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Nashville is probably best known as being the center of the Country & Western music universe. It is home to the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry (a weekly country music concert held since 1925) and has a ratio of cowboy boots to regular footwear that I have not seen outside of Texas.
Nashville has its own conrtibution to the culinary canon with "hot chicken", which you can learn about here:
Downtown Nashville and surrounding neighborhoods are reasonably easy to travel around without a car. In fact my mode of transport was this:
I did get a few odd looks going through the drive-through ATM but otherwise I was fine.
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For the annual cycling pilgrimage to Wichita Falls this year we took an RV. This one had all the bells and whistles you need on a long drive, including:
This mode of transport is mighty comfortable but not very environmentally friendly, or cheap to run. Until driving this vehicle I didn't know why they had limits on the amount you could spend at a gas pump as I've never been anywhere near those limits. However with this beast we were filling up regularly (averaging around 8mpg!!) and always hitting the limit:
One top tip when packing up an RV after a stay: Careful when you disconnect this hose:
We had to hose down the ground to get rid of the sweet corn. Funny thing is, no-one had sweet corn!
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Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1976 to build "simple, decent, and affordable" housing. Homes are built using volunteer labor and Habitat for Humanity makes no profit. Habitat for Humanity has helped construct, rehabilitate or preserve more than 800,000 homes since its founding. Former President Jimmy Carter has been a well known volunteer and supporter since 1984.
Local groups round up volunteers to build in their area. This is a partly-completed example I worked on with the Montgomery community:
Volunteers do everything from framing to roofing to siding. The electrical and plumbing work is done by paid contractors. Work hours vary but typically are once a week or once every two weeks.
Once you've built a couple of houses yourself, it's a good idea to recruit the next generation of volunteers, even if they need some nudging to get them going:
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By 1911 Pittsburgh was the nation's 8th-largest city, accounting for between a third and a half of national steel output. Andrew Carnegie, from Dunfermline, founded the Carnegie Steel Corporation which eventually became US Steel (still the 15th largest steel producer in the world, as of 2014).
And, like Iowa with it's corn in everything you eat and drink, Pittsburghers (as they are known) used a lot of steel to make a lot of bridges, like this:
You can see more steel along Pittsburgh's Allegheny river here in the opening scene from the 2012 Jack Reacher movie:
One notable person from Pittsburgh is Gene Kelly. Even he couldn't avoid steel:
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The Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner is the oldest independent brewery in Texas. Founded by German and Czech immigrants in 1909, the brewery is named after its first professional brewmaster, Kosmos Spoetzl.
Every year, riders gather in Austin to ride 100 miles from there to Shiner on the Great Austin to Shiner Pedal (GASP). The annual event started in the 1970s and at one point included a Houston-Shiner route in conjunction with the main Austin to Shiner route (making it GHASP) although that is no longer available.
For a pre-ride or post-ride night out may I recommend some of the great bars in Smithville:
Apparently open during construction...
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When in California a Double Double comes from In-N-Out Burger. When in Alberta, a Double Double comes from Tim Horton's (more about them here). A Double Double is double cream, double sugar and is the de facto way to have coffee here. Also, don't forget to get the 24oz size:
This is because, once you get your coffee in, say, Edmonton, and you are driving to, say, Cold Lake (180 miles) you will probably not see anything for the entire journey. Well, maybe one gas station:
But no Tim Horton's. Oddly, this gas station sold clothing. I guess because it was the only store anywhere for miles.
And, once you get to your destination, still no Tim Horton's and basically nothing other than snow:
So what do people do in Cold Lake? When the lake is frozen like this, the drive their trucks on it:
For real entertainment, they need to drive to Edmonton and go to West Edmonton Mall, the largest mall in North America (10th largest in the world):
This place has its own roller coaster, sea life center (with sea lions) as well as an indoor leisure pool and ice rink (because you can never get enough ice in Edmonton).
Fortunately for Cold Lake residents, there is a Tim Horton's there so you can stock up before you leave. And if you want to go onto Jasper for some snowboarding (as in the above picture) then it's just another 220 miles from West Edmonton Mall, so that's just another Double Double.