For that great forgotten thrill...the roadtrip. That and one of these friends had been a Cincinnati Bengal fan for 14 years. and it was high time he saw them play in person. The Bengals were awful that year and ended up being mauled by the Steelers in that game, but the road trip was about more than a game. It was about friends connecting in their last (well, mostly) semester of college.
And now four years down the road, it was time to have a reunion tour. So tickets were purchased for the Bengals-Chargers game, and the road trip was on again.
It all begins with Lyle calling me on Wednesday afternoon. "Hey Ty...I think I made a mistake."
"What do you mean?"
"When are we leaving for the game?"
"Friday morning...why?"
"Yeah I made a mistake." I thought he was going to say he couldn't go. "I'm over halfway to Dallas right now, and I ain't turnin' around."
Awesome! Bonus time with Moog!
Day One
We left at 5:30 Friday morning from Dallas to swing by Longview and pick up Amanda. We picked her up and hit the road, but we soon saw a sign that made us all think we had the makings of a special road trip.
Yep. That says what you think it does. Lyle obliged for the guy, but he just pointed to his sign and kept smoking. I guess he thought we read it wrong or just didn't understand. He also had a much larger sign saying roughly the same thing on the back of his cab.
After a lot more driving, sleeping, movie watching and iPod surfing (not to mention a risky lunch at a roadside Mexican food restaurant that used to be a gas station) we finally rolled into Nashville. Actually through Nashville, as we were going into Lebanon, TN to stay with our friends Mandy and David who had just moved there from Dallas.
After a quick shower, we hit the town. Broadway in downtown Nashville is a pretty cool place. There's live music coming from every little bar and club.
The first place we stopped in was an old place that Hank Sr. used to hang out in. The band there was pretty good. I really liked them when they played Charlie Robison's My Hometown. The next joint had a band that had a BR-549 feel, if you're familiar. They played some great tunes including Old Crow Medicine Show's Wagon Wheel.
All in all downtown Nashville totally exceeded my expectations. We rolled back to David and Mandy's at about 1 or 2 in the morning feeling pretty good about Day 1.
Day Two
We woke up bright and early on Saturday (it felt early anyway) and made our way back to Nashville. It was backtracking a bit, but we really wanted to go to this boot store on Broadway that offered "Buy 1 Pair, Get 2 Free." And sure enough...we bought one and got two free. Moog and I also got some hats for the Bengals game which you'll notice in later pics.
We also figured we should pay homage to Elvis since he was right there and all.
The it was on to Cincy. We had planned a stop at Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, but it didn't really work out for us. For future reference, when the lady on the other end of the line at Mammoth Cave says you should be fine and don't need to reserve a spot for a tour, just say, "That's cool. I'll reserve one anyway just to be safe."
That's all I'm gonna say about that.
But we did pass a place called Diamond Caverns on the way in and figured what the heck. Let's check them out.
Turns out, Diamond Caverns were pretty cool. They were discovered in 1859 by some kid who felt cool air just coming up out of a hole in the ground. There were already cave tours being given in the area and the landowner was no fool. So, he developed the caves and in 35 days, yes thirty-five days, he was giving his first tour.
Before they would let us in though, they made Lyle put on special spelunking gear...
Now here's some shots of the cave.
After our little caving detour, we hopped back in the car and headed north to Cincinnati. We rolled into town at about 8 PM local time, threw our stuff in the hotel and headed to dinner. We had been tipped off about a place called Montgomery Inn and Boathouse right on the river. And it was very good.
Amanda and Lyle at Montgomery Inn
Stacie and I at Montgomery Inn
That's our crazy old drunken waiter Dave putting Amanda's bib on before she digs into the ribs. Dave later recommended that we go to an area of Cincy called Mt. Adams if we wanted to hang out. He told us to tell the cab driver to take us to the Pavillion. So we did.
Once at the Pavillion, we realized Dave did not lead us astray. It was a three level club with patios (too cold to stay on, however), music, dancing...the works.
It even had random guys insisting to hold the picture until he gets down the stairs.
We actually closed this place down believe it or not. I think it's been since college that I heard the song Closing Time while the lights came on over me at 2:30 in the morning.
While we were out front waiting for our taxi we ran into Candians in town for a rugby match. The funny thing is these particular Canadians had played one of Dallas' better rugby teams right down from our house sometime last year.
They also dropped their pants to reveal their underwear right outside the club. Once because...well, we're not sure why because it was freakin' cold. And the second time because somebody...I'm not naming names...made a comment about it that came across as a request for an encore. This later had our cab driver saying in his Mozambique accent, "Please don't ask me to undress." Crazy times in Cincinnati.
So, finally at four o'clock in the morning, Day Two came to an end.
Day Three
Day Three was pretty much about the game. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. We had a great time, even though the Bengals lost 49-41. But I did manage to sweet talk a gatekeeper at the club in order to get some Skyline Chili since that was the only place they were selling it. How could they turn away a couple of Texans who had never had Skyline Chili?
After the game we were going to drive to Louisville, KY to meet Stacie's Aunt Susan for dinner. I say "were" because that would mean driving to Louisville, not Lexington. I realized I'd missed the I-75, I-71 split about 20 miles from Lexington. Oops.
Instead we just had a major Karaoke session all the way to Bowling Green and ate at a Cracker Barrel.
We rolled back into David and Mandy's in Lebanon at about 11 PM and went straight to bed.
Day Four
We hit the road at about 8:30 Monday morning, and just like we knew all was well on the way up, we also got a sign on the way back. We strolled into a Chick-Fil-A to order breakfast and found out it was free. Turns out they do that in Mount Juliet, TN on Monday morning. Free breakfast entree, just like that.
We watched Man on Fire between there and Memphis, but decided to stop in Memphis for lunch down on Beale St. I'm really glad we did that because that is a neat town. I would like to hang out in Memphis at night, but that may have to wait until the next road trip.
We also got to see Elvis again.
From there it was smooth sailing back to Texas. We dropped Amanda off in Longview and cruised into Dallas at about 10 PM Monday night. And that was Day 4.
I don't believe there's any way we could have fit more into this trip than we did. It was an awesome time. Better than the first one by far. Maybe because we actually all have a little money this time. The road was fun. The friends are great. And the time had was marvelous.
We may have to stop going, though. The Bengals have yet to win a home game when I drive up to see them.
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