"Here were the children of the American bop night."

Persons versed in thirteenth or nineteenth century literature shall be pleased to heed the following: Our team, The Deepest South, by way of providence and good fortune have christened our van The ‘Lady’ of Shalott.

Excerpt from, Lord Alfred Tennyson – The Lady of Shalott – Inspired by thirteenth-century Italian novella entitled Donna di Scalotta.

There she weaves by night and day,

And moving through a mirror clear
That hangs before her all the year,
Shadows of the world appear.
There she sees the highway near
Winding down to Camelot;
There the river eddy whirls,
And there the surly village churls,
And the red cloaks of market girls
Pass onward from Shalott.

On the Road

For many, forcing sales makes way to a lack of travel preparations. This was the case for the Deep South team and our first night of tour. After hours of pleasant and peaceful travels, we found rest at Arizona mile marker 316 and made shelter in The Lady. I found rest in the space between the bench and two front seats, Webb took the bench, and Wallis and Bethany spooned. To my surprise, I found great comfort in the small, confined, womb like characteristics of my sleeping arrangement. Webb comments, “It was too small” (That’s what she said) and when asked to describe the girls sleeping arrangements, Bethany commented with a frightening onomatopoeia “blughgreeghb” which sounded much like a gag reflex and stated, “I am claustrophobic to epic proportions, its gonna get ugly.” Wallis suggested that “shortness of breath” captured the experience entirely, to which Bethany concluded sounded much too sexual and should be excluded from this document.

On the Road, Again

After sleeping inside The Lady, we emerged and prepared for our departure. Mile marker 316 in the cool morning was a luxury, Arizona landscape is beautiful. We hit the road and made our way to a store, ate some bagels, and began our day with what we thought to be a steady ride, and then… Wilcox Arizona population 3769*

It turns out, The Lady is a tramp. We found ourselves talking with Jared and Brian ‘Buddyz Auto Repairs’ mechanics. Brian was born in Chicago,

his uncle taught him how to fix cars and it was either, “The drugs or fixin' shit.” As for Jared, he once worked for Exxon and now manages Buddyz. Jared drove The Lady around, heard the problem and told us he could do nothing. The Lady is deceptive, she showed absolutely no problems on the GMC computer and the transmission specialist said that he could not find any problems. According to Jared, “You’re here until Tuesday, or your just gonna have to ride it out.”

On the Road…Again

Peddle to the medal. Out of Arizona. Into New Mexico. New Mexico is weird. Look what we found. Get us the hell out of here.

To be more specific, every time our car hits 60 – 70 mph, anguish. Bumpy, stalling, grinding, calamity.

Stuck in Texas.

Every time our car hits 60 – 70 mph, anguish. Bumpy, stalling, grinding, calamity.

• Update 4:00pm - We are on the road, and The Lady of Shalott is running. Well... speed walking.
• Update 12:00am- Texas Highway Patrol issued The Lady a warning for "speeding." Guess the speed... 67 in a 65, yep seriously.
  

Love,

Cameron, Deep South, & The Lady

* According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates