Atlanta, GA through Nashville, TN

Brian: So we awoke alone in Erin’s apartment, as previously noted, picked up our mess, and let the cat out of the bathroom about 2 seconds before we left. Erin worked at a coffee shop downtown, so we stopped by to say thanks, and she gave Nick a free diet Coke before we left. She was super nice.

Nick: Mmhmm. Also, I’m grossed out now thinking about Kelly Rippa’s outtie. Thanks. So after some coffee and bagel action we were on the open road again, making good time and listening to the suspenseful conclusion of Nelson Demille’s Wild Fire, the book on tape we’ve been listening to for the last however miles. If you want to read this book at some point, I’m giving you a spoiler alert. Here’s the plot: a guy wants to nuke American cities, therefore trigging an America nuclear response which would wipe out all of the Middle East. Our hero, an ex NYPD detective John Cory and his wife/partner Kate Mayfield of the FBI are on a mission to stop him. This has got us thinking lately. Not about American foreign policy or the horrors of war, but about various characters we’d like to see play the role of a gritty New York detective in a film noir. Two of our favorites so far have been a hard core gamer and a rapper from East LA.

Brian: It would be an interesting juxtaposition to say the least. The first thing we did after crossing the border into Tennessee was to score some delicious barbeque. We stopped at a place called B’s in a town called Monteagle. Later we were informed that B’s was a famous place that recently experienced a turnover in management, so locals were unsure of its continued deliciousness. I’ll be the first to vouch for it.

Nick: I’ll second that. We knew we were getting close to Nashville when we heard, yeah get excited, Party in the USA a full three times before bringing the vehicle to a complete stop. I’m not sure what a Nashville party is like, but Miley seems frustrated that more parties aren’t like them so I think we have a lot to look forward to in this town. On that note, Brian and I have begun formulating a system for determining a city’s greatness. So far, we have the number of Arby’s within the city limits, the number of times the DJ plays our favorite song on the radio while we’re in that city, and the city’s zombie preparedness, which is itself determined by a number of factors. Though it’s an early cursory assessment, Nashville is dominating on all three counts, with special bonus points for having a 24-hour Arby’s.

Brian: Kill me now. On the recommendation of our next host, we made our way to the Nashville farmer’s market with a single directive: Do not eat the Chinese food. It made me want to, but in the end I resisted. The most noteworthy items for sale at the farmer’s market were these ridiculous but awesome posters of people clearly preparing to make love. As an added bonus, the area of the park not filled with market stalls was filled a progressive reenactment of every American war. What I mean is, as you walk down the path you begin in a Revolutionary War camp and end up in surrounded by WWII soldiers and vehicles. It was pretty cool. We left the park to meet up with the sweet Hannah Messinger, our host for the next couple of days.

Nick: Hannah is someone we met during a game of ultimate Frisbee back in college, and was therefore associated in our minds with all things excellent. Also, she has a blog where she tracks down the coolest, cheapest stuff to do in and around Nashville, so we figured we’d met up with the right person for our stay. After arriving at her downtown apartment and meeting her rambunctious but lovable little dog, we headed out to Centennial Park to walk around, check out the city’s replica Parthenon, and do some swinging on one of many park swings. Brian says that no matter how fast you swing on the swing, the time it takes you to go back and forth never changes. I’m not sure, but I don’t have the math credentials to challenge that assertion.

Brian: It’s just simple physics… that I’m fully incapable of explaining. But it’s true, every swing of a pendulum takes the same amount of time no matter how much energy is behind it. Think about Newton’s Cradles (the office toy that is 5 suspended silver balls). No matter how high you lift a ball the clicking always has the same number of beats per minute. Speaking of BPM, we got our drink and dance on at a little place called 3 Crow Bar. I wonder if they were going with some sort of “crowbar” pun? Fail. My friend Zach Fleury showed up and we went to another bar. I don’t remember the name of that one but I do remember the tetragenarian that wanted our bodies real bad.

Nick: We get people’s attention on this trip. Not all attention is ideal. After we were sufficiently liquored up, Hannah’s friend Sarah, who happens to be a musician and pretty cool chick herself, took us through a McDonald’s on the way home. Which was nice. Back at the apartment, we watched some way old Star Trek, which was the first time I’d ever seen an episode of the show. Half way through, after Spock drops a rock that violently explodes destroying one of the crew, I looked around the room to see if anyone else was enjoying the sci-fi insanity as much as me. Hannah and Brian were asleep. Their loss I guess. Beam us up, Nick and Brian out.