From the center of the universe to no-mans-land

Day 9 of the Young & Stupid, YES! Road Trip:

Another night of no sleep and we were about to drive for 12+ hours. What.A.Mistake. I got everyone up for one final time. We were all sluggish, half because we were tired and half because it was over. We quickly packed and headed down to the car to load it up. The boys were going to catch a bus to Vermont to go stay with one of Sam’s friends. It was all happening very fast.They left us before we were even done packing the car. I gave them long hugs because I didn’t know when I would see my foreign brothers again. They were leaving. We were leaving. Amy and I had sort of took care of them and I wanted to know that they were going to be okay. I told them to call if something went wrong. Franco made some joke that made me smile. I felt like crying. Sam seemed to have been holding back his emotions. He was very short with the good bye. Amy and I were both sad.

We got on the road. Amy and I both maybe got 3 hours of sleep. Our plan was to take I95 all the way to South Carolina and then cut over to Sumter. After we got out of the city, we hit up a convenience store for gas and caffeine, Lots of caffeine. We took turns driving about every 2 hours. We were both so so so tired. I started playing some of my episodes of This American Life I had put on my ipod for this occasion. I was glad Amy liked it. She drifted in and out of consciousness while I drove and I did the same when she drove.

Somewhere in Virgina we hit traffic, stand-still traffic. It was amazing because there wasn’t even a service road to turn off to to try and avoid it. We put the car in park for awhile and traded places again. We ended up talking to the car next to us that said it was beach traffic but according to our road maps, the Virgina Beach was like 4 hours away. We went a little crazy in traffic. Thankfully we had gas. Once we started to move a little and see some civilization we got the fuck off I-95. We lost about 2-3 on our trip. We ate Chili’s and complained about I-95 and Virgina. We kept saying “What the fuck” over and over.

With our tummy’s full we got back on the road. The landscape from Virginia all the way through to South Carolina all looked the same. Trees and road. Amy and I continued to take turns driving every couple of hours. My brother, Andy, my sister-in-law, Marsha, and my dad were expecting Amy and I to be in South Carolina for dinner around 7 or 8. I had been calling my dad all day updating him on the traffic situation and I told him not to wait for us and to just eat without us. He insisted that they wait for some reason. We didn’t actually get there until about 10:30. Andy was a little cranky from being hungry. Amy and were a little sick from being in the car and were thankful for another home-cooked meal. While I caught up with Marsha, my dad talked Amy’s ear off. We ended up crashing about midnight or so, hoping to be refueled for the next day, the longer day of driving.

The (big) Apple of my Eye

Day 8 of ‘merica Road Trip:

Oh New York City, if I had more talent I would write and perform a song about you in front of everyone. We woke up ready for another great day. I was happy to get out of a king-sized bed that all four of us slept in. I ended up crashing on the floor for part of the night. As we got ready, we all started to realize, this was also our last day together. We had to make it count. All our traveling brought us here. We went down the street to a little deli and had a lunch-flavored breakfast and headed to Time Square. Since the boys had never been here, but Amy and I both had, it actually for the first time felt like we were in control of what we were going to do for the day. The closer we got to Time Square the more we were bombarded with people stopping us to offer us stuff. I made the mistake of making eye-contact with one of them and got roped into a conversation. He wanted to “give us the opportunity” to see this great comedy show, happening later tonight – It was going to be awesome and it would only cost us $10 per person. This sounded fine but then I got more information: it turns out it’s $10 per person plus a 2 drink minimum (the catch). I playfully asked how much the average drinks were and he said, “oh only $8-12.” (Only?) When Amy and the boys heard that they started to walk away. I explained to the guy that it wasn’t worth it. He was really asking us to spend $30 per person which was ridiculous. He made some crack about that this wasn’t Texas and that we weren’t going to find another deal like that. He also started teasing Amy because she said something like “Sorry I can’t commit” and he said, ” is that why you don’t have a boyfriend” This was the last we saw of this man.

Time Square has changed since the last time I was here (summer of 2007). They seemed to have closed off a couple of the streets and built these bleachers. It’s more of a pedestrian area now. They also built a big color statue of the famous photo V-Day in Time Square (trust me you’ve seen this photo). It was all very bizarre. Also we had been telling the boys all about Virgin Records in Time Square, which we discovered had closed. I was a little conflicted: change is good and all but I miss the way Time Square use to be. I wanted to show the boys the New York that I know and loved. We didn’t have a ton of time. While the boys were in awe of the size of the buildings, the amounts of people, and the wonderful aromas of street vendors, Amy and I shopped in H&M. I love H&M and don’t understand why they can’t just build one in Texas. We did our thing and I have no idea what the boys were doing. When we finished shopping, we found that the boys had made a friend, a friend trying to sell them tickets to a comedy show. Louis is actually really cool to talk to and his comedy show will only cost us $5 per person with a 2 drink minimum where drinks cost about $5 plus Judah Freidlander was going to be doing stand up. We decide to to do it because we didn’t have any other real plans.

We were all getting a little tired but wanted to keep on truckin’ so we head to Central Park. We manage ourselves through the subway crowds to get to the park. I know how much Sam loves John Lennon so we went to Imagine and Strawberry Fields. It had been a few years since I had been there but I still knew where it was. We could have easily spend a couple of days just wandering around the park and checking out the site but again we were on a time crunch. We parked ourselves on a bench at Imagine and watched some mediocre musicians play. I was focused on some NYU film crew illegally filmming people. We walked along The Lake passing Cherry Hill towards Bethesda Fountain where there some street performers and a man making giant bubbles. Amy’s and my friend Allen, who had just recently moved to NYC was planning on meeting us so we walked back down to the more southern part of the park, down The Mall with cool statues, towards The Pond. We all laid in the grass as we waited for him, half falling asleep. When he got there we caught up. He told us all about his experiences in New York. Allen does film too. We actually graduated together. It was good to see he was doing pretty well for himself working and living in Williamsburg. Should I move to New York City?

We all headed back to the hotel to clean up for dinner. We were taking the boys to Little Italy for dinner. As a weird turn of events we actually bumped into the Hungarian dishwashers from camp. It was really strange. I didn’t stop and talk to long, mostly because I was starving and really just wanted to eat. Little Italy was busting with things to do. There were all times of shops and merchants. Amy and I bought raffle tickets from some Catholic nuns for a chance to win $2500. I even bought some blessed rosaries from them as souvenirs to give. Finding a restaurant was some what of a challenge. Sam didn’t want to spend any money, I was just impatient to eat anywhere, Amy wanted some place good, on top of the fact that every Italian host to each other restaurants was begging for our business.The food was good but right after we had sat down I wished we had gone to the other place. It was a lovely meal.

Allen left us and we tried to find out way to the comedy club. We ended up calling Louis a couple of times because we were a little lost in an area we didn’t want to be lost in. The club was small but quaint. I felt like it was an authentic comedy club and not one that you’d see on Comedy Central. It wasn’t super crowded but full enough of people that we had to sit in the back. Sitting in the back is good at a comedy club because then you don’t have to be apart of the act. There was a table of girls in the front who every comedian used for material. They were from Jersey and in town because one of them was celebrating her 22 birthday or something. Judah Freidlander didn’t show up but the other comedians were hilarious so we hardly cared.

We stayed our later than I wanted. We stumbled our way back to the hotel. If this trip were a movie, this would be the climax of the trip but it didn’t feel like it. Yes we had fun but it didn’t feel epic. We had lots of laughs and smiles but really was this it? One of my favorite things about New York City is that I feel at any moment anything can happen. It’s unpredictably beautiful and complex. Even at 2am as we walked through the Village hoping for a subway station there were a good amount of people out to ask for help.

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Philly to Jersey to NYC

Day 7 of the Young & Stupid, YES! Road Trip:

We woke up at Terrence’s parents’ house, which apparently is in New Jersey and not Pennsylvania, feeling refreshed. Well, Sam had a rough night of puking and was a little bit hung over. Actually he had blown chunks in Amy’s Styrofoam longhorn cooler that we had to inevitably throw away. Terrence flew back to Austin before we had woken up so we didn’t want to stay too long. After we hung out with Terrence’s mom, we packed up the car and headed out to check out Philly’s tourist mustsees.

It was a nice day, maybe like 80 or 90 something but not too hot and cloudy. We headed in town towards the The Liberty Bell. Navigating through Philadelphia in the day light was a little easier. We did get a little lost in Camden which apparently is a bad neighborhood but we found our way. In the sunlight I noticed that the Ben Franklin/676 Bridge is actually really nice looking. Driving over it, I fantasized about how it would be to bike over it. I miss my bike. We found the Liberty Bell at Market and 6th but parked a couple blocks down at Washington Square park. As the boys and I were feeding the meter (we only had enough for a little over an hour) Amy managed to shut the car door on her boob. It was pretty funny, not that I take pleasure in her pain. I‘m sure it hurt, I’m just not sure how something like that actually happens.

We went to the Liberty Bell park which I was a little disappointed to know that it’s in a museum that you have to wait in line to go see. The boys really wanted get some food, specifically Philly Cheese Stakes, but Amy and I wanted to just see the bell. While we were talking about all this, one of Amy’s dad’s best friends walks by and stops Amy. It was delightfully strange coincidence for them to see each other. She shot the shit with him and his wife and then we went to check out the Liberty Bell. The line was long. The boys weren’t back from their Philly Cheese Stake stand by the time we got in there. It was a cute museum. I was disappointed to read the actual history of the Liberty Bell. See the boys have been asking Amy, who has a minor in history, and me all about American history while we’ve been on this trip. I thought the Liberty Bell got it’s crack after it’s first ring which became symbolic. Amy thought it was something else, like it was hurt in a battle or something but I think she agreed with me about it broke on the first ring. While in the museum we discover that it broke gradually over time and they kept repairing it. LAME. It was very crowded but we still wanted our Liberty Bell picture, which proved harder than I thought. People were constantly walking in front of each other’s shots. We finally catch up with the boys who were stuffing their faces with Cheese Stakes. We headed back to the park to continue eating and relax a little. It was the best Cheese Stake I’ve ever had and I don’t even like Cheese Stakes. Unfortunately, we were a minute or two late for the meter and got a $30 ticket! The worst part was we were right there the whole time. Philadelphia was not treating Amy well.

Amy flicks off Philadelphia

The last thing we had to do before we left the City of Brotherly Love, The Rocky Steps. Franco is actually a semi-professional boxer in Manchester, England, and LOVES the Rocky movies. The steps are actually apart of thePhiladelphia Museum of Art which I wish we would have actually gone and seen. We all ran up them. The boys were in bliss. They loved loved loved it. After sneaking into the museum for a quick restroom pit stop and a brief combing of the gift shop for postcards, we got back in the car and got on the road.

We were close to our final destination. So close. Our spirits were high. It was my turn to drive and everyone took this opportunity to take a nap. While the boys were nodding off, I end up getting lost in some small town, Bristol. Being lost wakes everyone up and then the ridiculousness began. Amy and Franco had a fight in the car. It’s hard to describe, other than Franco pushed Amy’s seat forward so that she couldn’t move and then rubbed his gross feet all over her. It begins to drizzle and after losing an hour or so of time, we get back in route, Amy drives, taking the New Jersey Turnpike (aka I-95) all the way up to Route 3 in Northern Jersey. Amy’s Polish Grandmother, who lives in Rutherford, was expecting us for dinner.

When we get there, we are exhausted. Thankfully Amy’s amazing grandmother and uncle had made us a wonderful homemade meal, a vegetable stir fry with rice – YUM. At dinner we recapped what had happened, and what we’d seen. Amy’s grandmother told us some stories about Amy as a kid. They were very warm towards us and wanted us to stay the night but we declined. After dinner, Amy and I took a cat nap on the bed in the office. I couldn’t tell you what the boys were doing during this because I was so tired I was dead to the world. I’m sure they entertained Amy’s uncle with their stories of foreign lands. We wake up after about 45 minutes of sleep and get going to the Big Apple.

As we get closer to the city, the boys and myself were pressed against the windows staring at all the lights. I start texting people for advice on things to do and places to go in NYC. My friend Ariel who was an actress in NYC and lived in Harlem overwhelmed my phone with options and advice. Thanks Ariel. We had vague plans to stay with a friend but After our friend didn’t answer his phone, Amy got us a hotel room off 28th and 7th Ave. Amy’s friend Steven met us at the hotel because we were going out!

Steven went to high school with Amy and had moved to New York a while back. He was a great tour guide and drinking buddy. He took us to a bar that really I don’t know how to describe. It was just a bar. We drank and laughed. Some man tried to pick me up while I was playing the the juke box. I gave him some silly bands and flirted but not enough to give him the idea that he could get any where with me. We drank until closing which was 4am then stumbled back to our hotel. We said our goodbyes to Steven. You will be missed.

Amy’s Philly post

Amy’s New Jersey post

Amy’s New york post

Are we there yet?!

Day 6 of ‘merica Road Trip:

Another early morning (roughly 7am): I got everyone up and out so that we wouldn’t be late. We were all exhausted, when we finally got settled and into bed it was close to 3am. We were planning on meeting our friend from camp, (Nurse) Angie in Washington DC for lunch and I didn’t want to be late. We were checked out, moderately fed and on the road a little after 8am. In our quick haste we left my pillow in the hotel. I mourned the loss of it for an hour of the ride out-of-town. Everyone slept while I tried to stay awake and not drive us off a cliff. I got us into DC and didn’t really know where to go exactly. None of us had ever been to our Nation’s capital before. Angie was on a train coming our way and was waiting for us to decided where to meet. We drove around in circles for a while, mostly because we didn’t know where to go but also because we couldn’t find parking. We ended up parking somewhere near the National Agricultural building or something and we walked towards the national malls, I think that’s what they call it. All of DC’s stereotypical landmarks are in one area. Is that a coincidence or not — is it because tourists are lazy and don’t like to travel around to get their fix?

We went to the Washington Monument first. We were not the only tourists in DC trying to see our capital’s spots. I couldn’t help but think of that moment in The Simpsons, Lisa Goes to Washington [3.02] when Marge sees the Washington Monument and giggles and Homer says, “Oh Marge, grow up!” It was huge. I didn’t expect it to be so big. I wasn’t surprised that we weren’t going to be able to make the tour. Apparently people line up at 7am just to get tickets to be able to go on the tour. We headed down to the reflecting pool towards the Lincoln Memorial. We meandered around the World War II Memorial on the way, slowing down in the heat. Not only was it hot but it was tremendously humid. Walking down the reflecting pool we thought about the famous scene in Forrest Gump where Jenny runs in the reflecting pool as Forrest is giving a speech. We dared each other to go in and cool off but we didn’t feel like getting arrested. I was surprised by all the locals walking their dogs and babies in strollers as if it just a normal thing. They weren’t phased by the great historical memorials they were jogging past. It was just another day for them. The Lincoln Memorial was more crowded than the others.

When we made our way to the top and weaved our way to the front, I couldn’t help but be in awe. Even though I have mixed feelings about America, I am still very interested in its history. Lincoln was bigger than I expected. It was very crowded and hot. I wanted to have a quiet moment of contemplation with Honest Abe. It’s tradition to ask him a question but I didn’t know what to ask him. I had traveled more than 1500 miles and in all that time I had forgotten to think up a good question to ask. I couldn’t really stress about it because it was impossible to think while I was boiling in my own skin. I tried to show Abe my love while Amy had a bone to pick with ol’ Abe: the day before the trip a Lincoln biography fell on her foot and busted her toe. She had plans to kick him in the foot but couldn’t because of his size and the barrier around the bottom of the statue. This (see pic on left) was her revenge. We walked around the memorial some more, reading the walls when we just had to get out of there. We were walking down the steps trying to plan our next move when my phone rings and as I went to answer it, knowing it would probably be Angie, I slipped and fell backwards on my butt, falling down some 3-6 steps on the front steps of the Lincoln Memorial in front of some 200 strangers. Everyone stared at me but no one helped me up. I think some Asian teenagers took pictures of, probably under the impression that all Americans are clumsy. Sam, Franco, Amy and I were all hysterically laughing. It probably wasn’t even that funny but we just kept laughing. I wish I could have seen it. (see pic to right)

Angie was going to meet us back at the Washington Memorial then we were all going to go get some lunch…somewhere. We got there before she did and played the human Where’s Waldo to see who could find her first. Amy had met Angie briefly during our camp summer holiday break because Angie spent one night in Austin. Franco saw her first and just starting yelling at the top of his lungs “NURSE ANGIE! NURSE ANGIE” and waving uncontrollably to get her attention. She smiled and laughed. We all exchanged pleasantries and headed back to the car in search of food.

DC is a beautiful place with beautiful old buildings that seem very symmetrical. The only obvious sucky thing about DC is that there isn’t any parking. We stopped looking for places to eat and mostly concentrated on finding another parking spot. We actually found one next to a park (success). Sam, Franco and I hopped out to save the spot while Amy and Angie drove around and bought to parking pass. And just as they were back around to pull into the spot this man starts backing into it. Now, I have to say, I was hot and hungry and determined to not lose this spot, thus I had the three of us standing in it. This man starts yelling at me to move and I start yelling back that he’d have to run me over if he wanted this spot. He kept backing up and I kept standing. This must have been an interesting scene to see because people started stopping and coming over to see the commotion. Eventually the boys grabbed me because Amy didn’t want to deal with this ridiculous man, who barely spoken English.

We ended up parking at some Commerce Building garage where the security guards took our IDs and check our trunk. We were starving so we ate at the food court, stuffing ourselves with Middle Eastern food. After we were all energized we headed out to see things. See the thing is with DC is no one new what they wanted to see. Thankfully Angie helped us figure out good sites so we headed to the White House. We were in the back of the White House but it was funny because Amy and Sam said it was the front. Angie and I tried to tell them it was the back but they were sure it was the front. Once we walked to the front it was obvious to everyone. I just love it when I’m right.

We thought it best to go to the Smithsonian and check out all it had to offer. Boy, I had no idea that the Smithsonian was so big. It is basically a collection of museums all smashed together. It is obvious why it’s the ultimate field-trip destination. We strolled through mammals and considered our options. Angie or Amy, I can’t remember, wanted to see the hope diamond so we headed upstairs to the Geology exhibit. All five of us lose each other in this exhibit. It was quite funny because once one of us would find another we would then split up again to find the others only to repeat over and over. I felt like we were in that exhibit for over an hour. Once we regrouped we went downstairs to the children’s area where we played with all the interactive science exhibits. I really wanted a copy of the constitution so we checked out the gift shop which is just as large and elaborate as some exhibit halls. I got my copy of the constitution and Angie, Amy and I waited for the boys for awhile. Apparently Sam bought personalized dogtags with his music Pen name, Sammy Jay, or something. Amy and I later laughed about this because Sam was constantly worried about money and hated spending money on food, but apparently personalized dogtags were a necessity.

The cute man at the gift shop recommended that we eat dinner in Chinatown so we walked some 12 blocks uphill towards Chinatown. This was not my first Chinatown. I have been to the Chinatown in New York City and San Francisco and I’m starting to see a lot of the same things in each of these Chinatowns. They all have the same cheesy Asian gift shops and restaurants. We couldn’t decide which Chinese restaurant to ate at. Amy and I were leaning towards one that apparently was too expensive for the boys, but I mostly mean Sam, so we ate at this questionable little place that actually smelled like poo. The food was so so. I guess the price was right. It was a nice dinner of everyone teasing me since I kept dropping food on my shirt. I had to even go to the restroom to try and get out all the food stains.

We had one quick stop at Starbucks so Amy could get another mug for her collection and then we parted ways with Angie. She was a lovely addition to our crazy travel group. We were really glad to have another person that could make decisions and settle disputes. I wondered if I’d ever get to see her again. Slowly, I have gotten more and more distance from my camp friends, my camp family. Angie, you will be missed. Thanks for hanging out with us. Thanks for being there at camp all summer.

We got back to the car after some debate on where we parked. We were in need of gas which was impossible to find in downtown DC. We ended up getting somewhat lost on the east side of town but we found a gas station. Somehow we found I95 and headed towards Philadelphia. I felt like it was a quick trip traveling through three (?) states peppered with many toll booths. In Delaware some bitchy toll booth lady freaked out because she thought Franco was trying to take a picture of her. She said she got out license plate number and that she would prosecute if she found her picture online. We spent the rest of the trip making fun of Delaware and declaring it the worst state ever. I think “Fuck you Delaware” was said a lot. I think a lot of that was Amy’s frustration with the drivers. I drifted in and out of consciousness and after a little bit of time so did the boys, leaving Amy brewing, by herself, about where we were going and bad drivers. I woke up once I realized we were in Philadelphia and lost. Amy was not in high spirits. We had made plans to meet up with Amy’s friend from work, Terrence, who was in town visiting his parents and friends. He was going to let us stay with him. Terrence told us to meet him at some bar that we had a little trouble finding. We circled the downtown Philadelphia for about an hour. Philadelphia is definitely a place I could see myself in. The boys slept the whole time but I was awake and being the navigator. We found the bar at about 1am. We meet up with Terrence and his friends and we hung out. We tried a couple of bars but settled on the first one which was half diner. Everyone decided to postgame at someone’s house so we went there and continued to drink and do what young people our age do. We didn’t make it to Terrence’s parents’ house until about 4am.

Another productive day.

Amy’s Washington DC post

Amy’s Delaware Post

Amy’s Philadelphia post.

Nashville to Lexington

Day 5 of the Young & Stupid, YES! Road Trip:

Another beautiful day that this country provided our travel. We woke up and got ready for Nashville. Now Amy had been to Nashville before because it was where her sister either got married or had the bachelorette party or both, (I honestly can’t remember, I know there was a flood involved, but that doesn’t make me a bad friend) so she acted as our travel guide. I was surprised by how beautiful Nashville was – I thought it would be a bunch of barefoot hicks with guitars in wood shacks but it actually looks surprisingly like Austin. Nashville, the Country Music Capital, and Austin, the Live Music Capital, both have clean downtowns with modern architecture but seem to have very normal neighborhoods outside of downtown where people’s kids could play in the front yard.

We were on a mission: cowboy boots! Now you have to understand that Sam and Franco were trying to experience all that ‘Merica had to offer this summer. At camp, everyone had cowboy boots except the foreign boys (I had to borrow some to go horseback riding) because it was a camp founded on horseback riding and being an cowboy. Sam and Franco wanted a pair of real cowboy boots. Amy came to the rescue and took us to Boot ‘n More on Broadway where if you ‘buy 1 pair [you] get 2 free’! We each got a pair of boots, actually Franco got two, and Sam also got a cowboy hat that he wore all the time. The store cuts you a deal so that you aren’t missing out on their special. Still high off the leather boot fumes we decided to go a couple doors down to see Hatch Show Print, which began churning out posters in 1879 and basically is a famous graphic design and print shop. Trust me if you are an American that has been alive in the last 100 years, you’ve seen their stuff. I contemplated buying some of their posters so that I could hang them up in my apartment when I got home but I didn’t think they posters could last the trip. We didn’t actually have that much room in the car. I settled on a Hatch Show Print t-shirt and a key chain that I gave to Amy to replace the one I lost in Houston.We went next door to a charming old soda shop / sweet shop that also served lunch food. We indulged in some sandwich/soup/salad combos and discussed what are plans were for the rest of the day. The boys were dead set on going to the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum, Amy was leading and I was just along for the ride.

We needed to make a quick stop at a bank. The boys still hadn’t been able to cash their pay checks from camp. We figured out that the boys could just write their checks over to Amy and then Amy could cash them. Thankfully the cute redhead bank girl make this easy while the crazy woman in Houston, days early, seemed to make us think it was impossible. Finally the financial burden was lifted and we all felt free. We went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and did the museum thing. I’m not a big country music fan but I enjoyed it. I use to hate country music because it reminded me of small-town, ignorant, racist, sexist, hill-billies but now, because of my summer at camp in small-town Texas, it reminds me of the simple pleasure in life that are easily enjoyed while living in the country. I enjoyed looking at all the old pictures and memorabilia. As we were leaving Nashville everything got dark and it started to pour. This was not good. We had 11 hours to drive to DC and it was around 4pm.

I drove us out of town and into the mountains. It was beautiful. The shower let up just as the sun was setting around the mountains. The road was windy but it was kind of exciting. Once we hit Virginia we stopped to play around at the Welcome Center, one of our favorite road trip past times. Half way through the night Amy and I switched and she drove. While the boys dozed in and out of consciousness, Amy and I began to lose our minds from the driving. This peaked around 12am when we decided that we were not going to be able to make it to DC. Amy hated driving at night on these windy roads in the mountains so we pulled off the interstate, following signs for hotels that seemed to not exists. We later found out we were in Lexington, Virginia. There was a strange fog and the rural roads looked awesomely creepy. Amy mentioned that she was scared of ghosts so I came up with elaborate tales of the civil war ghosts that haunted this area that could and probably would show up and try to get us more lost. It was mostly the delirium of driving 8 hours in a row but Amy was getting freaked out. We saw a sign for Stonewall Jackson’s house but we were failing on finding some place to stay. Finally we saw signs of life and after checking with a couple of hotels we settled on one. Well there was no turning back, we just travel more than half way to New York City.

Wanna read Amy’s version of Nashville

A Big Hunk O’ the South

Day 4 of ‘merica Road Trip:

We got up early and reluctantly left New Orleans. It was such an amazing place, our favorite so far. We swung by the Super Dome on the way out to get the appropriate sites checked off the foreign boys list of things to see. Another beautiful sunny day: We took loop 610 to I10 West so that we could hit I-55 North that would take us to Memphis. We hit the Mississippi border but decided to opt out of seeing the Welcome Center. We let Francesco drive since we wouldn’t be going into any major cities for in a while. Somewhere in Jackson we got pulled over, Mississippi because Franco “took too long to change lanes with his signals on” and the police officer was “worried” Franco was falling asleep at the wheel or something. Now this cop had the thickest accent I have ever heard, I was struggling to understand him. He looked at Amy’s and Franco’s IDs for a really long time, asked all of us stupid questions like “do you have any drugs?” and “have any of you ever been arrested” and then let us go. Mississippi sucks. We stopped in Grenada to eat some food, get some gas and change drivers. The boys were amazed by the way everyone talked. We stood out a little but thankfully we wouldn’t be in this stupid state for much longer.

We were happy to be in Tennessee. We stopped at the Welcome Center and played around a little. The Welcome Center had this amazingly random structure that reminded me more of playground equipment than a memorial. We stretched our legs and got some tour brochures with coupons Graceland and info about cheap hotels but not for too long since we were basically in Memphis and excited to see Graceland. Originally when the boys and I were planning the trip I asked them what were their top things to see and places to go and both had Graceland in their top three choices. Sam is a musician and thus is a music fanatic. Honestly, it was not one of my top choices of places to go but I was curious and later, glad we saw it. As we drove in the city it started to drizzle a little. We played what Elvis Presley songs we had to get pumped up.

Graceland was very lively which we discovered was because it was Elvis Week. Apparently Elvis Week is a big deal in Memphis, it’s when the rest of the country’s Elvis lovers and aficionado pack up their trailers and head over to Graceland to get their Elvis fix. Sam and Franco are apparently big Elvis fans. They were giddy with this piece of Americana in front of them. The thing people don’t seem to mention about Graceland is that it costs a lot of money. There are different museums and tours but most of them cost like $50 a person minimally. Paying for information about Elvis’s life when Amy has internet on her phone with Wikipedia didn’t seem like it was a good use of our hard-earned money. We walked around and checked out the landmarks, the Lisa Marie plane, the mansion, etc. Interesting fact about the mansion: it’s tradition to write on the outside of the wall. There was a big crowd of people writing on the wall near the entrance of his mansion. We almost walked up to the mansion thinking it was okay but were stopped by a loud and overly aggressive security lady. We popped our heads in some gift shops and listened to some Elvis impersonators do his songs on a sad little stage in the parking lot. There are so many Elvis impersonators I began to have a difficulty recognizing real pictures of Elvis because every image of him looks fake. We headed over to the Heartbreak Hotel, partially for the kitschy touristy value but also so Amy could buy stamps. It was an Elvis fanatic’s dream, very cheesy with a heart-shaped pool with a tile crack down the middle. The gift shop was out of stamps and sent us to this trailer in the parking lot that was yet another Elvis gift shop. Amy got her stamps and the kind old woman working the counter gave us advice on where to go in Memphis.

We took I-55 into the downtown area. The gift shop woman told us to head towards Beale street and that’s what we were going to do. The drizzle had been constant while we were experiencing Graceland but as we drove into Memphis a beautiful thing happened all at once:the rain stopped, the clouds opened, that song Walking in Memphis came on the radio just as we saw famous Memphis-Arkansas I-40 bridge. I made Amy open up the moon-roof so I could get a shoot of this strange road-trip miracle but it didn’t come out the way I had hoped. We parked on 2nd and Peabody and walked around a bit. The gift shop woman told us to take the Main Street trolley because it only costs a dollar it functions as a delightful way to see a lot of the downtown area. This was great advice. The whole trip probably took a little over 30 minutes but it was fun. Downtown Memphis is very clean. You can tell at one point it was very industrial but over time had become more commercial. I wondered what it looked like before the Recession because there were a good amount of abandon old factories and buildings. We finished our ride and we saunter down Beale Street in search of some good ol’ Memphis barbecue. We were torn between two places but settled on one over the other because it seemed to be a little cheaper. In retrospect I wish we would have gone to the other place since the place we decided on specializes in BBQ pork (I don’t eat pork) and we experienced the worst service ever. We were in there for over 2 hours! They only had one guy waiting on the whole restaurant. Amy and I kept daring each other to start waiting tables but we were afraid they might actually hire us and we still had a lot of driving a head of us. The food was alright I guess, nothing to write home about, nothing like our meals in New Orleans. If we had more time we would have stayed and watched some local live music. Beale Street reminded me a lot of Austin’s 6th Street, lots of bars, restaurants, and live music.

Before we left town we had to go see the famous Sun Studio. My friend, Mike’s grandparents use to own the building and lease it to Sun Studio back in the day or so he tells me. It was a beautiful little studio. It was closed to we creeped around peeking into the windows and taking pictures. It was weird to think about all the music history that had been recorded right here at Sun Studio like Howlin’ Wolf, Little Milton, B.B. King Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis. This was another landmark that excited the boys.

We had to get on the road if we were going to make it to Nashville at a decent time. The sun was setting as we were at Sun Studio. I drove us out of town on I-40 into the darkness. I wish I could tell you what the landscaped looked like but again it was way too dark. We stopped somewhere between Memphis and Nashville for gas and sustenance, by that I mean doughnuts and soda (yum). I was losing some of my travel mojo and thus not being as fun. When we finally got to Nashville I went to sleep while the others drank and played around. Because of our budget and the randomness of finding a hotel kind of late at night, we had to compromise on our accommodations and settle on one king-sized bed for all four of us to sleep in. Thankfully I got to sleep on one of the edges. We had another big day coming up and the long driving was starting to get to me.

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