About Us

OK, I'm posting from a free news server, since I can't access mine.
Normal address: lid (Scott), subbing optonline.com
for spamless.invalid to email.

I've started off on a cross-country trip, New York to Washington State,
to Southern California, then back. A northerly route west, then
southerly, back east. Family situations have caused me to abbreviate my
trip.

Well, I headed out early Wednesday morning. Traffic was fine--which, I
suppose, should have tipped me off as a bad omen. I went across the
Cross-Bronx Expressway when....

For those of you unfamiliar with the CBE, the potholes there are also
known by many as "basements." Well, I hit one such pothole, >bam<!

Filled with dread, I nevertheless headed over to this really good
camping store, Campmor, then, on the way back, remembered to check the
tire. It had a big bulge in the sidewall. Oh, crap. So, I jacked the car
up in a parking lot and took the wheel off. Now, I've changed a LOT of
tires, and have never had a problem. This time, something happened to me
that had never happened before. The car rolled off of the jack and fell
onto the brake rotor. *)&*@#&^#,

I stared at it in disbelief. I managed to jack it back up (don't ask),
and put the spare on, then tested things out. The car made a grating
noise when driven. I was able to find a Toyota dealer (thank goodness
for my GPS).

So, about four and a half hours later, and $630 dollars lighter, I made
my way west again. I stopped in the western portion of the middle of
Pennsylvania, far short of my goal for the day, and camped for the night
at Parker Dam State Park. Unfortunately, the place is meant for RVs, not
tenting--the sites are all graveled.

Thursday, I left the campground at a quarter to eight, and started out.
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin. Whew!

Foodwise: I made it to Mustard's Last Stand, an interesting place I'd
read about in the Roadfood book. I took a photo of the place:
<http://homepage.mac.com/scott_r/mustard.jpg>
I'll keep that up for a while. Unassuming looking, isn't it? Anyway, the
hotdogs (redhots) are indeed quite good. I should have gone for the
jumbo.

Since the hotdog was all I'd eaten the entire day, I decided to also go
to Real Chili in Milwaukee. I found my way, but there just happened to
be some Event in a nearby park, and the area was JAMMED. After looking
around for parking for about 15-20 minutes, I gave up.

It was getting late (after 6 PM); the campground I was going to go to
was over an hour away, and traffic was much worse that I'd anticpated,
so I said the heck with it and stayed at a Quality Inn west of
Milwaukee. Dinner was a pizza in the hotel bar--a frozen pie put in the
toaster, but decent enough (had I known in advance, I'd have passed). I
covered about 600 miles today--it would have been about 100 more if I
hadn't been sidetracked by Real Chili (and the godawful traffic).

Oh, and one thing: I went to a rest stop in Elkhart, IN, off of Rt.
80/90 to get some gas, and happened to wander inside the main building.
I found a stand for "The South Bend Chocolate Company." On a whim, I
bought a hot chocolate. It was VERY good! Reminded me of melted
Callebaut milk chocolate, plus some subtle flavor I can't quite place.
It should have been hotter, but, since the ambient temperature was in
the mid 70s, not a big issue. Aside from that, it was probably one of
the best hot chocolates I've ever had.

<Yawn> I should be in Minnesota tomorrow, and I'll poke around Rochester
for a bit; they have some good BBQ there, surprisingly enough.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
What The Heck?	Tom Kunich	Winemaking	7	17-02-2011 04:45 PM
What the heck IS this?	[email protected][_1_]	General Cooking	36	25-01-2008 02:45 AM
What the heck?	Lady Cat	General Cooking	12	25-04-2007 09:48 PM
What the Heck?	[email protected]	Wine	2	03-12-2006 11:20 PM
How the heck...	-L.	General Cooking	5	02-12-2003 03:47 PM

Menu

About Us