The Excellent Adventures of Kim and Kev

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The Oaks

I grew up riding around in a bus. A big, rowdy, full of mischief and crushed goldfish crackers bus.


It was made for our family. Plenty of room for every one. In fact, we each had our own seat/bench and could stretch out as far as your body would let you. This preferred way of travel helped to minimize accusations such as "she is touching me" or "she is looking at me" or "she is being bossy and obnoxious". I say "minimize" because regardless of how much space I had it was my job as the big sister to harass my siblings. But this multi seated van definitely made road trips much more enjoyable for us - and especially our parents.


And speaking of road trips. We took millions of them. For a month at a time. To Canada. To Mexico. To Wal-mart.


In fact, I even have a picture to share of our family on the road - ( notice our "bus" in the background)





My childhood was always an adventure.


And one of the things that kept us so entertained was music. And because little kids didn't record songs back then ( due to their long shifts in the coal mines), we listened to Country. And these trips are where my absolute LOVE for vintage country music began.


Except for it wasn't vintage back then.


One of my favorite groups to listen to was the Oakridge Boys. My Dad would play every tape over and over and sing at the top of his lungs. Not only could I hear him, but I could see him in the rear view mirror from all the way back in the "wayback" of the bus.


It was comforting and soothing. And just plain fun. Some times we would act out the songs for each other. Some times we would change the words for a laugh or two. Some times we would all just sing together. Like a travelling band of entertaining gypsies. Or like the Partridge Family.



Fast forward to present day .... and you can imagine my surprise and delight that the Oakridge Boys were coming to the State Fair.



Now, I haven't been to the fair in probably about 15 years. I think. Greasy foods can cloud your mind if you are around them too long.



Which is why when I went this past Sunday - I did every thing that I could to not INHALE. Wow - the grease was thick. And greasy. And I had a not so nice flashback of the last time I ate at the fair. I had the fried mushrooms. And due to the fact that I try to keep this blog family friendly - I will NOT tell you what happened about an hour later. It was not nice. Or polite. And has forever ensured that I will not eat food from random food carts where people are cooking in their own sweat.



Sorry if I just ruined it for you.



And besides the fact that I was rushing after work to get there and my dress got caught on the turnstile so when I turned the turnstile it pulled my dress straight up and every one behind me caught a glimpse of how hard my spanx were working, I only missed five minutes of the show.

And would appreciate some free spanx from the people that make them due to my amazing advertisement.

This is how I remembered the Oaks....

And this is how they look now....


A bunch of silver foxes if I do say so myself! Their voices were perfect and they sounded the EXACT same. It was such a treat!
Now due to the fact that I have a reputation to uphold - I did not sing along -outloud. Just in my head. But I did let my guard down enough to clap along with the music a couple of times.
And when they sang one of my favorite gospel songs - a cappella. Well, that was just the icing on the cake. I got chills, I tell ya. Chills!
Y'all know that I LOVE to take walks down memory lane - and this was a pretty amazing walk.
Now, if I can just get Kev to download some of their music to my Ipod. He claims that country music and electronics don't mix.




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