2 BLONDES, A CAR AND A CONTINENT

After our extended stay in Austin we decided it was time to get back to nature again so we headed to Louisiana to set up camp for a few nights. We decided on a lovely looking national park which promised waterfalls and lakes but when we pulled in and saw that swimming was prohibited because of Alligators we got out of there quick sticks and found a camp ground with a fenced in swimming pool away from the swamp lands! Of course our first night there the heavens opened once again and, determined not to be beaten by mother nature we got ingenious and built a moat inside the tent around us which when we awoke was indeed filled with water…

The rest of our time was spent getting stuck into watching True Blood (if you don’t know you’d better get to know: a HBO vampire series set in Louisiana – when in Rome…) and discovering the delights of Dairy Queen.

Next stop was Clarksdale, Mississippi as recommended by Betty Sue (the costume store lady from Galviston). We arrived just in time for dinner at Abe’s – a legendary BBQ joint where Robert Johnson was said to have chowed down a meal before he sold his soul to the devil and soul music was born. Nest stop was Red’s Juke Joint where we pulled up a pew, grabbed a beer and enjoyed some serious soul.

We then drove around looking for somewhere to stay and eventually found this cool place called the Shack up Inn which was a huge barn surrounded by converted shacks, we really wanted to stay but were told by the manager on duty Hutch that it was booked out. We joked with him that we didn’t care sleeping on the floor of the barn and to our surprise he said we could! So he blew up an air bed and we spent the night on the stage of this incredible barn house…

The next day we were Memphis bound where we roamed the chaos of Beale street, met some interesting characters

who led us to yet another famous rib joint ‘Charles Vergus Rendesvous’ with a wait line comparable to a line for a Disney ride

The next day we headed to the Stax Museum upon request from Josie’s dad to bring him back some kind of souvenir, only to find it closed (sorry dad). So we skipped off to Graceland instead where we found ourselves morphed into lemmings

but it didn’t take us long to break free from the ‘group’ and explore the Kings pad ourselves  – it helped that the security guard fell in love with us…

Last on the musical whirlwind was Nashville where we did the mandatory stroll down the main drag and stumbled on a gorgeous little bluegrass folk band called Jypsie at Layla’s Bluegrass Hillbilly and Country Inn. We especially loved the gorgeous banjo playing, false eyelash wearing minx we lovingly called ‘Crack head’…

The next few nights we camped in the beautiful Ozark Riverways where we were spared the rain until the morning at least, and the not so beautiful roadside campsite on the Oklahoma/ Missouri border. Nights here were spent engrossed in a True Blood marathon which we were sad to see end. Sooooooooookkkkkky!!

Energized and ready to get stuck into some rocking we met up with the Austin bands as they embarked on their tour of Mid-America. First stop Wichita, Kansas where we scored yet another deal of the century at the Broadview Hotel, danced our little hearts out at Rock Island, posed for photos with our new found fans…

We then went to the after party which saw us get invited to a goddess island by the delectable ‘Ocean Momma’…and finally we turned our hotel room into a 12 bed dorm for the band members. Rock and Roll?

The next day we had our first encounter with the police for speeding a tiny 20 mph over the limit. Opps! We played the dumb blonde card a treat and were not only let off but also offered a map and directions – viva the blonde revolution!!

We arrived in South Dakota to find were the topic of conversation on a local blog site: 

http://www.southdacola.com/blog/category/boner/

and found ourselves posing for photos again…

We decided to continue our Middle America adventures to Minneapolis, Minnesota where we experienced the not so pleasant ‘Holiday Inn’ who tried to rip us off at every opportunity. We go the last laugh by pulling ye olde complaint trick and scoring another free night (Josie is excellent and complaining when hungover). The rest of our Minnesotan experience was just as grim and we have given it the cordial title of ‘least favorite stop on the trip’ You’d know what we were talking a bout if you knew about the boots…

The saving grace was being invited the Mengy (from Castle) family BBQ where we met the adorable Keagan & Macie and had some girl time discussing Taylor Swift and dancing and singing along to Miley Cyrus in her bedroom. Girls just want to have fun y’know…

Our drive out really hit the nails into the coffin when we scored ourselves an actual speeding fine which we ripped up when we were told by the policeman that if we didn’t pay it we could never drive in Minnesota again. Damn. Shortly after this we ran out of gas on the side of the road

Fargo was the next port of call, we arrived ahead of the bands and were quickly snapped up by Usher and Biggy for some serious smooth talking

Apparently young Usher was willing to give to show Hayley how Stella got her grove back! He was devastated to learn she never lost it…

In the wee hours of the morning we drove though the night to arrive at a beautiful lakehouse in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Justin, our host greeted us with fireworks and whisky and we felt instantly at home. We spent the next day stealing mummy time with Justin’s mum Marilyn and chillaxing by the lake before getting our dancing dresses on for another show

Our last stop with the bandwich was Lawrence, Kansas where we kissed them goodbye and continued our journey towards the bright lights of New York City…