SHENANDOAH
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OUR FIRST BUS RIDE
The ‘Sunday In the South’ video was out, summer was right around the corner and so was our first bus ride. After all those miles in that van somebody else was about to get to do the driving besides us.
The old Shoney’s parking lot on Demonbraun Ave. next to Music Row where I got on ‘The Gypsy’ bus for the first time.
I remember being in Nashville that night and the bus was going to be leaving from Shoney’s parking lot right across the street from what used to be Conway Twitty’s record store on Demonbraun Avenue next to Music Row. All the rest of the guys were down in Muscle Shoals but I was jumping aboard in Nashville.
I got on that bus smiling from ear to ear and so excited. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I only wish I’d have had someone else there with me to share that moment with. I can still remember that ole Silver Eagle. “The Gypsy” was her name. She wasn’t much by today’s standards but to us she might as well have been brand new!
The Gypsy
I can still hear that engine humming as we rode down I-65 South headed to pick up the rest of the guys in Muscle Shoals. I had it all to myself….12 bunks, a front lounge equipped tv, microwave oven, a refrigerator, a restroom, a cafe-style table and 2 huge couches with more leg room that I could ever need. Also a back lounge with a tv and other amenities. It might as well have been the Taj Mahal.
When we pulled into town and into the old Kroger parking lot off of Woodward Avenue there in Muscle Shoals I could see all the guys out the window, smiling and excited and patting each other on the back because we were about to start traveling on a tour bus….because we’d come this far. All the sudden all those miles in that van seemed worth it.
Kroger parking lot in Muscle Shoals where we used to leave from.
I couldn’t wait to get off that bus to be with them and they couldn’t wait to get on. I don’t think any of us slept that night. We just stayed up in awe that we were actually on a tour bus headed somewhere into the night. Wow! What an awesome mark in our career that was.