Part Two: Road Trip Across America

Great to have our third member back with us for adventures and laughs. Together we drove into town and got to visit Graceland; my granddad would have been proud and jealous! I was raised with Elvis ringing in the background, so it was great to see his home. The decor looked like it had been chosen by Liberace! We went on his plane “Lisa Marie”, we saw the pink Cadillac, the jumpsuits, and everything in between.

Then, I suddenly remembered that Memphis was where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. It happened at the Lorraine Motel, which wasn’t far from Beale Street. Being one of my heroes, I had to go pay homage. The whole building had been beautifully converted into the Civil Rights Museum, which traced the whole history of the struggle. The room that Dr. King was staying in, and the balcony on which he was shot, was all untouched from that very day back in April 1968. The whole museum is a great testament to all those people who fought against injustice and inequality.

We went for a quick beer afterward back on Beale Street, where an amazing blues band were playing. The guitarist saw Darrell and I, assumed we were in a band together, and asked if we wanted to play. We politely declined. Then he came down into the crowd and asked me again. How could I say "no" now after being asked a second time to jam with some genuine blues cats?! I did it, a bit rusty at first, but I got into the swing of it soon enough. It was pretty cool to be playing the blues on the same turf as greats like Robert Johnson and Howlin’ Wolf.

Dina had to head back to Knoxville as she was using her dad’s car (she was supposed to drive it back home from Nashville when she decided to come see us), so she hit the road. We followed not long after. We were Nashville bound — home of country music.

Dina got tired of driving by the time she got to Nashville, so instead of going on to Knoxville, she waited for us! It was late, so we checked into another motel and crashed.

Dal and I had been looking forward to visiting Nashville, both being big fans of Jack White, and we wanted to make a point of visiting his famous (to those in the know) Third Man Records. A colour-schemed, record-selling, photo-boothing, vinyl pressing paradise! We only had 1 full day to see Nashville as we had planned to visit Dina’s hometown of Knoxville for a decent amount of days, so we made the most of it…

On our last day in Knoxville we all met up again and went into the center of town, Market Square to be precise. There were about 10 of us, and we were all wandering through the square with a huge speaker blaring music while we all danced. It was the middle of the day. Unfortunately, a group of rollerskaters didn’t take too kindly to us, especially when we played the Darth Vader theme.

This was a rather sad day for Darrell and I. Not only was it time to say goodbye to all our new Knoxville friends, but we had to say our last goodbye to Dina. She’d been with us for large parts of the trip and, without question, was an equal part of our adventures. She is a true friend for life and one of the craziest people either of us had ever met. It was a real shame that she couldn’t come with us for the final part of the journey.

One last final drive, a gruelling 13-hour cruise through the night as we said goodbye to Tennessee and headed up to the Big Apple. Around 9 a.m., we could see the Manhattan skyline in the distance. Outlined by rays of the sun, we got our first glance of the Freedom Tower. It was set to be a pretty intense last few days.

We had checked into another Airbnb apartment, a tiny little pad in Queens. It was on the suburban side of the East River, at Ditmars Boulevard, at the end of the N-Train subway line. As exciting as it was to be in New York, it was also starting to sink in that we would be heading home in a few days and that the great road trip would be at its end. We made sure we went big for our last few days!

We walked constantly. Our days were spent walking around Manhattan, visiting the tourist spots of Times Square, Central Park, taking in exhibitions like Body Worlds, and basically absorbing the atmosphere. I’d been hoping to meet a rude New Yorker like in films, yet once again, everyone we met was so nice.

On our first day, we made sure we went to the Ground Zero Memorial. The foundations were turned into black stone fountains that descend into the ground with the names of all the victims etched into the granite. As you’re looking down into the hole, it’s strange to think what was happening in that exact spot some 88 floors up in the air. Then, you turn around and the majestic Freedom Tower greets you, looking like a humongous piece of art built in glass. Bigger and better. Intense.

We also made sure we ventured down into Little Italy. It was the “Feast of San Gennaro” when we visited and the streets were alive. Food vendors were selling hot dogs, pretzels, cigars and ice cream; the smell of the finest Italian food the East Coast has to offer was wafting through the air. We ate well and had a couple of drinks while we watched a doo-wop band. Five old men, easily into their 70s, were dressed in matching suits and singing the hits of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. A nice touch.