Tulsa, who knew?

The drive from Memphis to Cuba Missouri was quiet, whole stretches with no cars and endless, endless trees... The road started out like a like a regular road, then turn after turn became smaller, narrower and with a FOREST more trees. Whole hours went past with no other cars, certainly no other people and only mailboxes at the end of tiny dirt tracks to indicate that anyone at all lived there. We did pass a drive-in, weirdly in the middle of nowhere. And an incredibly busy gas station, which we bypassed - in retrospect wisely as when we finally got to another gas station by the side of a lake, we realised we had no idea how to open the petrol cap AND we had the ‘do we pay up front, how do we use this nozzle, WHY IS IT SO HARD’ moment (idiots)

Finally, the endless empty roads led to Cuba, Missouri. Our first stop on historic Route 66 and a historic motel, The Wagon Wheel. There are some good things about classic motels, it’s brilliant that people take them on and save them and that people stay in them and keep them alive... BUT let’s be honest, times have moved on since the 50’s and whilst quaint and very well restored, the room was basic, small and old fashioned. Our diner was served by a young lad straight out of central casting, but with a mighty fine blood orange margarita and the night was wrapped up hearing 4th July fireworks all around.

A fantastic breakfast, certainly breaking the Golden Westbury Rule of ‘never eat anything bigger than your own head’ was followed by a visit to a charming tiny town local museum, that really did surprise, with its collection of small town bits including stunning examples of dresses and lingerie from the turn of the century... a real treat to see examples of 1920’s dresses worn not by the rich and famous, but by aspirational women from a small town.

Onwards....the road goes onwards.... We did stop at Uranus....a brief stop at a trading post which specialises in fudge packing, where the staff shout ‘thank you for picking Uranus’ every 3 minutes....obviously Sam and I giggled endlessly...

Springfield was a thankful retreat from the POURING rain, not just a rain shower, more a BUCKET full falling endlessly ON OUR HEADS. We pulled into a fine motel, complete with 50’s cars on the edge of town and after sighing a HUGE sigh of relief to have made it through the storm we found the town to be actually quite sweet...as you would expect a college town in The Mid West to be. Good craft beer, excellent chats, preachers on every corner - but fine, mighty fine (although with truthfully one of the worst bands we have ever seen, butchering 50’s & 60’s covers, which local folk seemed to enjoy and dance to eagerly, although not quite in time or rhythm to the tunes being played.) Onwards....the road goes onwards.... Route 66 out of Springfield had some real delights... Gay Parita with George and his wife and their real labour of love in this road side stop, impeccable gardens and some mighty fine photogenic rusty cars. Just beyond that...PWOAR 2 very sexy bridges that I just swooned over. We were totally alone on the road, no cars, no people, just us, the sound of the creeks below and the birds...such a treat. So tempting to climb down to swim, but onwards, ever onwards. A quick stop in Carthage which was straight out of Back To The Future, compete with town square and clock tower and then onwards to Red Oak II. A deserted recreated town, of immaculate houses from the turn of the century onwards. Again, just me, Sam and some birds... incredibly moving to be there.

Onwards....we decided to push on to Tulsa. A quick search showed they had craft beer and breweries (hey, everyone does Route 66 for their own reasons, mine may well centre around good beer) so it seemed like a good stop. But we knew little about it other than it supposedly had a good downtown area. What a surprise it turned out to be! Firstly our house was a stunning 1901 house, owned by a great gay couple than ran a catering company - so we had the most GORGEOUS muffins (when I say we, I mean me) the house had a pool, hot tub (clothing optional!) a lovely dog called Bette Noir and just the most comfortable beds and relaxing spaces (all the films listed on their guide to Netflix were listed as ‘gay’ or ‘straight’ films 🙂) Secondly - Tulsa is a BRILLIANT small town with a thriving Arts area, excellent bars & music scene, an annual Punk festival, inspiring museums and just some of the most friendly dogs and people we have come across so far! On our first night we saw a simply wonderful Country singer in an effortlessly cool industrial craft brewery, Ragland....check them out she has an amazing voice! Leaving there and wandering the streets we realised we had walked into 1986 with a very clean and tidy punk festival, kids with bright green mohicans (or Mohawks) studded denim jackets and fishnet tights....obviously me and Sam reminisced about our own spiked hair and perfect back eye make up, whilst obviously being old enough to be their parents. We also accidentally walked into Dennis Quaid, yes the actual actor Denis Quaid, playing a free rock concert in the city park, watching RIGHT from the side of the stage - incredibly blizzard (and also rather good) Further more we ‘accidentally’ walked into a bar straight out of ‘86’ complete with excellent graffiti and 80’s music and FINALLY ended the night in simply one of the best Tiki bars we have been to!

Tulsa! Who knew! We decided one day just wasn’t long enough so extended our stay a day, to be able to explore more (yes and to swim and hot tub again) and we visited the Gilcrease Museum - seeing (and not stealing) the Declaration of Independence, some rather fine bronze statues from Remington, examples of Native American art AND an exhibition of Pulitzer Prize winning photography. In one museum. Brilliant. Yes, more beer was drunk, more dogs stroked, more giggling and punks happened and more Tiki decorations were marvelled over by Sam (with plans for how to adapt for the bar at Sparkle Mansions) Tulsa is a great city, surprising, compact, interesting, fun.... who knew? Not me.... Onwards.....ever onwards....

Steamy Memphis......

With soothing kisses on our foreheads (and a lot of our $$$) New York finally lets us go. And when it does, it does it gently, with an excellent flight, lovely staff and extra legroom just for Sam. Touching down in Memphis we were so keen to collect our car and JUST GET THERE ALREADY, that we barely worked out how to open the trunk (and as was apparent later, the petrol cap). The 15 minutes to our new home eased us into our new reality and 2 things were evident. One, where NYC is vertical, Memphis is horizontal. Two, it is not only hot is is STEAMY... Our home for the next few days is a whole new spin on Sparkle Mansions! The whole top floor of a stunning 1890’s house, surrounded with wrought iron fence on the corner of Cooper Young, one of the hippest, friendliest areas in town. Charming, everything is just charming, from the house, to the accents, to the food and finally the prices (come on New York $20 for a cocktail?) So we settle in. We unpack, we MAKE TEA 🙂🙂🙂 and we go for a run, twice.... and wowser it’s warm, sweat pours (which is surely good to sweat out the booze right?) but it’s just such a wonderful way to see the area.

Our first whole day is spent chasing the ghost of Elvis around the theme park that is now Gracelands. Not only exit through the gift shop, but enter through the convention centre. Elvis is not only more of a business now than during his brief life, but it’s al OST religious...they have kept everything he touched, every check he wrote, every tissue he wiped his nose on....every word he spoke is poured over, his riding boots kept with the mud from the last ride he took, his wallet with the cinema stub still in place. Gracelands the house, still feels very much like a home... obviously one still stuck very much in the 70’s (and OHHHH what decor) but still actually really feels like a home. The pool was humble rather than grand, the kitchen the site of many a good PB&J sandwich and the film room, well let’s just say Sam came away bursting with ideas... For me the most fabulous part was his jumpsuits, seeing them close up, seeing how they were made and cut, in a very ‘feminine’ way to accentuate his waist and hips and with the winged sleeves, just beautiful. And then after that was lost the football, World Cup semi final, but to the USA....which we watched in a heaving Irish bar in the scorching sunshine....hey ho, can’t have it all.

The second treat of the day was ambling up the wide tree lined road around the corner from the bar to meet Mike McCarthy, a friend of Joss, who insisted we get in touch...so we did and WOW I am glad we did...sitting on his porch, chatting about all sorts, putting the world to rights about art, collaboration and punk rock was just a treat. Always go meet the folk others advise you to....makes the city come alive.

Day 2 had a very different tone. After paying our respects to The King, we also wanted to pay our respects to Martin Luther King, so took a drive Downtown to the Civil Rights museum. I am still really processing what I saw and read there, it was incredibly moving and incredibly thought provoking and I do not want to diminish its importance by trying to sum it up in a neat trite sentence, I think the overall message I took from it is the unbelievable courage that some people had, to stand up, to force people to SEE and to fight for rights that were freely given to others. That and that we are no where near close enough and indeed seem to be going backwards. I had to sit down at one point as I was so overcome with emotion and needed just to cry. The tour around the museum ends IN the bedroom that Martin Luther King was in and looking out on to the balcony where he was shot. Just so incredibly emotional, really powerful and obviously sad and shocking that we STILL have to say Black Lives Matter.

Sure, we bumbled around after that, went to Beale Street, which just looked and felt like Key West, or any other ‘famous’ st Set in America....they seem to be able to recreate this scene perfectly, but it lacks and real depth. Or maybe I was just too full of feelings still. After a well earned rest we hoofed to the next district, again on the recommendation of Joss to see a local band BRILLIANT! Loved sitting, talking to our incredibly friendly Memphis server, listening to Punk Country in a great bar, in a great place with a HOT date...gods life is incredible.

And then we were OFF the next day, reluctantly as I feel like there was so much more to see and do, so many more people to chat to, so many more bands to see...oh Memphis we will be back for sure..

Falling in love...

So, despite everything, yesterday was the day I fell in love with NYC. I mean, I thought it was lovely before, and fun and interesting sure, but yesterday, swathed in rainbow colours, I fell in love. And we weren’t even mean to still be here - I should be cross that NYC wouldn’t let us go, I should be waking up in Nashville right now, packing the car to start our drive to Memphis, but instead I have the dejavu feeling of waking up in New York, hearing the traffic sounds, the dizzying sensation of being too high up in a building and the slight dread of going back to an airport to try and catch a flight out.. Our planned 2 day stay was lovely, although I did sit at Newark airport with a little regret that we hadn’t done more, seen more, and I guess NYC wasn’t quite done with us yet either. We spent our first day wandering the streets of Brooklyn, dipping into bars and achingly cool shops and obviously visiting Champs to get our fill of vegan diner food and it was, lovely, all lovely. A visit to a very gorgeous old friend from teenage years, Emma, sitting on her roof terrace over looking the impossibly beautiful Manhattan skyline was heartwarming and fun, so wonderful to know that a friend has changed and grown and is still a brilliant human that had the ability to make me giggle and wish I lived in Brooklyn. We ran Central Park, which was hillier than expected, we walked the streets of 5th Avenue and Madison, we decided to visit Coney Island - walking on the beach, drinking craft beers and even taking a dip in the Ocean. It was fun, different to our last trip, good fun....staying in Midtown Manhattan, felt a little like staying just off Leicester Square (with the prices to match) but that’s ok... The bagels were good and we even paid our respects to Studio 54 (which has no plaque, just a large glitter ball to mark its importance) And then we got to Pride....50 years since the Stonewall riots erupted and FORCED not only NYC, but the world to start thinking about equal rights. I always knew we were going to be in town for the rally on the Friday, which was held in Christopher Street. It felt important to go, to remember and to give thanks in some way for those that have come before us. The rally was HUGE, the speakers including the Mayor of NYC, inspirational, passionate and brilliant and both Sam and I left feeling moved, greatly moved. And then we tried to leave....and NYC wasn’t having any of it. Our flights were cancelled after a day at Newark airport and after 3 hours in a queue to rebook we realised Nashville just wasn’t going to happen for us and we would need to go back to NYC and then on to Memphis on Monday. It was....challenging. We had to book another hotel, try and rebook our car hire, cancel Nashville accommodation....it was challenging. BUT..... OH MY DAYS!!!! Returning to NYC to a hotel in a great area a little further downtown, we were immediately upgraded to a HUGE room with the biggest bed. We rushed out for ‘the best pizza in NYC’ because we’d not eaten all day and then....after sleeping the BEST sleep....we woke up to a whole new New York.... 7am we were out, running through the now empty streets, all the stop lights were green for us and we reached Central Park faster than I have ever run before. It felt good, so so good. We laughed most of the way, taking endless pictures and congratulating ourselves on now being actual ‘runners’ (hahahahahaha) We showered, changed and found THE place for breakfast, complete with mimosas and pancakes so fluffy they were like duvets. And then we started walking...the WHOLE CITY was filled with rainbows, everyone walking, smiling, waving flags, just wanting to BE HERE NOW. Many streets were closed off, but that was fine, we just got to walk more, see more and when we finally caught some of the parade it was a sea of so many colours and ticker tape filling every available space it was just BEAUTIFUL. Overcome we decided to wander to streets of The Village, just to BE HERE NOW in this moment, a moment that by rights we shouldn’t really have had, but just to be there, in it to be part of the 50 year commemorations, just astonishing. We found a bar, with a table outside, on the corner of Bleaker and just sat, watching all of life wandering by, everyone smiling, laughing, PROCLAIMING equality, just BEING alive right now right HERE. It was beautiful. We dragged ourselves away to wander back towards the hotel and STILL the city was not done with us. We heard sounds coming from 5th as we ambled back across a packed Washington Square and always wanted to follow good music we found, to our amazement, that the parade was STILL going on HOURS later! The streets were not as packed but equally as enthusiastic - and we cheered and whooped and were rewarded with.... QUEER EYE!!! All of them, dancing on a bus JUST FOR US! We screamed ourselves hoarse! We sang, we chanted, we waved at everyone, we had a tiny cry and eventually, after walking 30k fell into bed exhausted. Oh New York....thank you for not letting us go, thank you for holding us so tightly because there was more to see, more to experience, to FORCE us to be thankful for living in the moment.... I have fallen in love....