Monday was Tennessee Day! Driving from Bristol, TN in the east to Knoxville and on to Nashville. The speed limit was 70 so Tesla’s adaptive speed control took us at 75 mph, along Route 81 to Route 40! We are almost at 1,000 miles on the trip with loads of awesome experiences in Tennessee:
Bands in Busses! We passed several band busses, pulling a trailer for musical instruments, several with ads for the musicians:
Could only imagine the sounds of “La Zenda” as the bus passed the Tesla. Wish there was a “listen to band music from bus” bluetooth app :). But, a few moments on YouTube revealed their tunes:
Clayton Homes in Knoxville: This was our first "Learning Stops” - visiting colleagues from our Learning Collaborative. Clayton is the leading manufacturer of homes and site build home components. Customers order the home and it is built to specs and shipped/assembled on their land. They even have very new and cool “Tiny Homes”
We were hosted by the learning group at Clayton and given a tour of their conference and learning center - as well as a brand new media studio. Clayton is owned by Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet’s group) and has a deeply focused culture for customer support and a healthy workplace:
Keynote from Car at Charging Station to 3,000 Leaders in Canada! At 3:30 pm, Elliott did a most unusual keynote speech:
From the passenger seat of Tesla.
Charging at a SuperCharger Site Between Knoxville and TN.
Bandwidth from TMobile phone accessed by laptop.
3,000 attendees - leaders in the Canadian Government focused on Learning.
Elliott interviewed for one hour - with audience questions - by facilitator in Ottawa
And, the topic was “Agility in Learning in Changing Times”
It worked!
Nashville: Visit with Melinda Doolittle at Service Night and BBQ on “Broadway”. Spent the night in Nashville - with primary intent to visit dear friend and artist, Melinda Doolittle (star of American Idol and guest on our Empathy Concerts). Each Monday, Melinda and her colleagues from her church provide supplies, support, food and a shower truck for the “unsheltered” folks living on the streets of Nashville. It was so moving to see the relationships and connections that her group had with the people waiting for clothing and support.
The “homelessness” realities can be found in cities all across the country. The work of this volunteer group was focused and strategic - with the cooperation of the police and community. It was so powerful to visit for a few minutes with Melinda as she helped coordinate the services. By the way, you can hear Melinda perform on our next Empathy Concert, Thursday, March 10th from 4 to 5 pm EST - Reserve a free space at www.masie.com
BBQ on Nashville’s Broadway: We ended our day by walking to the music section of Nashville that is their “Broadway”. Restaurants, bars and honky-tonks filled with music and food. Here is the BBQ dinner that topped off my day in Nashville - St. Louis Ribs and Beef Briskey with Corn and Cucumber Salad. Yum and Yes!
On Tuesday, we head towards Memphis - for some Rock and Roll history and another blast of Tennessee culture!