The Loop is a 6,000 mile, yearlong, choose-your-own adventure. You can go as fast or as slow as you want. You can stop and stay anywhere that strikes your fancy, for as long as you decide to. There are numerous side trips, long and short, that are available to the Looper.
That is why some people do the Loop in segments, starting and stopping for months at a time, taking multiple years to complete the voyage. And others do the Loop multiple times, choosing different ports of call each time. There are Loopers, Gold Loopers, Platinum Loopers, and what I would call lifelong Loopers.
We are definitely One Time Loopers. So, we have tried to do lots of the side trips, and taken the “long way around” in many cases. Even so, there are many cool places that we missed. Our family motto of “we can do it all” has been modified for this trip to “we can do a lot of it”. It has been hard to deliberately leave some of those potential experiences behind.
As you can see on the map, once Loopers leave Chicago, there are still a lot of potential side trips to be had. We chose the paths in red. By boat to Nashville, car to Knoxvillle and Lynchburg, then by boat to Muscle Shoals Alabama!
We were lucky enough to have our friends, Mark & Christine join us for the Nashville trip. We picked them up north of St. Louis and headed south. Woooo Hoooo!
We were super happy to have friends from home aboard! And with my freshly booted leg, we were especially grateful for the help with lines during locks and docking.
The Mississippi and Ohio Rivers were low… lower than they had been for 30 years. Shorelines were expansive, tree roots exposed, boats aground, and sandbars in new places. Navigating was a bit more challenging. Watching depths and avoiding large tows/barges required constant attention.
We stopped where there were things to see and do. Paducah Kentucky was a cute town. Lots of Halloween revelry and some good restaurants. A great set of murals along the floodwall. It was probably worth a longer stop. But we were on a mission!
Grand Rivers Kentucky had a marina and a tourist attraction… Patti’s 1880’s Restaurant. Of course we ate there. The 2” pork chop was their specialty. I think they had 18 desserts on the menu. The bread was baked in a clay flower pot and came with strawberry butter. And the wait staff uniforms. Oh my.
We slowly made our way down the river. The fall colors were in full force. Not much in terms of towns and sites to see, but being outdoors and on the water was satisfying.
We anchored out at Dover Island. It was pretty and peaceful, and Christine made friends with some armadillos on shore!
We cooked meals on board and played games at night. It was great!
After a few days, we were in Nashville. We started at Robert’s Western World, where we had beer, corn dogs, and fried bologna sandwiches and some great country music! It gave us a real flavor for the town. Very cool!
Mark & Christine left too soon, and we were alone (ha!) in Nashville for another couple of days. We stayed on the city docks, right across from the busiest part of downtown.
A short walk across the pedestrian bridge and we were in the belly of the beast!
Tourists everywhere. On double decker buses, electric carts, and even being pulled by tractors…. Right down Broadway!
We took a foodie tour and got to see a lot of the downtown area and learn some of its history. We ate a lot and learned a lot.
We did whiskey tastings.
We went to a line dancing bar and watched the amazingly synchronized movements of a crowd of people learning to do the steps. It looked like fun, but not with a boot….
The craziness at night was indescribable. At around 8pm on Saturday, Broadway was closed to traffic, and the pedestrian hordes took over! People everywhere! Music blared from all three floors of every bar in the area. It was nuts!
The music was so loud, we could hear it until 2:00am! Instead of bubble gum, the candy dispensers in the bars looked like this. Wow.
We were not sure what Nashville would be like, but it was way more, on every level, than we expected! Such a great time!
So great to see your update! We would have joined you in Nashville. One of our favorite places!! So glad Mark and Christine were able to meet up with you two!
Miss you guys!!
Yay!!! So, so happy you got another Thompson visit!!! xxxooo 🥰