Fried Chicken Fries???

Driving from Fayetteville to Wilmington in North Carolina along US 87, I stopped for a snack in a mom and pop's gas station. The sign on the builing said, "North Carolina's Best Hamburgers!" Reading this, I had to stop. I went in and there weren't any burgers. There was fried chicken, however. Lots of it. Personally, I'm not big on fried chicken and since I was hoping to eat while driving, fried chicken seemed like a bad choice. I asked the woman at the counter for an order of their fries, displayed in the center of the fried chicken thighs and breasts like some unidentifiable extra chicken appendage.

After getting back in the car and back on the road, I open up the styrofoam container and pull out one of the longest steak fries I'd ever seen. It was a steak fry in the truest sense: literally a quarter of a giant potato was sitting in my hand. I bite in and promptly spit it back out. The fries had been dipped in the fried chicken batter before they were put in the grease themselves. I did eat all the fries and be the last one I had started getting used to the fried chicken-like crust with the mushy potato center. If you're ever on US 87 about fifteen miles outside Wilmington, North Carolina and you see a gas station with a sign for "Carolina's Best Hamburgers," stop in and get an order of fries. They're definately a taste you wont find anywhere else.

SE US RT 08

Today I planned out the route for the great SE US RT 08 (South Eastern United States Road Trip of 2008). Below is said route:


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North Caroliner: Couldn't Be Finer

I travel a lot, relative to those who don't travel as much as me. In US though my travels have mainly been confined to the North East, except for the occasional trek south for spring break or to visit my brother here in NC. This time I'm in the South though, I'm here not for pleasure, but business. That's right, it is a straight-laced, no nonesense, keep your hands where I can see them and four on the floor assignment. That assignment? Well, I've already told you. Gosh, you could at least pretend to read the blog.

Tuesday: Finally got to Fayetteville at midnight. Charlie dropped me off then headed out to Wilmington. In the morning I went out and tried to start the Saturn and Fiat. Neither car started up. After hanging out with the tow truck guy as he took an hour to super-jump both cars, I was off to get the Fiat's oil changed. Spent the rest of the day looking for a place that would change the oil on the Fiat. Apparently due to a low muffler, no one wants to use their lift on it or drive it over their pit - I know, it is a mystery to me too. Take nap. Get internship.

Wednesday: Spend the morning calling garages to see if they'll change the Fiat's oil. Find out that people with thick Southern accents have trouble understanding me. A lot of trouble. Like, I could have been speaking Swedish. Finally find a place to do it. Change oil in Fiat. Put Fiat in storage. Take nap. Change oil in Saturn. Change air filter in Saturn. Replace light on Saturn.

Thursday: Buy coffee. Bring Saturn in for check-up. Go shopping.

Now, what does the first part have to do with the rest? Well, I've had the opportunity to interact with a lot of service people the past couple of days and I can tell you that either I have an inaccurate memory of how people in the service industry act in US or service is just nicer in the South, because except for a silly high schooler at a sporting goods store today, everyone was real nice. They weren't even the more formal "let me serve you" nice, but the friendly, chummy kind. It was... nice.

How much does service change when you go to a different place?

2008: It's Gonna Be Great

Two very important things going on right now:

1. Going back to the states.
2. Got an mp3 player.



Let's start with no. 2. Ever since I touched Molly's Creative mp3 player, I knew I had to be just like her. Last Thursday I became the proud parent of a Creative Zen V: Plus. Unfortunately, I have been unable to name it. I've always named my computers (Matthew, Oscar, Samuel.) and I don't feel like this mp3 player should be any different, but I just cannot pick a name. The problem is, I think this mp3 player is a chic. This is a picture of it; I wanted to get a photo of my actual player, but I think I've packed my camera.



That brings me to my next important thing. I'm heading out to Raleigh, North Carolina tomorrow. Technically, I will be staying with my brother who lives in Wilmington. While I'm there I will be putting my mother's car in storage and selling/fixing/donating my own car (Virgin Mary), both in Fayetteville. For those not familiar with North Carolina geography, Raleigh is two hours west of Fayetteville and Fayetteville is two hours west of Wilmington. Also, I haven't talked to my brother about how I'm going to take care of the cars from a different county or even if he'll be so kind as to pick me up from the airport.

Fortunately, there is a silver lining to this seemingly impossible conundrum:

!!!!!DUNKIN DONUTS!!!!!