On a crisp fall morning on October 15, 42 HRR members embarked on the tour set up by the team of Butch & Stephanie and Russ & Pat Barnes thru the Middle Tennessee countryside. Expertly weaving thru Tennessee back roads to their first stop at George & Sue McGraw’s home in Liberty Tennessee. There we enjoyed looking at the many interesting collections they have put together. Collections from antique water coolers to a manikin wearing a 1940’s? bra. Peddle cars, airplanes, soapbox derby car, a neat bar, tricycles, bicycles, 2 Corvettes and a Plymouth pickup, Cushman motor bikes, Triumph motor cycle plus so much more to see in this wonderful Man Cave. We also were entertained by their beautiful home full of furniture that they made in their furniture reproduction shop in Nashville. George is quite the wood worker. The decorations were really nice. The gardens around their home were full of fun decorations like pumpkins hanging in the trees and a fairy house. I think everyone enjoyed this stop and the hot cider and sweet treats hit the spot.
Next, we headed out toward our lunch stop in Cookeville. This leg took us toward Smithville, but with a cut off to travel along the new bridge over Center Hill lake. The views of the lake were breathtaking. We turned off toward Baxter following the railroad tracks. There are many little shops in Baxter to explore at another time. And if anyone needs late model car parts, we saw yard after yard of used iron. We came in from the West to Cookeville for our lunch stop at Cosmos Bar and Grill. There, Donna and her staff, had a great buffet waiting for us. BBQ, slaw, veggies with dips, wraps, home made chips and so many members favorite – Banana pudding. I don’t think anybody went away hungry. We were joined there by James and Debbie Lafever.
We then drove to the Lafever’s home to be greeted with an amazing collection of motor bikes, pedal cars, tricycles and toys of all kinds. There were even more toys, trikes, velocipedes, wagons etc. in the house out back. In the main house was a collection of antique children sewing machines, dolls, still more toys and a really large collection of arrow heads and Indian artifacts. Upstairs in their log home were antiques beautifully decorated with more collections. Debbie’s gardens out side were full of neat yard art and a running water fall to relax in the shade.
Not on the official tour, but several stopped at Butch and Stephanie’s home in Sparta for a short stop on their way home from this interesting tour of the beautiful Tennessee countryside. The weather could not have been better.
“IT NEVER RAINS ON A HR&R CAR EVENT” !!!!!!!!!!! Butch
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