We took our leave of Chelsea and Andy's place this morning, after they were kind enough to pick up donuts from the Jolly Pirate. We got on the road around 8 am, and began out trip southwest to Nashville, through Kentucky. Goodbye, Ohio. It should be noted that, at this point, this is the farthest West that either of us have ever driven. It's all new territory from here on out.
KENTUCKY
We made it to Kentucky (which has "unparalleled spirit" according to the sign) around 10 am, and immediately began to plan our lunch adventure, which was to involve procuring a KFC Double down. After all, shouldn't the chicken be better in the franchise's home state? It ended up being much more of an adventure than we had expected. The first KFC we came upon was a bust, as it was closed "due to fire". Clearly adding grilled chicken to the menu creates more of a hazard for the employees who are only used to operating a deep fryer.
We then used the iPhone to find the next closest location, which showed up on the map near a small road in Waddy, KY. We took the directions on the map, and were treated to a lovely scenic drive on a windy road through the back woods and farmlands of the state away from the highway, although the spot where the KFC was supposed to be turned out to be a small railroad overpass with no other buildings in sight for miles.
As we were working our way back to the interstate, we finally managed to find a KFC in Shelbyville, KY (AKA "Springfield Sucks, KY"), and treated ourselves to a lunch of bacon and cheese between two pieces of fried chicken.
Having emerged from lunch victorious (and not dead of cholesterol-induced CancerAIDS), we proceeded south toward Nashville.
TENNESSEE
We crossed into the Volunteer state around 2:30 pm. The roads just past the border were really quite picturesque, with a mix of farmland and mountainous terrain. Shortly after crossing into Tennessee, the roads were cut through rocky hillsides which left these great faceted rock walls. Not as big as the gap in Mt Somethingorother in MD, but very pretty nonetheless.
Nashville was only about 30 minutes south of the KY/TN border, so we arrived at our destination at 3pm. Our destination? Grand Old Golf - a giant, 3-course, 45-hole miniature golf course on the outskirts of Nashville. Mike had played here once about 10 years ago on a YMCA swimming trip, but his attempt to finish the course was cut short by a thunderstorm. So we were on a mission: we would finish the course, come hell or high water (or thunderstorms). This was no easy task, mind you: the second course we played was a frustratingly difficult 9-hole "Challenge Course", with holes at least 2-3 times as long as your typical putt-putt course. We finished well over par, and Mike hit Jon in the leg with a wild putt (hard enough to leave a welt with divot marks), but we did finish.
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