One of the delights about traveling through America is the roadside culinary offerings. Of course, these fall into several categories, such as drive through food options like Taco Bell, McDonald's, KFC (which is, strangely, turning back into Kentucky Fried Chicken), etc. These eateries are advertised along the interstate by helpful signs that dot exits on the interstate (as are signs advertising accommodation). There are also the fast food restaurants that are sit down in nature, like Shoney's, Waffle House, Denny's, Big Boy, etc.
Nowadays, when I drive, I tend to avoid stopping at any of these places. They are a trucker's delight but no friend to the solo traveler. I ate at Shoney's once with my friend Rachel. We were coming back from a conference in Atlanta and she insisted that we eat at the Shoney's in Anniston, Alabama. The experience was memorable for the large amounts of buffet bacon and hash browns but my stomach wasn't too pleased afterwards.
Last night, after turning down the option of visiting a Chinese Restaurant in Conway, AR (I couldn't see any vegetarian options beyond Vegetable Fried Rice) my friend, Kathy, and I went to Pizza Inn, which as it turns out is one step lower than CiCi's Pizza on the pizza food chain. There was a stressed out family making much noise while we ate and the teenage son wore a florescent green shirt with "Liquidation Staff" printed on the back, although the family didn't seem to be connected to a Liquidation business.
The drive from Tuscaloosa to Conway was 404 miles. Gas is twenty cents cheaper in Mississippi than it is in Alabama. Today, we're headed north up to Mystic Caverns, Eureka Springs and, perhaps, Branson, MO. We might go to St Louis but the Six Flags has Evil Knievel's son jumping 25 Dodge Rams on July 3, which means getting to the park might be difficult. Also, since the Mississippi River is in flood the fireworks on the 4th have been moved to a park in the city, so that might be a no go. Instead, we might go to Magic Springs in AR and/or diamond mining.
2 comments:
I want it on the record that I insisted on eating at Shoney's but did not eat copious amounts of bacon/hash browns, etc. And so learned that Shoney's is kind of a bust once you've gone veg and/or are over age 12.
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