Alabamy Bound!

We woke up in Paducha, had MORE biscuits and gravy...and hit the road. I'm beginning to have a real love hate relationship with the broad that lives in the GPS...sure, she rewards me when i make the right turn with a "ding ding"...but then she's quiet for miles and miles...and sometimes, i can't get her to talk when I need her to.....Mom, on the other hand, has been telling me the greatest stories of growing up in Maple Park, and others. We drove and drove and drove...some real backroads, too. Mom LOVED the mountains and the tumble down shacks along the way (me, too...always loved those ''ghost buildings') Mom really loves the old rickety barns....she thinks they look 'sad'! The first really wrecked one she saw she said, in all sincerety..out the window, toward the barn  "awwww....I'm sorry!"

     We ate in a GREAT big place in Tennessee that was insanely good. we had INCREDIBLE fried catfish, collard greens, mashed potatoes and gravy, homeade pan-fried cornbread, cole slaw and drinks....Total? $13.75!!! For the both of us! You couldn't get it cheaper off a drunk indian! (sorry, non-pc old SNL joke...) The waitress was incredible. Mom said "Tom, that waitress is like that girl from "My Name Is Earl"...and I kid you not, she was right!! She looked, and talked, like Jamie Lynn Pressley's Mom...who tried to look and act like her daughter....she was, um, about 55, quite 'rack-tastic' (Ma said "she's gonna put someones eye out with those things!!) .....and...here's the best part...she had a t-shirt that said "Put Me On Your Wish List"!! ..35 years ago, I just might have, Lady! She was very sweet, too.  We're setting the clock for 4:30 a.m....and , yes, i'm coming back next year. xoxo tom and mo