Road trip eats update

A quick update to the last post. The suburban Hattie B.'s hot chicken worked out perfectly, once we made it through the blizzard at the start of the trip. Easy to get to, pretty short line and the chicken was fantastic. This time the boy got his chicken with a little heat, as in 'Mild'.

Weather at the start of our drive

The following day didn't go as planned. We got a bit of a later start and our first stab at the nearby Waffle House showed a full house with folks standing and waiting in line. 13 miles down the road, we found one less crowded, and as a bonus, we had 'Chan the Man' as our server and he was the best!

Since we weren't going to get to our lunch destination until around 3 p.m. So, although we had planned to go to the Dinner Stop, it closed by three, so we went to this local Mexican restaurant instead. On Sunday Alabama, or at least this county was dry, so no margarita for me. The sweet tea was perfect, and the cheese dip was the star of the show - salty, savory and cheesy deliciousness.

Road tripping on the way back brought insane traffic (a poster on Waze commented 'is there only one road out of Florida?’). Our traditional stop at a Cracker Barrel went oddly awry with a server who was having issues and seemed to be in a different mood every time she came to our table, which wasn't often. That lunch ended up taking about 1.45 hours total.

Curse you, I65!!

Overall, the desire to eat local is still somewhat at odds with the need to make good time, especially on a long drive day. The most successful one was the end of the day - we arrived on time and then could relax and enjoy dinner.

On the way back from the panhandle, traffic was so horrendous that we didn't even come close to our traditional sushi carryout in Vernon, IL. Instead, we stopped at a truck stop Wendy's and made do. Sometimes that's the way travel goes.

And sometimes it goes...into loveliness!