#roadtrip 2013 Round-UP & the ABC's of it all

Find pictures, stories, and videos in my #roadtrip 2013 online journal!  

Day 1 - #roadtrip 2013 - LA to Flagstaff, AZ 

Day 2 - #roadtrip 2013 - Flagstaff to New Mexico 

Day 3 - #roadtrip 2013 - New Mexico to OKC 

Day 4 - #roadtrip 2013 - OKC to Memphis 

Day 4/5 - #roadtrip 2013 - Memphis baby, Memphis 

Day 5 - #roadtrip 2013 - Memphis to Nashville! 

Day 6 - #roadtrip 2013 - Last kicks in Nashville..... 

Day 6/7 - #roadtrip 2013 - The road...again. 

Day 7 - #roadtrip 2013 - Virginia to HOME! Last leg...

TWEET: #roadtrip thank yous: @c_aye, @airbnb, @googlemaps, @instagram, @Pandora, @spotify, @Honda, @subway, 1dct, (cont...)

TWEET: #roadtrip thank yous: @backstreetboys, I-40, @rendezvous_ribs, walk the line, plant, all fb friends that cheered on and advised (cont...)

TWEET: #roadtrip thank yous (cont.): & of course csr, but get twitter already!

And here are the ABC's of the #roadtrip.  Ahh the memories. : )

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A - Airbnb!   And dropping those darn apples, just after we made the commitment to eat healthy.  I guess it wasn't meant to be.

B – Backstreet Boys.  Long story.  Will not re-tell here lest it be officially recorded in internet history.  BBQ.  Budget conscious.

C – Cash.  For Johnny and June Carter Cash.  Music royalty.  Compass Records.  Country Music.

D – Driving.  Did we mention driving?  Days Inn.

E – Elvis – a new appreciation, hubba hubba.  Econolodge.

F – Farmland in Virginia.  Actually, farmland everywhere in America gosh darn it.

G – Grand Ole Opry.  Google Maps.  Guillermo’s.  Gas.

H – Hosts – 3 to be exact.  All great ladies.  Oh yeah, and Howard Johnsons.  Technically also a host albeit not as snuggly.

I – Interstate 40 forever!!  Instagram (great photos from CSR).

J – @Johnnyswim at Music City Roots

K – Kelley was here!

L – Lovelace Café.  La Fonda Hotel. Lorraine Motel.

M – Memphis!  Music City Roots.

N – Nashville, whoo hoo!!!  National Parks.

O – Oklahoma City, the Overholsers of Oklahoma. One-degree celebrity trivia!  Ok, enough Os.

P – Pandora was a great traveling companion.  Pink was the color of Albuquerque.

Q – Quartet valued at one million dollars.  Quaint was OKC in my opinion. 

R – Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Route 66, @Rendevous_Ribs

S – Sun Studios!  Sinagua People of Walnut Canyon.

T - Trivia!  Texas Tumbleweeds.  Tex/Mex cuisine in New Mexico. 

U – under 70mph.  That is the speed limit we did not obey (thanks for letting us off with a warning warm-hearted OKC state trooper *insert batting of eyes*).

V – Virginia Farmland visitors

W – Walk the Line, Walnut Canyon, wrong turns

X – X marks the spot of where Elvis and Johnny Cash stood.  And Xavier.  There must be an Xavier somewhere.  

Y – YET!?  Are we there YET!?!  And long live our yoga pants.

Z – Zip up!  It got colder and colder as we made our way east.  I thought this was the southern route!?!

    

Day 7 - #roadtrip 2013 - Virginia to HOME! Last leg.

We stayed with another airbnb host in Virginia, but we of course could not get an appreciation for where we were until the morning.  (A little bleary by the time we pulled in at 2:30am.) 

We stayed on a real live farm, complete with horses, cows, a rooster, 2 cats, and a dog.  And our host was the sweetest.  She welcomed us when we came in (I felt bad for waking her up!) and left us food for the morning and warm wishes.  A great way to start our last leg of the journey.  TWEET:  Just stayed with dogs, cats, horses, cows, and a rooster. @airbnb adventures :)

Tried to go here but with a $16 entrance fee, we felt there wasn’t anything “natural” about it. 








We went through Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and finally we hit...NEW JERSEY!!!!!   Birthplace of the famous KNP and CSR! : )  Never had I been so excited to hit the armpit of America.  (Yes, I said it, don't hate fellow New Jersians.)  TWEET: Never thought I'd be so happy to see the NJ Turnpike...crazy exit 13 smells, here I come!!! Home stretch of #roadtrip.  

It really felt like a major accomplishment.  CSR and I pulled into my parent's driveway and breathed a huge sigh of relief.  We made it safely, no major glitches, and in fact had had a pretty rockin' time together.  And of course we were quite glad to get home to mom's house, get our clothes washed, get some good food, and eventually get back to our lives.  TWEET:  2,797+ miles later and there's really no place like mom's house. #roadtrip complete

 

Day 6/7 - #roadtrip 2013 - The road...again.

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So yeah. The road.  There was lots of it.  Christina and I both agreed that a cross country trip sounds great when you say it.  The reality of it is, it’s A LOT of driving.  TWEET: Um, so yeah, America is kinda big...are we there yet?!?  The driving was the big chore each day.  Thankfully we had each other and we made it fun.  Big ups to CSR for creating what I titled the “1 degree celebrity trivia” game.  It kept us awake and alert.  Ask me for the details, I will gladly share.   

It was this evening we made an unfortunate wrong turn.  I-40 had been our friend for a long time, but we forgot that eventually we’d have to go left.  Going to NY and all ya know.  Thankfully we stopped to eat not too long after our excursion into North Carolina and realized we were getting a bit off track.  Thank God!  God is good folks, don’t let anyone tell you any different.  We didn’t stray too far from I-81 North, which began the start of our final leg towards home. TWEET: An unfortunate right when we should've gone left, beware of the major forks! Pitfalls of the #roadtrip

And more….road.

Very exciting...I'm a hoot while I'm driving.  [Hey, that rhymed.  I guess I am a hoot after all?]

Day 6 - #roadtrip 2013 - Last kicks in Nashville...then onto Virginia

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Funnily, after watching “Walk the Line,” I was scheduled to visit Hendersonville, TN first thing in the morning (the home of Johnny and June Cash) for a meeting with my agents.  It was great to touch base with them again in person.  They live on the same lake where the Cash house was!  For a second, I thought maybe, just maybe it’s the same house – fingers crossed!  But it wasn’t.  They are not far though. 

Day 6 was a great day – we did the meeting in Hendersonville and then met up with a friend of a friend at the Ryman Auditorium, the original home of the Grand Ole Opry!  Christina and I both agreed that this trip really gave us a greater appreciation for the history and richness of country music.  Touring the Ryman sealed the deal.  We sprung for the backstage tour where we got to see the different dressing rooms named for the legendary artists that made this place famous.  Our tour guide was truly authentic too – he has worked at the Ryman since the 60’s and experienced many of those Ryman legends in person.  We were really lucky to hear his first person experiences.  TWEET: Walking among ghosts at the Ryman Auditorium, home of the Grand Ole Opry! And yes, had to stand on the stage :) 

 

Artists today still perform at the Ryman, and I’m sure still consider it an honor.  Of course I could not help myself, now’s my chance!  I even recruited a bandmate!

We had to take some time at the Johnny and June Cash showcase.

 

And here’s the street we parked on:

 We ended our day in Nashville enjoying a great lunch with a talented local artist and friend of friend, Michael Diallo McLendon.  After lunch we got ready for the second to last long haul – Virginia here we come.

Day 5 - #roadtrip 2013 - Memphis to Nashville!

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Thankfully the drive from Memphis to Nashville was relatively short, only 4 hours instead of our usual 8.  This allowed us plenty of time to enjoy Memphis, while also enjoying the evening in Nashville.  I’m so thankful to Alison Brown at Compass Records for giving us great advice on how to spend our one night in town.  (And she gave us some authentic bluegrass CDs too – we felt legit.)  She said we were lucky because every Wednesday there’s a show called Music City Roots, which is also featured on the radio (which I came to learn was a very similar format to the Grand Ole Opry, more on that later).  She told us they feature really talented local artists that perform typical Nashville styles – from country, to bluegrass, and even blues, soul, & rock.  The event also features great food from the Loveless Café.  Great music AND food?  Um, yes please. 

 TWEET: For those near the net, check out @musiccityroots for live, authentic music outta Nashville.  The artists featured that night were: Charlie Parr, The Danberrys, JohnnySwim (one of our favs!  Bruno Mars better watch is back for Abner Ramirez! TWEET: I love becoming a new fan... Go 'head @johnnyswim @musiccityroots), Alanna Royale (TWEET: I love the unexpected funk. @alannaroyale @musiccityroots), & the McCrary Sisters.  It was a rip roaring good time.  Peep the video:

 We felt quite satisfied with our one night Nashville experience.  TWEET: Nashville gets a check +, we will meet again.  We were so inspired in fact, we had to round it out by watching “Walk the Line” that evening. 

Day 4/5 - #roadtrip 2013 - Memphis baby, Memphis

Oh man, so the trip truly was building up to these next two cities starting with Memphis, TN, the birthplace of Rock n' Roll.  And I mean really, how can you go wrong in a city when you start off with amazing BBQ??

Tuesday, March 5th we pull into Memphis around 9:30pm, drop our stuff off at our Airbnb host's house, and head straight out to Rendevous, which we heard closes promptly at 10:30pm and was officially the most highly recommended place by our friends on Facebook.  Not gonna miss it.  We made it over there around 10:15pm, limp into the restaurant as the wearied and worn travelers that we are, and they let us know that they are happy to serve us.  They are super friendly, welcoming, AND THEN...the food.  YES.  TWEET: BBQ at Rendevous in Memphis.  Yum.  #roadtrip mission accomplished.  (And no, we didn't stuff ourselves with ribs at 11pm.  We split them responsibly. :)


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On Wed., March 6 we woke up in Memphis in the lovely cottage provided by our Memphis airbnb host.  We were excited for this day as we were to get some historic sightseeing in.  Me especially, since Memphis marked the beginning of our music tour of the Southeast. 

Our first stop was the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King was shot in 1963.  A true place of reverence, we had to pause and take in the well-preserved landmark, complete with authentic cars of the period parked outside the window.

Next we went on to Sun Studios, the landmark Memphis has deemed the birthplace of Rock n’ Roll (so legend has it anyway).  I was a kid in a candy store.  I still light up telling the story afterwards.  As soon as I walked in I knew this was a place to behold.  I wanted anything I could get my hands on (that was cheap!) – stickers, mugs, t-shirts, posters, give it to me!  And that was just the gift shop.  We went upstairs to begin the tour and our guide was fantastic.  A musician himself he really poured on the passion for the stories of the old days of Sun Studios.  He told us that Sam Phillips began Sun Studios as just a place to record.  He would bring mostly blues artists to record in the space – most notably, Muddy Waters & Howlin’ Wolf.  Those artists would cut records at Sun, but then Sun would send them on to places like Chess Records in Chicago, quickly realizing that he needed to create his own label and remove the middle man.  That he did.

The first rock ‘n roll record ever made (so legend has it anyway, perhaps Sun is a bit biased, but I didn’t care!) was called “Rocket 88” by Jackie Brenston (I know, I had never heard of him either).  Our guide told us that Ike Turner was one of the session players in the band that recorded “Rocket 88,” and that band had traveled some distance to get to Sun.  During their travels one of the amps broke.  When the band arrived at Sun the guitar player played a distorted sound out of the damaged amp – a sound that the players began to like.  Music would never sound the same again.  Of course I was all eyes and ears for this story.

I learned that Sun was also the place Elvis recorded for the first time.  At Sun anyone could come down and record an amateur record for $4 (a fact highlighted in “Walk the Line” which we of course had to watch).  Elvis asked the secretary Marion if he could record a song for his mother’s birthday and to this day she is the first person in history to have ever pressed the record button for the documented king of rock ‘n roll.  Christina and I agreed – we maybe slept a little on Elvis before. He was quite the looker.  Quite dreamy.  And his voice sounded pretty nice.  Ok, I guess I get the hype now.   (The image in this paragraph shows Elvis' high school diploma and a school program where he is featured as the guitarist.)

And of course Sun was home to Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and a host of others (those 3 along with Elvis making up the million dollar quartet featured prominently in the picture on the left).  The tour guide showed us the X’s on the ground that marked where these legends stood and made history.  He also gave us the chance to take a picture with the old microphone that recorded them all.  I’m sure you could guess who was first in line for that photo opp. ; )  TWEET: “I stood where Elvis stood.  I sang where Elvis sang.  This is living.  #roadtrip.

And of course we had to eat before getting on the road.  Eating was a crucial component of the #roadtrip. : )

 
 
    

Day 4 - #roadtrip 2013 - OKC to Memphis

We arrived in OKC late on Monday, March 4th, just in time to check in at the Econolodge (we're not fancy on this trip folks) and get some rest.  In the morning we decide we'd learn a little bit about OKC history by visiting the Overholser Mansion.






Here are some pics of the interior:

From there the tour guide recommended we go to Coffee Slingers for the best roast in OKC.  Overall, we liked OKC.  TWEET: Alright OKC, I'm feelin' ya.  Quaint.  Hipster.  Clean.  Thumps up.   

OKC is also where we said good-bye to Route 66 and headed on to Little Rock.  No more singing the bridge to "Route 66" as  I pass through each city... awww man...





As a side note, I must say, we found some pretty nifty, non-Starbucks coffee spots on this trip. We stopped at Guillermo's in Little Rock to check our emails and get a pick me up.  TWEET: Hidden gems across America: @G3coffee in Little Rock, probably the coziest coffee place I've ever entered.