After a surprisingly sound nights sleep at Witch dance we hit the rest of the Natchez trace and enjoyed more amazing fall colours and our roadtrip through American history. We stopped and stared in awe at the Bynum Mounds used by Native Americans between 100BC and 100AD as burial mounds and other ceremonial purposes. We wandered a few of the short pathways and at the end of the pathway found ourselves at Elvis’s house in Tupelo.

This was definitely no Graceland but the actual home where Elvis was born and raised for the first 13 years of his life. The shotgun house with two rooms was guarded by a knitting lady and some seriously heavy nets so we just enjoyed walking around the small tribute to the King. We read about his life as a young boy, about struggling the same as every other kid in Tupelo, about his Dad going to prison and how he got into music. The church where his inspiration for music began had been moved from its original place and positioned within the small museum.

It was a pleasant stop off and for us much more enjoyable than the hoohaa of Graceland which seems (to us) to have become a theme park more than a memorial. As we drove towards our next dose of much needed friendly smiley faces of friends we did our best not to be dragged into ‘Dollywood’ the world of Dolly Parton theme park imagining the rides. Giant bra cups in place of spinning tea cups, couches in the shape of lips and tinny country music blaring from speakers at every corner.

We arrived at Tawsha’s (the woman responsible for The Wedding Preview Event in case you have forgotten) just in time for dinner and to our shock and amazement (after following Tawsha for so long on facebook and via email and listening to her claims of being a terrible cook) dinner was promptly served!
We were introduced to Colton, Tawsha’s son and listened intently to his brilliant conversation whilst enjoying our fabulous food!

Once the sun had well and truly gone down Tawsha kindly offered to take us on a walking tour of the city of Nashville otherwise known as ‘Music City’. The heart and soul of the music industry which regularly pops out the likes of Kings of Leon and Shania Twain not to mention the biggest names in musical history such as Little Richard, and Jimi Hendrix. We wandered the brightly lit, neon sprinkled streets looking in bar windows and frequenting sweet shops rather than bars as Colton had come along too. We had a great time just mooching around and catching blasts of alcoholic air and crooning as we passed various doors into dimly lit venues.

We were introduced personally to each of the horses lining the street patiently awaiting passengers and we counted cars on trains suspended from the ceiling in the best sweet shop ever!
We picked up a bottle of wine to natter over once we got back and shared stories with Tawsha until late.

We slept in (still windowless) Peggy on Tawshas quiet, perfectly manicured street and the four of us hit Starbucks for breakfast. We all had busy days ahead so after allowing Colton to (pretend to) drive us around for a while we had to say more goodbyes.

We were well and truly restored after spending time with our lovely friends and were well and truly over our depressed state after the robbery and had managed to collect some cash Alex’s mum had kindly wired to us so we could get by until we could collect our newly ordered bank cards.
We turned the music up as we drove onwards towards Myrtle Beach and mentally prepared ourselves for what was coming up next…Something we had never done before, nothing we had ever even considered before and something we were very, very unlikely to ever do again!

We were heading to Myrtle beach to meet a mad man (our favourite kind) who once wrestled an alligator and had been in contact with Alex over the last several months planning and scheming for our arrival in South Carolina. August Michal had well and truly taken the wedding bull by the wedding horns and had planned (with the help of nearly ALL of Myrtle beach) us……wait for it…..

FIVE WEDDINGS………..and that’s not where it ends! August had planned us………

FIVE WEDDINGS IN FIVE DAYS!

We had a few days to get there and enjoyed the winding back roads through the Smoky Mountains, took a few hikes and slept in a few odd places (under a bridge like a troll and at a ridiculously quiet dam) and all the while we were getting excited for our arrival in Myrtle beach and of course to finally meet the person responsible for the up-coming Myrtle beach wedding extravaganza!