Thursday November 4, 2010
Boy did I sleep well last night. Up early, and over to the Sirloin Cafe for breakfast. When will I start finding grits on the menu? Kevin Ellis from the Gaston Gazette called this morning to do a follow-up interview about the walk. When it's published, we'll put a link on the blog. After talking to Kevin, I headed out to find a place for an Internet connection. (I'm wearing a new pair of shoes around town today to make sure they fit before heading out tomorrow.) The local high school was kind enough to allow me to use their connection, so I spent a couple of hours there doing computer stuff. It's a small school, less than 200 students.....but appears new and modern. I then went back to the motel, dropped off my computer, and headed to lunch. Biker Phil (remember him from a previous post?) recommended a place called Peacock's Mesquite Grill, so that's where I'm going. Along the way I passed Pioneer Hall, site of the Annual Cowboy's Christmas Ball. Before long I found Peacock's.
Peacock's is a rustic looking place, nothing fancy about the exterior. If you ever go to a restaurant and 27 out of 30 vehicles parked outside are pickup trucks, don't go in looking for thin stemmed glasses and finger foods. And when you walk inside and the cattle brands of all the local ranches are burned into the paneling on the wall, you know the meals are going to be hearty and the portions generous. And if you order a steak, don't go pouring all kinds of sauces and stuff over it to improve the taste.....because the guy sitting beside you might have raised that cow and get insulted that you think it's not OK as it came to the table. I had a strip steak, potato, cole slaw, cornbread, and tea served in a quart mason jar.......and homemade peach cobbler to take back to the motel. The service, food, and atmosphere were all tops, so try it if you ever come out here to look at the night sky. Anson has at least three nice local restaurants: Peacock's, Sirlion's, and Easterlings, a mostly bar-b-que place.
I really like Anson (I know i say that about all the places). It's built around the courthouse square like some many other towns out this way, and is the county seat of Jones County (which is a dry county). One of the first things you notice when entering town is streamers bearing the high school colors hanging from most utility posts. And most of the businesses have pictures of the high school players and cheerleaders in their stores. They are serious about high school sports out here, particularly football.
I had a couple of phone calls today.....one from my buddy, Wayne Mowery. Wayne is worried I can't make it through the FT Worth / Dallas area without getting lost, so he's flying out to DFW next weekend to spend a couple of dayson the road with me. He's plotting the course for us, so all should go well. It's almost 90 miles from just west of FT Worth to just east of Dallas! I had worried about this part of the trip, but figured I would work it out as I neared the area. Wayne is saving me that worry, and also will be nice to have company for a few days.
I also had a call from Randolph Scott, a guy I met in a Best Western motel in Lordsburg, NM. Randolph and a friend were biking (Harleys, not Treks) around the four corners of the US, and covered over 9,000 miles in 22 days. The friend had health problems in his family, and had to cut the trip short. Randolph was just checking in to see how I was holding up, and where I was. Nice of him to remember me and keep in touch.
After lunch I packed up my dirty clothes, and headed to the laundromat. Washed and dried everything, took them back to the motel, and headed out to the grocery store for supplies. I don't know what I was thinking but I ended up buying much more stuff than I could carry back to the room, which was about a mile away. As I was struggling across the parking lot dropping stuff everywhere, a nice woman in a pickup truck asked if I needed a ride. I quickly accepted and she introduced herself as Salome. She asked me where I needed to go, I told her, and she took me back to the motel which saved me from having to make two trips. It was very thoughtful and kind of her to do that.
I still had to get organized and packed. Then I watched a little TV, and enjoyed one more night in a warm room and soft bed. It's cooler here, supposed to get down in the 30's tonight. But I won't worry about that until tomorrow night. Talk to you next from the road.......
Peacock's is a rustic looking place, nothing fancy about the exterior. If you ever go to a restaurant and 27 out of 30 vehicles parked outside are pickup trucks, don't go in looking for thin stemmed glasses and finger foods. And when you walk inside and the cattle brands of all the local ranches are burned into the paneling on the wall, you know the meals are going to be hearty and the portions generous. And if you order a steak, don't go pouring all kinds of sauces and stuff over it to improve the taste.....because the guy sitting beside you might have raised that cow and get insulted that you think it's not OK as it came to the table. I had a strip steak, potato, cole slaw, cornbread, and tea served in a quart mason jar.......and homemade peach cobbler to take back to the motel. The service, food, and atmosphere were all tops, so try it if you ever come out here to look at the night sky. Anson has at least three nice local restaurants: Peacock's, Sirlion's, and Easterlings, a mostly bar-b-que place.
I really like Anson (I know i say that about all the places). It's built around the courthouse square like some many other towns out this way, and is the county seat of Jones County (which is a dry county). One of the first things you notice when entering town is streamers bearing the high school colors hanging from most utility posts. And most of the businesses have pictures of the high school players and cheerleaders in their stores. They are serious about high school sports out here, particularly football.
I had a couple of phone calls today.....one from my buddy, Wayne Mowery. Wayne is worried I can't make it through the FT Worth / Dallas area without getting lost, so he's flying out to DFW next weekend to spend a couple of days
I also had a call from Randolph Scott, a guy I met in a Best Western motel in Lordsburg, NM. Randolph and a friend were biking (Harleys, not Treks) around the four corners of the US, and covered over 9,000 miles in 22 days. The friend had health problems in his family, and had to cut the trip short. Randolph was just checking in to see how I was holding up, and where I was. Nice of him to remember me and keep in touch.
After lunch I packed up my dirty clothes, and headed to the laundromat. Washed and dried everything, took them back to the motel, and headed out to the grocery store for supplies. I don't know what I was thinking but I ended up buying much more stuff than I could carry back to the room, which was about a mile away. As I was struggling across the parking lot dropping stuff everywhere, a nice woman in a pickup truck asked if I needed a ride. I quickly accepted and she introduced herself as Salome. She asked me where I needed to go, I told her, and she took me back to the motel which saved me from having to make two trips. It was very thoughtful and kind of her to do that.
I still had to get organized and packed. Then I watched a little TV, and enjoyed one more night in a warm room and soft bed. It's cooler here, supposed to get down in the 30's tonight. But I won't worry about that until tomorrow night. Talk to you next from the road.......
Great reaading
ReplyDelete