On The Road - Dirty Dancing, Mayberry and BBQ

We left my friend's house early on Monday headed south. We had a few stops and knew it would be a long day. 

We'd stopped for coffee but wanted to watch for a unique breakfast place. We'd gotten into Virginia when I saw a sign for Biscuit World. You can't see that and not stop! I believe I may have squealed. (Which would explain why John was less responsive the rest of the day. Sorry about your ear drum baby!)

We got the shave ham biscuit sandwich. There was a cheesy, almost hollandaise sauce on it. The biscuit was light and flaky. Very good!

Our next stop was Kellerman's, aka Mountain Lake Lodge, where Dirty Dancing was filmed. On the map it doesn't look far. John even questioned how we could be five miles away and it was going to take twenty minutes to get there. It was the wiggliest road ever. I was driving so John and I were both wrecks by the time we got there. 

There was a cabin with movie pictures and a map of the filming areas. 

This is where Dr. Houseman parked and was greeted by Max Kellerman. They don't let you park there. 

So we had to walk up this hill to check it out. 

If you look closely the sign says Kellerman's. I don't know if this is always there. The day before was the end of the Dirty Dancing weekend. That's my timing. It's also why I couldn't get a Kellerman's t-shirt. The largest size was a medium and that's not happening. 

John drove down the mountain. There was a nervous few miles behind this truck loaded with hay bales. They didn't look that securely attached. 

After all my places, we finally hit a place for John. Mayberry, aka Mount Airy, NC, is Andy Griffith's hometown and is the model for Mayberry. 

John had to stop at Floyd's barbershop. He got a new t-shirt too!

We walked by this toy store and saw John's childhood tractor.

It's the one on the far left. I still have it, but it's not quite in that good of shape! 

We passed this Dollar Tree selling $1 steaks. We passed.

They were supposedly 3.5 ounce ribeyes! 

For lunch we had to stop at Aunt Bea's restaurant. There were a lot of choices. 

We went with the country style steak, Mac and cheese, collard greens and hush puppies. We also got sweet tea. All this for $7.68. Great deal. 

We've never had greens, so this was a new adventure. We'd been hesitant because we are not fans of cooked spinach. But they were a revelation. The flavor and texture were amazing. 

And for the little pieces of meat in the greens...diced Bologna!

For dinner in Charlette, NC, got the recommendation of Midwood Barbeque. 

We shared the Well-Fed combo. We didn't get the chicken. 

We talked to our waitress Laurie and she brought us all the sauces to try. 

There was quite a variety. 

A Carolina vinegar (didn't care for it), a mustard based sauce (it was OK), a ketchup based sauce (outstanding!), and a spicy ketchup based sauce (also excellent). 

As for the meats, the sausage was good, the ribs were excellent, chopped pork (which they season with the vinegar-based sauce, and served with thinly-sliced pickled white onions) was outstanding, and the brisket was decent (not as good as mine!)

For our sides we got collard greens and bbq coleslaw. We'd never heard of bbq coleslaw. The sauce is vinegar based rather than mayonnaise. The flavor was great. The cabbage was chopped up super fine.

I am hooked on collard greens! So much better than I thought they'd be. Cooked in a broth with a little heat to it, and some shredded pork thrown in for more flavor. So good! 

For dessert we got pecan cobbler. It was AMAZING!  It was lighter than pie and not super sweet. Perfect finish to a tasty day. 

On The Road - Shawshank!

Great day yesterday!!  

We started with these delicious doughnuts. They are from a small shop. Our host ventured out and brought them home. They were light and delicious. The cruellers were exceptional. John and I agreed it was one of the best doughnuts we've ever had. 

Then it was road trip time. My second favorite movie is Shawshank Redemption. My friend DiAnne lives only a little over an hour from Ohio Reformatory at Mansfield where it was filmed. She's also a huge King fan and had been there several times before and was happy to join us. 

Her girlfriend had just recently seen the movie and was excited to come along.  

We turned a corner and John said "There it is!"  I then took a lot of pictures. Mostly recreating our favorite scenes. 

John and I showed our tats to prove we could survive in the big house. 

There are several options for tours. We opted for the self guided so we could go our own pace. They gave us each a remote control-looking playback device. Throughout the tour there were signs with numbers on them. You just typed the number in and held it to your ear to hear the info. 

But it looked like everyone was talking on the phone! Great info though. 

These are the stairs Andy and the warden walk down to discuss funds for the library. 

John and I never did engagement pictures. So we did one by this window. 

John did his best prison guard impression. He was going to bust some skulls and was happy to break a window. (It was already broken from the filming)

Alright Andy, give me the books recording my elicit activities. 

The desk is still there with the red phone. I was amazed that you could just sit down at the desk. Access was unbelievable. There were very few areas that were off limits. 

John as the warden. Me as Andy. 

"Why are you being obtuse? Is it deliberate?"

Warden looking out his window. Planning evil, no doubt. 

John, as Red, facing the parole board. Didn't look good. 

Brooks and Red's room was here, too. It was roped off or I totally would have made John get in that bed. 

The cell block was massive. And so was the rust. I'd hate to be the guys on the top floor. No elevators here. 

I got to be Andy as the prison librarian. 

Here's John getting the view the warden had behind Raquel Welch aka Miss Fussy Britches. 

They didn't let you in the yard. The new prison is right next door and their yard is quite visible. There were signs in the prison that you couldn't take pictures at certain windows since inmates could be seen. 

When we came in we saw this food stand advertising lemonade shake ups. I love shake ups and decided after walking a could of hours it would be my reward. 

But it was a LIE!!!  It was just lemonade and not very good. Imagine that! Liars at a prison! 

We went into Mansfield and had lunch at a place called Two Couzins. 

  

We got an order of garlic cheese bread. It was cheesy and good. 

Then we had garlic Parmesan boneless chicken wings. I prefer bone in, but they were out. They were smothered in sauce and very tasty. And VERY garlicky!

There was a carousel in Mansfield and for $1 a ride I couldn't resist. My friends joined me but John hung out to take pictures. 

 

After our long day, John made homemade macaroni and cheese for our hosts. Great finish to a long day. Now John doesn't have to cook for the next week. 

On The Road - Indy to Ohio!

We woke up early anxious to hit the road. It wasn't a long car day, but we knew we need to be in Dayton to meet a friend of John's for breakfast. 

We needed gas! John loves that our new Escape shows the miles to empty. But when we did our test drive, it was at zero miles to empty and made it the four miles or so to the gas station. So now John likes to run it empty. 

(Don't tell John, but this isn't the REAL Indianapolis Speedway!)

We snacked a little since breakfast wasn't until 9:30. We met John's friend, Ed, at Bob Evans. 

I didn't know this was a restaurant. I've seen the breakfast meats and meals at the grocery store but thought it was just another brand. 

I had brioche French toast with fresh strawberries and a side of bacon. The bacon was super crisp and very flavorful. 

John had eggs and sausage with two biscuits. He didn't ask for two and it seemed like a lot. The sausage was ok, but the bacon was better. 

The waitress was also shocked when I took a photo of his breakfast. I think she was new. 

There were more stories and John and Ed played the "what's that guys name" game. 

(Sorry no picture of his buddy. Didn't think of it till we were in the car.)

We hit the road again. We listened to the audio of Shawshank Redemption in preparation of our next stop. I'd read the story several times. But John's only seen the movie. He learned why Red was in prison. 

We got into Dover and finally got to see a friend of mine! DiAnna and I met years ago on the internet through our love of Stephen King. After meeting in Maine many moons ago we have stayed in touch. (Gotta love Facebook!)

Her cat Melody wasn't too sure about us, but luckily let us stay. 

DiAnne reads the blog and loved the post where we made shrimp scampi. So we recreated it for her.  We bonded with her family. 

John tried some virtual reality courtesy of DiAnne's daughter, Heather. 

He also bonded with her mom and found out they were birthday twins. 

He fell in love with some homemade hooch. 

This did not completely influence the rest of the night. 

After John's ordeal last year he'd talked about getting a tattoo. He wanted it to honor what he'd survived. On this trip, after years of saying I'd never get one, I decided I needed one, too. 

I asked DiAnne if Dover had a good tattoo place and she knew right away. 

We stopped earlier in the day but the artists were all booked. We left my number in case of a cancellation. 

At 9:30 my phone rang. If we came right down he'd get us in. 

I went first. 

This is from Stephen King's opus The Dark Tower. It is Ka. It means fate, destiny and fulfilling your purpose. 

John got Elvis' Taking Care of Business logo. Inside is a semi-colon. It represents a life that could have ended but didn't. Also, it represents that he had part of his colon removed, so he now has a "semi" colon. Gotta have a little humor! As an added bonus, it's in the Iowa State colors!

Our artist, Nic at My Museum Tattoo, was amazing! I don't know if I'll ever get another one, but this certainly makes this trip memorable already.