Country Roads

Music is truly the engine that's moving this van. We blast the radio all day long, sometimes NPR (we've found it nearly everywhere!) sometimes Christian radio but MOSTLY Country. Heading toward Birmingham we scored tickets to Ashley Cooke, Mitchell Tenpenny, and Country heart throb Luke Bryan, all performing together at the Oak Mountain Amphitheater. The fun began as we headed in and took in the crowd.

But who were the cheesiest fans?

Ashley Cooke was super cute and really quite genuine. Click HERE to sample her music...

She's definitely a new kid on the block, but as Mark has pointed out many times, established Country artists (like Luke Bryan) are always game to promote new talent by sharing the stage with them. Paying it forward comes naturally.

The show then featured Mitchell Tenpenny. Click HERE for one of Judy's favorites.

And now watch the crowd, along with Mark's reaction to hearing one of his favorite Tenpenny tunes. You can click HERE to hear the whole song. Or just roll your eyes like I'm doing right now (smh).

Treating ourselves to an icey shot of Fireball to cool us down before Luke Bryan took the stage. It was unbelievably hot that night.

Luke came out to "Kick the Dust Up" and he was so fun. Click HERE for that song and then HERE for our favorite Luke Bryan tune.

The crowd was INDESCRIBABLY friendly, with everyone on their feet and dancing the whole night, even though it was sweltering hot. At one point, I was holding up my hair and dancing, and this chick behind me LITERALLY grabbed my hair and twisted and poked it until it held in a bun. Can you imagine being at a concert at Giant Stadium and having a random stranger grab your hair and fix it for you??? Nuh.

Play On

A day or so later we arrived in Memphis for more music. Beale Street is quite a scene!!! Sort of a cross between Bourbon Street today and 42nd Street when I was a teen.

And HEY! Let's do a shot again - this time the pre-packaged Jello shots they were selling on Beale Street...

And Don't Forget the King

Drove to Graceland, balked at the admission price of $48 (the Ultimate VIP Tour is $196) so we paid our respects outside to the king of Rock 'n Roll and his final moments on the throne RIP.

While half the men on Beale Street dressed like Elvis, you can never have too many https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW1kpbOz5Eo

Well, maybe that's not true. (FLASHBACK: Steve, Jeff, and Mark, at Beth & Ken's 40th)