Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Duggle Channels Grubby

Florida was nice. It was kind of disconcerting the entire time to watch CNN and even the local news constantly talk about wild fires in Oklahoma City. They kept mentioning cities and towns right around my house, which is fairly deep in the woods. We weren't sure we'd be coming home to a house or a burnt out shell. Fortunately, the house still stands.

The trip started out on a strange note. We stopped at a Wal-Mart parking lot at 2am in between Jasper and Birmingham Alabama and someone offered to stud my dog. I don't know about you, but nobody ever offered to have sex with my Chihuahua after midnight in a parking lot in Alabama before. Mississippi, maybe.

The next day some guy in Georgia told me he liked how my Beagle looks. I was worried about his intentions too, but the gun rack in his pickup told me he wanted her for her hunting abilities. The only area my beagle hunts is my dining room table.

Speaking of Mississippi, one day I hope to have a fast food order fulfilled correctly in Mississippi. They had a half dozen opportunities on this trip, but they are still going oh-fer. There are car plants all over the south now, but not a one in Mississippi. I think I know why. If nobody in the state can get an Iced Tea order correct, do you want them building your transmission?

We did drive through Birmingham and I realized one thing about that city, something only Grubby would probably appreciate. Birmingham has the best fast food selection of anywhere in the country I've ever seen. Of course that's not saying much, as fast food is just fast food, but for a connoisseur like Grubby, Birmingham has to be the top of the heap.

Of course they have all the standard McDonalds/Wendy's/Taco Bell/Sonic/Captain D's/Chick Fil A/Arbys type restaurants you can find anywhere, but they also have some fairly unique places that I haven't seen very many other places, if anywhere else. These include:

-Milo's - Strictly Hamburgers, and very popular sweet Iced Tea
-Sneaky Pete's - Hot Dog joints....there aren't enough good hot dog places. Try the Junkyard Dog. Incredible!
-Rally's - Great Cheeseburgers, and interesting fries.
-Checkers - Kind of a Rally's wanna-be, but still very good burgers.
-Jack's - Breakfasts are outstanding.
-Jill's - Not a joke, but I'm not sure they are around any more.

If you want real restaurants, Birmingham isn't so great (but I do know of some FANTASTIC Barbeque and Rib joints) but for fast food, B'ham can't be beat!

3 comments:

Poker4peace said...

On your next trip, try stopping through Pell City a little east of Birmingham off I-20. (The first Pell City exit if traveling east)You'll find some of the best grub in Alabama in what looks like the most deplorable run down dilapidated truckstop/diners. LOL

DuggleBogey said...

I lived in Pell City Alabama from 1990-1993.

No lie.

Poker4peace said...

As a long haul trucker for 30 years I traveled through Pell City countless times and would stop often for dinner. Three great truckstops all on the same corner! In 93 there was a small green diner on the south side of I20 in a dirt parking lot that would seat maybe 15 or so. My favorite was the T-Bone which was served on ugly old lime green plastic plates with plastic forks and knives where the steak would be bigger than the plate it was served on. LOL