Part One: From Florida to Tupelo Mississippi

I know I haven't been on here in, ohhhh forever, but here I am again. I'm back to chronicle my journey. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I've been on the road for nearly 4 months now. I'm just traveling around the US, trying to figure out where I want to stay or what I want to do. I woke up one day and I figured, "I guess it's about time to finally answer that question: What I want to do when I grow up." So, here I am on the great exploration with my good friend Nix, my boyfriend Alan, and our 3 dogs- Presley, Zillah, and Stormy. Our journey so far hasn't been an easy one and it hasn't been all fun but here we are, and here is our story so far.

Remembrances from the First 20-Something States

It’s 2012 and as you can tell, the world hasn’t exactly ended: yet. Though, I have to admit, my life might actually profit from an apocalyptic event. Now, I know that makes me sound like a pessimist, but once you’ve read this story you might just change your mind.

It begins like this:

Once upon a time, or September 2, 2011 at 12am, I went crazy. Ok, maybe not exactly that date as I’m pretty sure I had gone crazy well before that but that’s the day that Alan, Nix, my mom, and I piled into two tiny Hyundai with my three dogs and headed across the country. I like to call this: The Beginning of the Never-ending Beginning, but before we start that nonsense, let’s get a bit of back-story first.

~Flashback~

There was a day, a while back, when I woke up and decided I was a lesbian. (I know right now you’re thinking ‘but I just read that you’re on the road with your boyfriend’, and I am. So, just keep reading and let me explain.) You see, I’d always admired beautiful women, found the attractive, and I had even lusted over some before, but I had never actually dated one. Then I married one.

That’s right; I courted, dated, and then married a lady. At the time I was convinced it was the right thing for me. (I know we’ve all had those moments.) We were happy. We bought a house, got a couple of dogs, and played happy family for a while. Until it fizzled out, that is.
We separated. I stayed in the house, got a few roommates and a boyfriend, and decided I hated Florida. So I packed my whole life into some brown second-hand boxes, coerced my boyfriend and my best-friend into thinking my idea was swell, and I headed out into the world with my mother and my dogs in tow!

~And On to the Journey~

We left at midnight on the second. Phoenix and I were in my car with Presley (my German Shepherd) and Zillah (my Border Collie mix) and Alan, my mom, and Stormy (his Siberian Husky with bladder control issues) in his car. On top of that, we each had a couple of bags, pillows, blankets, dog pillows, and a cooler full of meat. Our cars were filled to the brim! I don’t know if you know what a Hyundai Elantra looks like or a Hyundai Tiburon, but I can personally attest to the fact that they are pretty small cars. With everything and everyone in them, we were packed in like sardines and headed to Portland Oregon- along the LONG route.

Our first planned stop was in Tupelo Mississippi to see Elvis Presley’s birthplace. We drove all night long and part of the afternoon, high on our excitement to finally be leaving Florida behind, but by the time we got to Tupelo we were more exhausted than anything. We loafed around for a while, saw Elvis’ birthplace, the chapel where he sang gospel, and a really cool museum and gift shop.

~Photo Op~

I did lewd things to the statue of Elvis, because ‘Oh Man’ I love Elvis! I even named my dog after him! If there had been less people there I may have even humped said statue, but alas- it was busy and well it should have been. It was a really cool little slice of American history. I highly recommend to any of you die-hard Elvis fans that you stop by and take a peek at this place if you haven’t already! Heck, I recommend it to any Elvis fans, even if you only like him a little. They even have a little park beside the museum where you can let your dogs out to stretch their legs and romp around. Though, the museum, house, and chapel are not dog friendly so you’ll have to leave the pups in the car to go inside if you have them with you. (Remember everyone: Dogs have feelings too. Please don’t leave your dogs in a hot car. Even in the best of temperatures please remember to crack your windows so your dogs get fresh air, and don’t leave them alone more than a few minutes! They have a habit of getting into all kinds of trouble when you aren’t around, don’t they?)

All in all, it’s definitely worth spending a few hours of your day here and the town of Tupelo is such a rustic little place that I’m sure you will find lots of other things to do while you are there. The town looks like it hasn’t been touched in 50 years. It still has all the old buildings, some really cool little restaurants, and it’s an antique lover’s dream. There are so many little curiosity shops that you could easily get lost in them for the rest of the day. I only regret that I didn’t have the time to stop in and shop before we left, but we were on a schedule and we had to get to Tennessee to check into our hotel.