Tornado - We Recommend you TAKE COVER Now!

*backblip*

On Tuesday we had to get up pretty early to make sure that we had time to go to Country Music Hall of Fame before we left Nashville.  As we watched the news before heading out there were reports of some bad weather moving in and potential tornados.  I remarked that it all sounded melodramatic and Steve and I thought they may be dramatising it just a little bit.  We decided to get up and out so we could get on the road anyways before the storm came in.

We still did the hall of fame though and as we chatted (did I mention that everyone is so freaking chatty in the South?) to the guy on the ticket desk he loved our accents so he gave us a discount on entry - awesome!

There are so many interesting things in the CMHF including a whole exhibit on Sam Philips (responsible for recording Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley) which was pretty fascinating.  It is an awesome place and did take a reasonably long time to get around.

The sun was still shining when we left although the wind had started to pick up and it may have been a tad chilly.

Just outside of Nashville Steve and I swapped and I took over on the driving for a while.  The rain started to come down pretty hard at first and then it just got heavier and heavier to the point I literally could not see through the windscreen which was frankly rather terrifying.  The next thing we knew there was a screeching siren sound from our phones.  Tornado warnings in the area and the recommended action was to "take cover now".  

I tried to pull over to get off the road which Steve was also pleased about and we waited it out a little.  The message when read in full was advising that there would be damage to buildings and vehicles and was pretty scary.  It seems surreal that we were actually facing a real risk of being sucked/ blown/ killed ?!?!?! by a tornado.

The direction we were heading in was in fact away from the storm so once the rain had calmed a little bit then it was time to head out although I wisely decided that Steve could drive from now on.

As we got into Memphis there were further warnings - this time of flash floods which to be honest was not too surprising as we were, again, in the midst of massive rain storms.  Along with the other drivers on the road we were going incredibly slowly and also driving with hazards on.  Scary biscuits.

We finally found the hotel - Peabody Hotel which I booked purely for the ducks.  The ducks are FABULOUS!

We arrived in time to see the 5 O'Clock duck march which I was very excited about.  More Info on the fab ducks can be found at the link but basically someone tried to play a joke at one point by releasing a bunch of ducks in the hotel but it went down well and so they kept the ducks.

In the evening we went to the bar for happy hour and then out to BB Kings - Memphis to try some great memphis food.  Steve's ribs were practically melting off the bone and my chicken sandwich was amazing!

Then, like most of the places we have been going to there was some fab R&B band on the stage.

BB Kings granddaughter also seemed to be milling around as the singer referred to her through the set.

We then took a wander up Beale Street which was just buzzing with activity and again, all these bars with fabulous bands all up and down the street.  Awesome first night in Memphis now that we had arrived safely.