Day 1: Courtney in Roanoke

Our first stop was to see Courtney in Roanoke,VA.

It took us two hours longer than expected to get there, partly because instead of driving around the city, Marcus decided to go through the heart of Baltimore to get tacos for lunch. They were pretty damn good tacos, but with them, we ate up a chunk of time as well. 

Courtney took us to Wasena Tap Room where we could order unlimited amounts of flights. I had pineapple cider because Courtney described it as feeling like "you're in Spongebob's house". It was the sweetest coder I've ever had, but good nonetheless. 

She took us to the top of Mill Mountain to see the Star. Roanoke, Courtney told us, originally was called the Big Lick, then Roanoke. It's nickname is the Star City. 

It was sad to say goodbye to I'm glad we got to see her for a short time. I pulled away after saying goodbye and said to myself I hope we are friends for a very long time. 

Day 2: Nashville livin'

We've been to Nashville once before, but I was not old enough to drink or enter the bars. I only remember seeing the bachelor and bachelorette parties filling the street.

We arrived this time around dinner, showered and went to Blackstone Brewery for Texas burgers and flights of beer. The APA was our favorite, by the way. 

We went to find parking and ended in a lot that costs $15 a day. As we were making our way to the pay station, an older couple yelled from the side walk if we wanted their fully paid ticket. We gladly accepted. That's southern hospitality. 

Broadway is where all the action happens; bars with neon signs lighting the entire block.

We walked to the strip and landed ourselves in the first bar that caught our eye because it met all of Marcus's qualifications: no female singers and no solo country singers. Robert's Western World fit the bill. It was fantastic. The atmosphere, the people, and the music made it a great night. 

The next morning we shopped for entirely too long in a vintage guitar shop and walked around, finding ourselves eating at food trucks in the Pride festival. We tried on cowboy boots, and I was way too tempted to buy them.

Nashville is one of the most fun cities I've been to. I texted my best friend and told her "we need to get ourselves to Nashville ASAP." 

Three days till Thursday

Roanoke
Nashville
Memphis
Lake Pontchartrain
New Orleans
Panama City Beach
Savannah
Virginia Beach

We had to cut our Dallas because of the rain. One day I'll get to the grassy knoll.

Our Southern Style road trip kicks off in T-minus 3 days.
Preparations have been made and my car has been packed for two days. We've made our trips to the store and trips to our laundry room, making last minute efforts to shove as much as we can into our suitcase.
This trip is different than the last– more relaxed. We know (for the most part) what we are in for. We survived 21 days in the "wilderness" last time, 11 days should be cake. We aren't cocky, we aren't nervous. We am ready to hit the road and explore the states, and as always, I am ready to explore myself. The open road, as so many cliches go, allows for you to think about things like you couldn't do normally. Where I want to be, where I want to go, who I want with me. These things, I am sure, will be in and out of my mind while I pass mile marker after mile marker on the highway.
So, like I do with most trips, I plan on clearing my head of all the negativity and all those filling it with negativity, and instead, fill it with the wonder of cultures and landscapes different than my own. (Thats the anthropologist in me). I want to take in all that the cities are.

On the Road Again...

Four years ago, I had a wild idea to drive across the country. Luckily, my brother saw my vision and trusted me enough to tag along. After countless hours of planning predicting packing and preparing, we set out on a journey of a lifetime. We traveled for 21 days throughout 21 states seeing everything from prairies and mountains to oceans and rivers. We saw the presidents set in stone, the home of the King, and the rocky cliffs of the Pacific. We laughed, bonded, and fought. But the one thing that was constant was our unwavering sense of being fortunate. We sensed that this was a once in a lifetime journey, dreamed of perhaps taking our families on a trip like this when we are older. We hoped to take another road trip to other parts of this beautiful country, and I am happy to announce that in less than 20 days, we will. We are packing up the jeep again and heading out on the open road to see the sights and hear the sounds on our Southern-Style Roadtrip. From the bars of Nashville to the noles of Dallas, the French quarter of New Orleans to the weeping willows of Savannah. 

We begin our journey just as we did the other, with a crazy vision in a girl's head, but hey, don't all good things start that way?