strange number. I answered and it was our son who was house sitting. “Uh, Mom?” I don’t know how so many thoughts ran through my mind in such a little time. He was at our neighbor’s house using their phone. When his pizza was delivered he grabbed his wallet and closed the door because of the dogs. Well, guess what? It was locked. I called his sister who got off work at 9. She went home to let him in. He was sitting on his car eating pizza when she rescued him.
We had to be at the Sunday event at 8:30. We again got up early, packed up, ate breakfast and headed out a few miles to the fairgrounds after stopping at walmart and getting more Gatorade, water and snacks. As luck would have it, we were in a covered area with open sides. We were blocked from the sun and that was nice. We met up with some of the people we met from the previous day. I played mom again, making sure all the kids knew we had drinks in the cooler and snacks in the truck.
Robert is active on the forums so he and a few guys planned to meet up. All were very nice and most were local to Nashville. Robert was talking with Matt and John. John explained that his wife couldn’t make it because they had a newborn. He talked about being up with the baby the night before. Matt who is about 30, bald, tattoos and a long goatee said something that made me wanna bust out laughing. He asked John “have you tried using any of the Lavendar baby lotion?” They discussed this for some time. It was so sweet but struck me as so funny.
Today Bad Karma had to be judged by 3 judges. They have several classes. Robert is in the Sound Quality Extreme Modified class. It is the most modified and it that class is always judged last. They work their way up from Street class. Each judge sat in each vehicle for about 20 min. Our plan was to be out of there at 2, have one of Roberts’ team members mail his trophy if he won, and we’d be home by 2am so get ready for work on Monday. Yeah, that didn’t happen. We sat around all day and he was finally judged the 3rd time at 6pm. Of course, I realized at 2 that we wouldn’t be home in time for us to go to work the next day. I was so stressed because I knew that it was my ‘payroll Monday’ We have an online family calendar. Robert has car shows on it, Brooke has her work schedule and I have ‘Payroll Monday’. So I sent a text to my boss, to our son, to our daughter, and my payroll partners in crime in 3 different states to let them know I would be in as soon as possible.
Awards time finally came. Our new friends all did very well. Bad Karma won 3rd. It is the first 3rd place trophy but still a win! Robert got some great advice and learned a lot from the judges, team members and new friends.
We stopped in Murphreesboro, TN at a vegetarian’s favorite place. Logan’s Roadhouse. I had a salad.
We took a detour because of the aforementioned construction thru Nashville. We were laughing because we had just passed thru Possum Holler, TN and were now in Sawdust, TN. We were on a dark, winding road and Robert had on his bright lights. Ok, I did tell him “your lights are so dim. If you put on your bright lights, no one will even know because they are still dim”. My bad. My heart skipped a beat when I saw ‘berries and cherries’ in my side mirror. We were being pulled over in Sawdust, TN where you could hear more banjoes that see teeth.
I have so much respect for police officers. Can you imagine pulling over an older out of state truck on a dark secluded road? I’m sure the officer was relieved to see a middle aged couple. Robert had his license and insurance ready to hand over. He asked where we were headed and then he told us that he pulled us over because our bright lights were on. Crap! The officer asked a few questions and then looked at his license. Turned out his wife was from some Podunk town south of us. They chewed the fat a little and then we were on our way.
We stopped in Forest City, AR to spend the night. We were so tired. We had been the heat all day, driving all night. We crashed at 2:45, woke up at 7 and got home at 11. We both high tailed it in to work where I stayed until 7pm playing catch up. Robert was lucky; he only had to go in for a few hours. The older we get, the more time it takes us to catch up on sleep. The next few nights, we slept pretty darn good.
Even though we stayed hot and sweaty, we met a lot of friends, had a great time and can’t wait to go back next year.
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