*** Follow our progress at jennyandwayne.wordpress.com***

For anyone who doesn't know us, Wayne (my husband) suffered a total brachial plexus injury in a motorbike accident in June 2007. This accident left him with no use or feeling in his left arm. In 2012, he finally managed to get back on a bike, and has since started fulfilling his dream of riding across the States (Route 66, we will get there one day!). Participating in an organised ride such as this has the combined benefits of raising money for a fantastic cause, while giving Wayne the support and backup needed in-case of any unforeseen problems!

2014 will see the 4th Childline Rocks/ Sons of Royalty annual Harley Davidson fundraising motorcycle(and car) ride for the charity Childline, which is twinned with the NSPCC. All participants are patched as members of the Sons of Royalty-motto "The Crow Flies Straight".

This band of japers continues to grow, attract new members and international interest. Our rides have taken us through some of the most scenery North America has to offer: British Columbia, Montana(Going to the Sun Road and the Beartooth Highway), Idaho(the Sawtooth Mountains), Wyoming(Yellowstone, the Tetons and the Wind River Range), Utah(the Flaming Gorge, Park City-home to the Sundance Film Festival-Arches & Zion National parks, Monument Valley) and Colorado(Telluride & the Million Dollar Highway). Existing SOR members include suits, special forces veterans, best selling authors, wandering minstrels, legendary British Rock Musicians and even a distant living relative of Butch Cassidy who was recently accorded honorary membership of the Hole in the Wall Gang. The 2013 ride was completely mind-blowing, so how on earth do we continue our tradition of "topping it" year after year?

The answer, lies in the roots…

There isn't a spot on Planet Earth that has seen a soundtrack as influential as the American South. Go on-try and name a region, anywhere in the world, that can sing a sweeter song than this: blues, rock 'n roll, bluegrass, soul, funk and R&B all grew up here. Alternative and Indie Rock came here for college, and hip hop settled here after graduation. The sounds of the South cut through lines of race, colour and creed and owe a mountain of 
debt to the composition of the South from which endless musical legends and styles have emerged. This is a racially mixed land of milk and honey. How sweet it is !

The ride will take us through 3 states: through the Mississippi Delta and right into Cajun Country. The Mississippi River, swamps, former cotton plantations, legendary jook joints and antebellum houses. And some of the finest cuisine the USA has to offer…

So, here we go…

THE ITINERARY

Saturday 26 April: Depart London
Fly from London to Nashville, capital of the state of Tennessee-home of country music and honky tonks. Home also to Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Patsy Cline, Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam, the STD, the Charlie Daniels band, the Fruit Jar Drinkers, Fiddling Arthur Smith and not forgetting Humphrey Bate and his Possum Hunters! Hangouts while we’re there: the Bluebird Café, Beale St & Tootsie's Orchid Lounge. To quote Waylon Jennings: "I've always felt that blues, rock 'n roll and country are just about a beat apart". Transfer to hotel, dinner and overnight.

RIDE DAY 1 : Sunday 27 April 
Nashville - Memphis 212miles

Tour of Nashville, followed by light lunch and introduction to your chosen hog. Ring long distance information, mount up and head southwest to….Memphis, Tennessee ! " If I could 
find a white man who had the Negro Sound and the Negro feel, I could make a million dollars" ! Sam Phillips, proprietor of Sun Studios-the birthplace of rock 'n roll. When Elvis walked into that studio in 1954 he was little more than a truck driver for an electrical company. When he walked out that July with a $4, 10 inch acetate carrying the songs "I love you because", "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and "That’s all right" he was days away from 
becoming the world's first true rock 'n roll star-and is still its biggest. Home to Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Ike Turner, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Otis Redding and Booker T and the MG's. Memphis is also the start of the world famous Blues Highway, Highway 61, which runs south from here all the way down to Vicksburg. Dinner and overnight at the Heartbreak Hotel.

RIDE DAY 2 : Monday 28 April
Memphis – Clarksdale 77 miles

Tour of Memphis-Graceland, Sun Studios. Mount up and head south on the Blues Highway, as we cross into Mississippi down to the home of Blues. Clarksdale, and its world famous 
crossroads, is where legend Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil in return for the ability to play the most brilliant guitar. Tonight we will stay at the Shack Up Inn ( motto "The Ritz we ain't" and "If you like 5-star shit, go somewhere else" ) on the Hopson Plantation, with lodging in renovated shotgun shacks. This is a mecca for blues lovers worldwide, right in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. This joint has hosted Tom Waits, 
Pinetop Perkins, Robert Plant, Morgan Freeman, Elvis Costello, Samuel L Jackson, Charlie Musselwhite and John Mayall. Dinner and likely other shenanigans in town at Morgan Freeman's Ground Zero Blues Club. Dinner and overnight. 

RIDE DAY 3 : Tuesday 29 April
Clarksdale – Natchez 216 miles

Let's go visit the Delta Blues museum and the Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art store, before leaving Clarksdale to ride south through Rosedale and down to Natchez in southern Mississippi. In the 1840's Natchez had more millionaires per capita than any 
other city in the world. Why? Because the plantation owners didn't pay their staff ! Dinner in an antebellum, a taste of mansion life. Natchez has dirt under its fingernails too. When 
Mark Twain came through town, he crashed in a room above the local saloon.

RIDE DAY 4 : Wednesday 30 April
Natchez – Lafayette/Breaux Bridge 146 miles

Natchez to Lafayette and Breaux Bridge- officially designated "La capitale Mondiale de l'ecrivisse"….the crawfish capitol of the world, and home to Zydeco music. This is Cajun country, and Cajun music dates back to the French Acadian settlers from Nova Scotia who were exiled by the British in the mid 18th century. Their songs are usually sung in French and talk about life in the bayou. Zydeco is like a mixture of Cajun, the Blues and Tabasco, and it traces its roots back to the Creoles of African descent. You simply haven't lived until you've had authentic Cajun & Creole cuisine: Lafayette has consistently been voted the No 1 food town in the USA.

RIDE DAY 5 : Thursday 1 May
Lafayette/Breaux Bridge – Grand Isle 202 miles

The Juiciest Chunk of Highway 1-the longest Highway in Louisiana….as recommended by Henry Cole. Ride from Lafayette down to Baton Rouge and pickup Highway 1 heading South through Napoleonville to Lockport. Your Sons of Royalty nose starts to fill with an entirely new smell as we ride through Leeville down to Grand Isle and its national park . What’s that smell ? We made it to the sea ! 

RIDE DAY 6 : Friday 2 May
Grand Isle to New Orleans! 107 miles

The city often referred to as the "most unique" in America, it straddles the Mississippi river and is the birthplace of jazz. Famous for its multilingual heritage and festivals, notably Mardi Gras, this is one of the wildest cities on earth.Celebration dinner where? On Bourbon Street….of course !

Saturday 3 May : Day at Leisure
Day at leisure, ENGLAND ROCKS-HANDS ACROSS THE WATER 
rock concert in the evening. 

Sunday 4 May : Homeward bound
Coach to New Orleans airport for overnight flight to London. 

Monday 5 May : Arrive in London