Day 13 - Mississippi Oxon

As Nashville and Tennessee faded into the rear-view horizon, the road opened up unto woody Mississippi. Famous for its river, its 'second', and its spelling mnemonic, the state also offers some great drives through green forestry. The white clouds and blue sky offered us a great scenic background for our in-car renditions of 'Hotel California' and 'Rock DJ'. Strong.

Full up on waffles, bacon, and a smattering of hash browns (yummo), we ploughed on straight through lunch and arrived timely in Oxford, Mississippi - a destination chosen purely for its novel connection with one of our road-trippers. Oxford is also a strong university town, despite its small size; home to the University of Mississippi, or 'Ole Miss', the city has been named as one of the top six college towns in the entire country. Good going Oxford!

We drove into town after checking into the motel, wanting to see this enigmatic namesake for what it really was. It was a lovely little town; gleaming spires and imposing gates were traded for a small open square, a statue of General Layfayette, and some quaint local businesses. It even had its own English phone box! It was Sunday afternoon so disappointingly everything was shut. Not ones to miss out on a photo-shoot though, we grabbed the camera and got the odd snap...

 And continued the next morning...

Shameless.

Jannick's determination to the cause allowed this documentation of 'A Native in Doppelganger Land' to reach such dizzying heights of glorious success.

Back to the first day however, we strolled around, giddy with any sight or mention of the name of the town we had purposefully driven into, and were vaguely looking for a place to eat. The pretty main square was circumnavigated very quickly, and we soon realised that the only place open for Sunday dinner was a pizzeria. We hadn't eaten since waffle-fest, so headed straight for the small queue and were seated without delay.

Now deep in the Southern Heartlands, anyone we speak to sounds like they've just walked out of a wild west saloon and into the O.K. Corral. Our waitress Karen was no different, though she seemed to be the first person we'd met so far who was disarmed by our, let's face it, absolutely charming accents. This flustered us in return; as I stuttered over my payment, cursing the awkward American tipping system with my every fibre, Jannick tried his best to act nonchalant as he casually mentioned that we 'have a car', with obligatory elbow over the seat-back and side glance engaged. With that bizarre encounter out of the way, and a night-in on the cards, we headed back home, carrying our box of unfinished pizza like an open symbol of our missing masculinity.

We got back to the motel and indulged in a much needed slob out. We watched 'The Blind Side', a film that has a lot of relevance to the local area. The focus of the film is on the true story of Michael Oher, an American football player who went from rags to riches with the help of a benevolent foster mother and family. He went to 'Ole Miss' before being drafted into the NFL (in which he won the 2009 Superbowl with the Baltimore Ravens, like a baws).

Michael Oher

After watching the film so associated with our locale and being so frustrated by the shops' dedicated observance of the Sabbath, we were determined all the more to re-enter Oxford the following day to check out the university stores, as well as the university itself. 

Oxford stash here we come!