This is the longest road trip and longest vacation Dean and I have taken together and we’ll never forget it. I still have 1000s of photos to sift through but here’s our vacation video. Rockabilly Road Trip 2016! Helen → Chattanooga → Nashville → Franklin → Jackson → Memphis → Oxford → Birmingham → Kennesaw

One thing I admire about my in-laws is their real-deal grit. Everything in this world gives me anxiety but my mother-in-law is so chill that when she cracked her teeth, she superglued them back together like it was no biggie. She beat cancer like a boss and can laugh about the time Rod Stewart gave her a ride home while playing his own songs in the car. Cliff tours Europe with his rock-and-roll band and shows no sign of slowing down. He can drink 30 beers in one sitting and Brenda Lee has sat on his knee at a party. They dress up as devils and drink out of shoes with the rock-and-roll crowd. Mad revelers.

Dean and I are almost the exact opposite. I mean, decades of customer service have given us thick skins and limitless patience with fools– which is its own underrated brand of strength– but you couldn’t call us “tough” in the traditional sense of the word. We’re the definition of indoor kids. Born to be mild.

So, our worlds of “tough” and “not-that-tough” collided in the best possible way when Mum and Cliff flew over to stay with us for three weeks. Mum had visited the US once before over 20 years ago to see Nashville and Memphis but Cliff had never been. As a lifelong rocker (celebrating his birthday t’boot!), he had to see the sights for himself. Sooooo, we mapped out a trip and hit the road (in my very tame Prius, sadly not in this Cali ‘n’ Titos bus).

“Red Cadillac and a Black Moustache”- Warren Smith
“Memphis Tennessee”- Chuck Berry
“Green Onions”- Booker T. & the MGs