FUN Awards

This is Part 2 of the Awards. Check out Part 1 for the more serious awards. These are more fun.

BEST MEAL AT A NON-CHAIN RESTAURANT: Que Sera Sera in Jackson, Miss.
Runner-Up: Harold's BBQ in Atlanta

Surprisingly Jackson gave us the best meal. This place had the best waiter, as he refilled my sweat tea 3,000 times and would never let my glass get less than 3/4s full. We also had interesting Fried Green Tomatoes (taste like fried zucchini sort of) and I had a delicious bowl of Gumbo soup. Great meal.

Runner-up was the BBQ joint in Atlanta. It was definitely the most authentic feeling meal we had, served at a place with an old lunch counter, dingy tables and a sheriff behind the counter (I guess he is a regular). Also looked like the sort of place you could get killed at if you said the wrong thing, but that just added to the appeal. The staff was nothing but friendly and the BBQ was really tasty.

BEST MEAL AT A CHAIN RESTAURANT: Jack-In-The-Box in Nashville, TN.
Runner-Up: Sonic outside of Savannah, GA.

Maybe it was because I was so hungry I had the shakes, but my chicken fajita pita sandwich and curly fries at Jack In The Box were amazing. Plus the place was so clean. I hadn't had Jack In The Box since I was in California like 10 years ago, and it seems like the food has really improved. I didn't even realize they had any restaurants in the East, and I think Nashville is the only city that had them.

Sonic gets #2 because I had always wanted to eat there and it had good food plus a unique concept. It is an authentic drive-in where every car has a speaker and you order through the speaker and they bring the food out to your car. You can either eat the food right there in your car (there are different spots and speakers for each car) or take it to go. They have a big menu and some healthy options too, unlike some of the other places we tried.

BEST SONG OF THE TRIP: "Love Story" by Taylor Swift
Runner-up: "Human" by The Killers

Yes, it is gay that both OJ and I fell silent every time this came on the radio or started playing from our iPods. But whatever, we both really like the song and even after hearing it like 10 times it never lost its charm.

"Human" is great too and it was hard to decide which one we liked more.

SONG THAT DROVE US NUTS ON THE TRIP: "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz
Runner-up: "Womanizer" by Britney Spears

I used to love this Jason Mraz song. Now it will haunt my dreams. Seriously. It played like 400 times in the span of 3 days and it was banned from iPod play. Unfortunately it then started to play on the radio. We immediately switched stations every time. It was impossible to escape from it.

OJ loves the Britney Spears song. I hate it. The chorus makes me want to stab my eyes out with an ice pick. So I guess it didn't annoy US, just ME.

FRIENDLIEST PERSON OF THE TRIP: Woman from the Pie Folks Cafe (forgot her name)

We didn't talk to nearly as many locals as we would have liked on the trip, mainly because the GPS and the internet did all the work in terms of navigation, but this woman was just delightful. She owned and operated this place called Pie Folks right outside of Memphis. We stopped there for a slice of pie and got the whole story on how her "Slap Yo Mama" pie was nominated by Good Morning America as best pie in the country. She'd get my vote any day.

BIGGEST TOURIST TRAP: Beale Street in Memphis, Tenn.

This almost won as the most disappointing place on the trip, but I held out because I still had a good time there. Beale Street has a big row of clubs that have live music in Memphis. Unfortunately, the drinks are expensive, there are covers for every place and the music was not so good. Definitely a tourist trap. Everyone there was like twice our age.

FAVORITE LINE OF THE TRIP: "We're just a couple of Oil Barons on our way to Battttoooonnnn Rougeeeee by way of Coosawatchie, South Carolina" (said in a VERY heavy Southern accent)

I can't explain this, you just had to be there.

FAVORITE NAME OF CITY/COUNTY THAT WE SAW ON THE TRIP: Licking County right outside of Columbus, Ohio
Runner-up: Chocoloco, Alabama

FAVORITE CHURCH/RELIGION RELATED MESSAGE WE SAW ON THE TRIP: On a church sign advertising Sunday service --> "Heaven: Don't Miss It For The World"

That's all folks. I had an AMAZING TIME ON THIS TRIP. OJ was the best travel companion ever as we didn't get into one fight. He was able to deal with my mood swings and extreme neurosis :-) My next road trip will be to the great American plains in a few years I think. As for my impressions of the South, I'll leave you with this quote from a book I read:

"Kid, once you leave New York City, EVERY city you go to is Bridgeport"

Peace ya'll

J$