all shook up

If I've missed my one calling in this lifetime it's as a travel agent. I love planning trips. I love the booking of the tickets, the making of the reservations, the confirming of the reservations, the research of the restaurants, the hunt for "off-the-beaten-path" attractions. I don't know how I would do actually, booking trips for people that I didn't get to go on myself. It would be difficult watching them leave without me. Anyway, there's no money in it now a days because people like me can do it all ourselves so easily.

Dup and I are going on a little trip tomorrow. I booked these tickets in January. JANUARY PEOPLE. And I have been so excited, looking forward to it ever since. I'm so excited now that I have to calm myself down because I'm afraid that if get too happy about anything, something will go wrong.

We're going to Graceland, Graceland, Memphis Tennessee. We're going to Graceland.

Dup is a huge Elvis fan. I am not. It's not that I don't like him. I like him. I just don't LOVE him. I like his music; it's amazing. I've just yet to have that defining moment where it all clicks. I suppose, if I'm ever destined to have that moment it's going to happen this weekend.

The thing I'm most excited about, I'm excited about so many parts of this trip but the most exciting part is that my cousin and her husband are meeting us there. My cousin Megan, I've spoken of her before on this blog, she's my best friend. We grew up with our houses sharing the same back fence. Her parents are like second parents to me and I've just always thought of her as the moon. She is truly the coolest chick ever. And her husband Jim Brown, could have fun at an insurance convention. If you look up "Party" in the dictionary his photo is there and he has his fingers in the "rock on" position. This is a man who took his five year old son to a KISS concert. It will not be boring.

What I love about this trip is how white trash it is and how American it is. Do you have any idea how many fun things there are to do in Memphis? Get this, we're going on this tour on Saturday night where this guy picks us up at our hotel in his refurbished '57 Chevy and drives us all around town to "Juke Joint" dive bars and blues clubs. He will stay out with us until the bars close at 3am. He was born and raised in Memphis and he is an aficionado as far as history and town culture. Plus, everyone knows him, so if you're with him, even though they know you're a tourist, you're cool. I talked to him on the phone for a while when I booked the tour. He seems really great. Here's his website, if you're ever in Memphis: www.americandreamsafari.com I'll let you know how it is.

Another thing you can do in Memphis is go to the church where Al Green preaches. He is there in the flesh and he has a big gospel choir and they sing the praises of the lord. We will probably be too hung over to fully appreciate it but it sounds awesome.

There's Graceland of course but what I'm really looking forward to is what's called "Graceland Too" Here's a website that explains: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/MSHOLgracelandtoo.html
This guy is supposed to be completely crazy. He is the number one Elvis Fan in the world and he says that his house is open 24/7. You can go in and view his insane Elvis collection at any time. His son, named Elvis of course, used to help him until he got out of Dodge. Too Elivsey I imagine. I love meeting eccentric people like this and just watching them spin their webs of insanity. It's delicious.

Speaking of delicious, there is the FOOD there, which is you know, all deep fat fried and bbq. There's a "beer brunch" that Dup found and so we're for sure going to THAT. Hello. Beer for breakfast, hello? To top it all off there are apparently THRIFT STORES for miles there and the biggest five & dime in America.

Why don't they just call it HEAVEN?

See here I go, getting to excited again. Calm down, calm down, calm down.

I think what I love most about travel is not so much the escape, the escape is pretty good but that's not the best part. The best part is motion. I love being in motion and it's when I am moving that I am able to be the most still.

I made this realization when I was on my trip in Europe that I took by myself when I was in my early twenties. I was on a train and I realized that my favorite parts of the trip were just being on trains, moving but still, no one can touch me. Thinking about what I have done and where I am going. I have nowhere to be. I can just sit withmyself with no anxiety. Planes aren't as good for that because you're so cramped in there and it's hard to tell if you are moving but it's motion nonetheless. Everything is set. It's all been thought of. It's all planned. Just sit back, relax and ...

Drink.

A lot.