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Published: April 27th 2012
Odometer
Getting up there!Good morning!
On Wednesday, we drove from Birmingham, Alabama, to Johnson City, Tennessee. I was feeling a little sad that we were trying to make it back home as fast as possible, when there were still so many neat things and places to discover in Alabama. So after about an hour of driving on the interstate, we decided to take another highway that paralleled it. What a difference that makes! You get to drive through little towns, see how people live and stop for lunch at local restaurants where, if you’re lucky like we were on Wednesday, you may very well have one of the best meals you’ve had in your life!
We stopped at one little convenience store because I had seen a sign for boiled peanuts, one of my favourite snacks. Did you know that in the South, peanuts are cooked three different ways? They are roasted (like the ones we have at home), they are deep-fried (right in the shell, and you eat everything – not a favourite of mine), and they are boiled (again in the shell, in some brine and Cajun spices if you are lucky). Anyhow, we stopped and as it was close
Diet Grapico
Mike loves this diet grape pop that is only sold in Georgia, Alabama and parts of Florida. So we stocked up. Who can guess how many bottles and packs of cans we bought, total? to lunch time, I asked the cashier if there were any good restaurants in the area. She told us we would have better luck a little further down the road, in Fort Payne. So we headed there, not really knowing what to expect. Just inside the town limits, we passed a sign that said Sally’s Butt Smokin’ BBQ. It was small, but you could smell the smokers in action, so I said to Mike: “This is where we’re having lunch. Turn around.” So he did, and we went in. Sally himself was there, and was very happy that we had chosen his restaurant. When we told him we wanted one more good BBQ meal before “heading North”, he said: “Yeah, there’s a line somewhere between here and where you’re going where the BBQ and sweet tea stop”. He is so right! We placed our order at the counter and sat down. When our number was called, the lady smiled and said: “Sally said if you’re heading North, you need all the BBQ you can get, so he included a sample of ribs for you to enjoy!”. People have been so kind to us all along our journey! And that BBQ
was probably the best meal we have had during this trip. The spot in Oklahoma City was great, but I think this was even better. It may have to do with the extra ribs Sally threw in. LOL.
After lunch, we continued on our way, then we realized that after driving most of the day, we were only about two hours closer to home than when we left in the morning, so we decided to get back on the interstate and try to make it as far as we could. That turned out to be Johnson City, Tennessee, where we were able to find Cootie Brown’s, an awesome and quirky restaurant where Mike and I had eaten on our honeymoon. It was really neat to be back there almost six years later, on an even bigger road trip.
As we were coming into the city, we noticed the vehicle in front of us was going slow and swerving in and out of its lane. Trucks were passing at high speeds on the left, and we realized that we may be witnessing an accident very soon. I dialed 911 and explained the situation to the dispatcher, who forwarded my
call to the highway patrol dispatcher. She said that a patrol car was waiting about 15 miles down the road, and I explained that they needed to get the car sooner, or there may be a big accident. So she dispatched someone closer, and asked me to stay on the line. Mike positioned himself next to the car to see what was going on, and I noticed that the lady who was driving the car had her eyes closed. Mike honked at her to try and get her to wake up, but she didn’t seem to open her eyes, so we got back behind her with our four-way flashers in order to avoid getting in an accident with her. I prayed the whole time we followed her; I was so worried that a transport truck would come up next to her and she would get pushed out of the way. Eventually, we was a patrol car come up next to us on the right, and the dispatcher asked us to leave him enough room to come up behind the lady. And then, there were two more patrol cars, one next to her, and one in front. They pulled her off
to the side somehow, and we kept on going. We’ll never know what happened, if she was sick, drunk or just tired. But I am so grateful that there was no accident!
Until next time,
Cheers!
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Shiloh*~
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Johnson City
Hey there travellers! Have certainly enjoyed getting in on some of the stories of your cross-continental road trip! I hope to get a smaller on in sometime soon...but in the meantime, thanks for posting so many great photos! One of my roommates considers Johnson City her second home, since she went to college there. She's originally from Nashville...and she makes the best sweet tea I've ever had!