Well, how 'bout that. One sentence into the first post about my vacation and I'm already off topic! But what the heck, freewheeling is good, right?
Any ol' way I hit the road today, and am typing this from my grandad's house in Kentucky via a 'Net connection that's as flaky as that cereal Tony the tiger eats. On my way down I stopped for a lunch break just outside Lexington, intending to eat at a Steak n' Shake. At first I was chagrined to find the place overflowing, but that afforded me a better culinary opportunity.
I swung next door, pleasantly surprised to find a Back Yard Burgers. I've been to this chain before, having discovered it on one of my many visits to Memphis, but I didn't know they were in Lexington as well. And this gave me a chance to eat inside; I had only driven through before.
I selected the Spicy Buffalo Slaw cheeseburger, which is a burger with cole slaw, ranch dressing and the same buffalo seasoning you find on hot wings. It was good, but a bit peculiar to mix the buffalo sauce taste with beef instead of chicken. One can only wonder if this item was created by a chef who wasn't looking and grabbed the wrong meat package. Stranger things have happened. Just ask me or my dad about the famous "hot apple pie" story.
I was more amused by the ketchup bottle at my table. It was one of those upside-down plastic bottles, but the label said, "DON'T SQUEEZE ME." At first, I was thinking maybe there was a mix-up at the Charmin factory, but a closer look at the bottle showed it also said, "Our fries are so good, you really don't need any Tomato Ketchup. But hey! It's a free country!"
Well, God bless America, because the waffle fries were good, but not THAT good.
While I'm here in my bedroom at granddad's place, let me share a story about something I found the last time I was here, in August. Scanning across the bookshelf, I spied a book called "With a Feather on My Nose" by Billie Burke. Those of you who know your movie history know that Billie Burke is most famous for playing Glinda, the Good Witch of the North in The Wizard of Oz.
So imagine my surprise when I open the front cover and find it's an autographed copy! And I didn't even have to click my heels three times or anything!
And just so a particular friend of mine knows - I did indeed give a shout-out when I crossed the Rockcastle County line, but I thought "AIEEEEE" might attract too much attention, so I settled on "YEE-HAA!" More of the local flavor anyway. ;)
Wow, quite a bit of writing just for the first day! Just imagine the novels you'll read when I get to NOLA! For Sunday: I travel to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for perhaps a visit to Dreamland Ribs.
"Mommy the pie's HOT!"
ReplyDelete"No it's not hot! Eat the pie!"
I have seen that book, "With a Feather on My Nose," a thousand times, but never noticed that it was autographed. I believe that is addressed to Harry Canby, my Grandfather's first cousin, who lived for many years in the house that the Greek Orthodox Church had torn down in Belmonte Park (much to the dismay of the neighbors and many other Daytonians). He was the president of McGregor Golf which was owned by his father, Edward Canby (who also owned Dayton Spice Mill and the Dayton Calculating Scale Company—which later became IBM).
Make sure you don't get to Dreamland Bar-B-Que too late tomorrow.
http://www.dreamlandbbq.com/default.aspx?id=46
I'll see you in the Big Easy.