October 17th, 2019

I stayed at the Casey Jones Distillery... it was such a beautiful location. A beautiful pond, rolling hills, cows in the field... and I got to ride in a 1920's pickup truck. The owners of the distillery, AJ and Peg, were the nicest hosts I've had so far. AJ is Casey Jones's grandson. If you're ever around Huntsville KY, I highly recommend going to this place!

I made it to Nashville fairly late in the day (5 pm) and after setting up in my spot, I zonked for about 30 minutes. My body finally said "you made it, now rest." Then I headed back into Nashville (I'm about 20 minutes outside of it) and picked up my dear Unstoppable Influence sister, Dana, from the airport. BOY was that an experience in itself. 🤣 I went around 4 times before I was able to find her. The traffic and entire pick up situation at the airport was insane.

We headed to the Nashville Palace to meet with more UI family (Jacki, Ronda, Orpha and Michelle). There was live music, of course, by Mel Tillis Jr (sister Pam Tillis... dad Mel Sr. Duh). He's just starting to perform... he was the songwriter in the family. We talked with him after, told him about Unstoppable Influence, how his dad was definitely one. He was very grateful and invited us over to Music City Bar. The girls had wanted to go downtown but we had also received many warnings about it... so we went with Mel.

At the Palace though, we ran into a Kuna High School graduate. Crazy small world. He left Kuna many years ago to play in Nashville and has been performing ever since.

Mel talked with us, danced with us, bought drinks for anyone who wanted one (my stomach was funky after an afternoon cheeseburger so I wasn't drinking). The biggest thing was that he recognized us as influencers and respected us for that. I gave him one of my business cards AND we are FB friends now. 🤣 I think all the girls are. He asked if I designed album covers, that he's just finishing his first. That's be cool!

It was such a lovely start to our Nashville experience... I'm excited to see what today brings!

I was also aching though - in my heart - because it was Grandpa's service on day 7 of my journey. Not being with family was so hard. I tried to get a flight back but they were so damn expensive. Then that's when Grandpa sent the candy and Grandma sent the cookies to remind me I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be in this moment.

Still hurts though. I loved that man so much. I'm sure he's smiling at me meeting and hanging out with Mel 🤣

Well, I have laundry to do so I am going to run. First time using a laundromat since the 90's ... should be fun.

Love you all! Go make an impact today!