Dolly's intervention (Weds 29 July 2009)

This was Derek’s response to us getting upgraded on BA to 1st on the flight to Dallas – is Dolly the new Amma and is she working her magic? Perhaps so as Dolly was our inspiration for this trip. About six years ago the three of us were watching Graham Norton singing “Islands in the Stream” with Dolly in her Splash Country Water Park lazy river and this ridiculous trip was born – she was obviously easing our way by being there from the start. It was a long schlep, 21.5 hours door to door and went from the sublime to the ridiculous – from the BA Concorde lounge in T5 to BA 1st, to a small narrow jet through the thunderstorms to Knoxville, and into a taxi driven by a redneck into a no star motel on the southern end of the Parkway in Pigeon Forge, East Tennesse with trailer trash kids screeching in the pool at midnight. Welcome to Dollywood country.