Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Holiday R & R, get some

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Get some Holiday Rest AND Re-Creation
so 2005 doesn't see you looking like this bubbas twin blubber brother .
(photo is from a year ago, Ano Nuevo, California)

Monday, December 20, 2004

Mudbone the Marsh Dog

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Ready to battle the tide.

Encounter with tribal elder

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Elder islander ponders my craft. She spoke in an odd patois and allowed me to proceed after staring several minutes.

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Q in FLA

The building was more interesting than the food. Concrete block structure, I sat in the add-on wing that used to be the porch. The owner sure eyed me when I pulled into the parking lot, he was working on draining a mud puddle. (this is Florida)
He looked at me like I was selling something.
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click photo to enlarge in new window

Overheard:
Two guys come in, it's about 3:30 PM.
First guy says: I'm not hungry, I'll have a salad.
Second guy goes: Wha? I thought you liked it here.
First guy orders: I'll have a pound of gizzards and a salad.

that's Gizzards, not livers, a pound of gizzards and a salad!

Oh and the food. I almost forgot to review it.
SO: forgettable. Good because I was hungry and the alternative was Burger King. The tea was good. Cole slaw was fine.
Basic fair for the unenlightened. No real problem, nothing was particularly good, just there.

Willards Smokestack
Hwy 301 Baldwin, GA
OK, I said FLA in the title but this is Cracker-Georgia, it's kinda a Georgia/Florida hybrid.

last morning packing & leaving a motel

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The road may be my home but now I gotta get somewhere for the holidays. Yep, I am getting on the on-ramp. Time to make time on the Interstate highway for the first time in over 5,000 miles.
I-10 to I-95. Retire my gas charge card.
Photo taken in Florida.

the road is my home

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Monday, December 06, 2004

Eureka! Perfect BBQ is Found!


click photo to enlarge in new window

Pig Out Inn
Natchez, Mississippi
601-442-8050 They Ship.
I knew it had potential when I walked by and smelled smoke.
After ordering I sat on the deck at a picnic table by some ladies that were camping along the "Trace", the Natchez Trace parkway. This place had the kind of overheard conversation that can keep you focused on the table behind you.
The plate arrived, styrofoam with plastic cutlery. In the past I have pooh-poohed the "to-go" disposable serviceware but not now, this BBQ smelled too good for such petty blabbering.
The 1st taste was so good I ran out to the car to unpack my camouflage cap so it could get in the photo too.
BTW: if you want to blend in east of the Mississippi River, wear camouflage. I don't mean in the woods, works in Wall-Mart or at the gas pumps too. In the west I called this cap my "psycho-cap" because only crazed unibombers care about camouflage unless actively on a hunt, but I'm no longer in the west. I blend in with my psycho-cap.

The Q:
Smoked, tender, hand cut and cleaned of anything but deliciousness.
Twin dollops of cole slaw and potato salad proved that the tastes of cabbage and of potatoes need not be drowned by vinegar or mayonnaise. Delicious!
Tea: sweet but not diabeties inducing.
Note: the white bread wrapped in sticky wrap. It comes in twos in a nod to Noahs Ark.

Best all around, 5 stars *****.
#1 Pig Out Inn Natchez, Mississippi
#2 Memphis Minnies, San Francisco, California.
#3 Corkys, Nashville, Tennessee
#4 TBD (to be determined)
Anyone have any advice on where to go from here, BBQ-wise??

Mississippi Riverboat

The American Queen on the Mississippi River in Natchez, Mississippi
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It's fun to spell Mississippi.
It goes M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i.
M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i. There, I did it again.
One more time: M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i.
Last time:
M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i.

Thursday, December 02, 2004

the tree Elvis used to climb when he was a boyPosted by Hello

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

How he got to Memphis

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This is the actual car used by Vernon (Daddy of Elvis) to get out of Tupelo when he got caught writing bad checks. They went to Memphis because "it couldn't get no worse".
Note: the Pathfinder is in background, in the same parking lot as Elvis' Daddys car!

porch swing of Elvis

Tupelo, Mississippi  Posted by Hello

We sat in it & we was swinging!
The staff worried about how to charge us for our fun, they cut their eyes at us and recommended that we come inside for the tour, but no! The porch swing was free. Everything else had a price tag.
Total outlay for a trip to Elvis' Birthplace = over $100.

Who wouldn't want to live here?

Tupelo, Mississippi Posted by Hello

It is the house of a neighbor of Elvis, when he was growing up.