So having left the madness of karaoke and beer towers behind in Texas, it was onto an early bus……yay……okay, I definitely wasn't saying yay, it was more like, oh god. It was time to hit Memphis for what I have been looking forward to for ages - live bands and blues music!

We made our journey on the party bus via Texarkana and did the touristy photo thing, one foot in Texas and one in Arkansas. We stopped at Little Rock where we learnt a lot about the Civil war out here, I'll be honest I hadn't realised a lot of what of went on, I was shocked at the way people were treated. We arrived in Memphis in the afternoon, quick turn around and out for dinner.

Tonight for 2 of the girls it was the burger challenge, a burger of massive proportions, it was bloody enormous!! Jenny and Christie managed to to do over half which was pretty damn impressive. I didn't go for the burger challenge, now, had it of been a pizza challenge it would be a different matter. We instead munched our way through Salad, Fried pickles, BBQ pulled pork and then for dessert, smores. I'd never heard of smores until now, so its basically toasted marshmallows in a cracker with melted chocolate, this should have been delicious had my hatred of a particular american chocolate brand not been so much. I like most chocolate, but this stuff is gross, no matter how many times I try to like it, I can't force myself. We were always gutted when people came back to work from holidaying in the US, the email would come round saying 'chocolate from the US by the printer - fill ya boots' we would swarm like locusts to get free chocolate to then discover said unsweet chocolate, we would leave empty handed. It was the only free food ever left over in the office, normally stuff is all gone before the email even goes out…….anyway, I digress, back to magnificent memphis.

So all full to the brim with food we set off to the world famous Beale Street, Beale Street is about 2 blocks worth of blues bars, this was going to be a good night, and no bus tomorrow thank god! We start off at an Irish bar for warm up drinks (it turned out to be), stayed for one beer then decided we should leave to go and seek out the Blues music. We ended up in Coyote Ugly, this is the first one I've been in, the bar is literally full of blokes, we soon figured out why, scantily clad cowgirls strutting their stuff on the bar, plus they had a mechanical bull, I'm sure this was the real attraction of the bar lol. After a few unsuccessful and funny attempts from the boys at trying to cling on for more than 5 secs we left. Now, you can drink on the streets in memphis, but you're not allowed glass, so whilst queuing for a plastic glass rather than downing a whole bottle of bud (see, sensible drinking does prevail…….very occasionally ;) ) we were convinced that it would be a good idea for us girls to get up on the bar…..so we did, we had a dance, the boys at the same time were having spirits tipped straight into their mouths……..time to leave…… On the way out Maria and I were shouted at by a couple of blokes, heads down ignoring them and speeding up to catch the rest of the group, turned out they recognised us from the Big Texan in Amarillo - turns out the US isn't that big after all!!!

This is where tonight turned into my favourite night so far of the trip…..We found a small bar called the Tap room. The band were just brilliant, the singer singing with the whole group, I think I vaguely remember saying if I overslept and missed Graceland the next day it would have been worth it, it was just fantastic, we rocked the dance floor until the early hours. In our large group of more than 6 (we are not allowed to walk around in groups of less than 6 at night - even the police told us to get a cab until he saw the size of the group……) we made it safely back to the hotel.

Oh yeah I nearly forgot, we also found 3 motorbikes on the side of the road (with their owners of course) that looked very cool (the bikes, not the owners to just clarify), anyway, we decided it would be a great idea to get a picture, so I approached the bike owner and very politely asked if they would mind if we sat on their very expensive looking shiny bikes for a photo, surprisingly they said yes, personally I would have said b***** off. So I have my photo, Maria has her photo, the guys then asked if we want one to together. So I'm on the back, Maria in front, who then hits the accelerator and we shoot forward, I'm not sure who looked more worried, us as I nearly fell off the back or the bloke who owned it. At this point we left………quickly.

Alarm goes off….nnnnooooooooo!!!! Broken yet again, we board the booze bus (this is what I am going to call it now, because even if you're not drinking you can probably get drunk off the alcohol fumes off the entire bus each morning). We make the shortish drive to Graceland to see the Kings home. We arrived, it was funny, I wasn't expecting the house to be so close to the road. We were then armed with yet another audio tour, but this one came with an iPad too!!! Far too many components for me to get my brain round today…..and yes at one point I listening to commentary about the car porch when I was actually in the office! We made our way around Elvis' house, it was very cool, I think my favourite was the TV room, we then saw the infamous Jungle room, this was something else. The number of gold and silver records in the trophy room was incredible, I also hadn't realised how many films he had done, A very interesting tour. From the house we made our way to air Elvis, the 2 private planes he owned. Very cool. Next up was the car museum, some very nice cars in there that I wouldn't mind driving. Having spent a couple of hours at Graceland we departed and set off to the Rock and Soul museum. Yet another audio tour, I have to say I'm feeling a bit audio toured out today, but none the less the museum was pretty cool, going back to the roots of the music and how it all started and the impact of the cotton industry. After this we went off to find food at the hard rock cafe.

And I nearly forgot, the peabody ducks! We made our way to the Peabody hotel at 4:30 to watch the march of the ducks from the fountain where they live during the day, they across a red carpet, led by their Duck Master (I am not making this up) into the lift, which takes them up to the penthouse for the night. Your probably thinking thats a bit random, well, yes it was. There is a long standing tradition behind it. Quite funny to watch though.

This afternoon we discover a tornado warning has been issued, I wasn't too worried, it wasn't like we were going to have to rein act Twister (we watched this on the bus only a couple of days before). Although it was getting very very wet and windy. Anyway its our last night in Memphis, and if the first night was anything to go by it was going to be another good one. Tonight is also Hayleys birthday. Tonight we went straight to blues bar, Rum Boogie. Oh my god I was in heaven, this place was awesome. I got a beer and went straight to the band side, now this is somewhere I could stay at for hours and hours on my own. The music blew me away, I was kinda in my own little world (even more so than normal). This place rocked. They belted out mustang sally and my favourite one of the night, sitting on the dock of the bay. The singer was fab, the musicians incredible, the piano player needs a special mention he was great. After a while we started to fill up the dance floor, people were on each other shoulders, it was such a fun fun night and one I'll never forget. I totally fell in love with this place. Having said last night was my favourite, this has blown everything out the water, including vegas. Beale street I will be back don't you worry about that! Beale Street is now known to me as Bloody Brilliant Beale Street.

We haul ourselves onto the bus the next morning, get on it and sleep, sleep and sleep…….we arrive in New Orleans. Creg informs us that Bourbon Street is Beale Street on steroids, yeah he is not wrong - 12 blocks worth, blimey, if this doesn't finish us off I'm not too sure if there is anything that will……we set off on our walking tour with our eccentrically dressed tour guides, we go to see the Mississippi river, the old trolley cars and then to Jackson Square where there is a large of amount of fortune teller type people and art and not forgetting the lovely restaurants. 9 of us head to Muriels to experience some authentic New Orleans food. We check the menu, think oh yeah this looks reasonably priced……..errrr we had looked at the lunch menu!!! I had bit of a shock and then had a starter as a main, I had Gumbo, which was a delicious fish soup.

From here we made our way to another Irish bar to meet the rest of the group for few drinks, this place had a brilliant piano bar which was mobbed. So having left the bar we made our way to the Tropical Isle, of which there are actually 5 of these on Bourbon Street. This was cool, you could get hand grenade and shark attack drinks and they had a band - I was happy. We didn't stay long and then the group went to a club, which, not everyone will agree with me which is fair enough, but to me this was just a standard night club and a club that could have been at home to be honest. So having a little dance a few beers and viewed from above the madness that was Bourbon Street I went on a little explore of the 12 blocks myself and also found a bar with a band which was fine for a bit, but you do look like a bit of a pratt dancing on your own so I left, it was at this point I procured yet more fridge magnets. This is all well and good, but I don't even own a fridge at the moment. I also decided that the beads I had collected throughout the night were not bling enough so went to shop to buy some more, now what i ended up with seemed like a good idea at the time, but the beads are so big it looks like a christmas decoration!!! And these don't even fit in my rucksack, so are currently hanging off the side of my bag, making me look like a mobile christmas tree…………..in october.

Yay we have a lie in today!!! We don't go to the airboats until 12:50. So I spent the morning dong admin, realised how skint I am for the rest of the trip and Skyped the little bro, Laura and J man, who I think liked his cowboys nfl top whoop whoop. Then cue really bad homesickness! Always hits when knackered and run down. So I spend the majority of day in my own world trying to avoid bursting into tears for no real reason and being a miserable and unsociable cow. To be fair its been over 9 months since I left so not really worried about the odd day……I still haven't said the words 'i want to go home' once, so still doing alright. Having told myself to stop being so bloody stupid and to man up…..the day continues…..

Enough on the emotional side of travelling……..Airboats! This was brilliant, and I held an alligator, which had to be about 2ft!! Get me! Crocodile Dundee is back. We sped through swamps and canals on the arirboats - it was great fun. The pictures will do the scenic explaining, just realised this has turned into quite a long blog!!! After 90mins we were back on the bus back to the hotel. Next up was Mardis Gras world, where they make all the floats for the carnival, this was great to see, a bit weird being surrounded by massive cartoon characters and mythological creatures made out of polystyrene. Next was mask making, this was a lot more fun than I thought it would be, we all got massively into it.

We finished up at Mardis Grad world and then made our way to Frenchmen Street, which is another bluesy bar area but a lot less touristy. This was awesome, I preferred this to Bourbon Street, we made our way to the Spotted Cat music club, great atmosphere, great band and great crowd. One happy Lou . On route we saw a brass band on the street corner playing and loads of people dancing in the street, this was kinda more of what I'd been expecting from New Orleans. This was great. We left the Spotted Cat and made our back to Bourbon Street, but via another really cool bar and band which was brilliant. We made it back to Bourbon Street where we ended up in a hellhole of the club, 1 beer and I was out of there. Three wallets and a passport were stolen just in that club alone. Me and my hotdog, half of which ended up down my jeans and in my handbag got a cab back with the other girls to the hotel.

New Orleans you've been brilliant, but I think I prefer your little brother Memphis and its Beale Street.

Next stop, the sunshine state of Florida……and soon some skating for me…..cant wait to crack out the bauers and burn up the Miami boardwalk….bring it on! (this is as long as I remember to get them off the bus!!!)

Much love

Lou (suffering skating withdrawal symptons) wood xxx