“81” Southbound, cont’d

by Lee Wilbur

Next day after the terrific meal at The Lexington Hotel, AJ insisted we start the morning off with an around town circumnavigation/walk and hearty breakfast at Nick’s Greek Restaurant. Good call, as food was good, hearty to boot and fortuitous, as trying to find something decent until we hit our next destination, Greenville, South Carolina, would have been a chore.

Day started with a goodly amount of ground fog, though after a few early slowdowns, sun cracked through and haze lifted to hover on the two converging ranges of the Appalachians and the Blue Ridge. Like riding down a National Geographic article. Bring tears to your eyes the beauty and diversity we have in this country.

We stayed with “81” on down to Kingsport, Tenn. and Route 26 where we made an Easterly turn and headed over/through the Blue Ridge Mts, through the Pisgah National Forest and what is euphemistically named “Sam’s Gap”...only gap thing about it, the elevation was lower than the surrounding peaks. Older I get encountering heights, the more sweaty fingerprints I indent on the Tahoe steering wheel. Managed to leave several more as AJ leaned out the window with her Ipad taking pictures and imploring me to slow down. Difficult with the speedometer reading between zero and 5mph and my eyes hardly flicking left or right. Good thing she took pictures cause all I remember were solid white lines, roller coaster downhills, and runaway truck “runouts.”

Mountainside city of Asheville finally rolled into view and several miles further on Greenville showed up on the GPS. “Maggie” then commenced to send us clear across town to a same named street/avenue, then back to another conundrum when even the receptionist at the motel - whom we had to call more than several times - had trouble finding and directing us in. “Just behind Krispy Kremes” she’d say. Like to try one someday for the effort we spent finding that motel.

Greenville, S.C., until some 20-odd years was a town at skid level. Downtown was apparently boarded up buildings, grafitti, prosti’s, and drunks. Heretofore it was the textile center of the south until mills began moving overseas. A penniless Polish immigrant who had landed in this country and made a whack of money decided he wanted to give something back to the town in return for his good fortune. He strong-armed Hyatt hotel chain into building a beautiful multi-storied hotel at the lower end of the town as the anchor attraction. Then he, with others, went looking for industry to move in. Lockheed built a plant as did GE, IBM, and just a few years ago, BMW among others. Located an hour from the mountains, few hours from the ocean, Greenville became a happening place. Young people moved in, jobs were plentiful and the downtown began to rock with upscale nightlife and good food. Probably one of the neatest, most beautiful downtown areas we’ve visited in a long time.

After a brief look over the bridge at “Waterfalls Park” we decided to stop downtown before heading south the next morning. Do a walk and more exploring.

Signs of appreciation to persons and nearby corporations attested to the 18 years of work which had gone in to building a park replete with photo opportunities, walking/biking trails, gorgeous flower beds, park benches, bridges, wildlife, etc. with its focus, a series of waterfalls and rapids which work their way through town. Fortunate be they to live and work in Greenville, South Carolina.

Last stop in a town of any consequence was Gainesville, FL, located at the crossroads of US RTE 301 and Interstate 75. Gainesville is a college town, hosting University of Florida, Santa Fe College, and Keiser University, and has surely seen an upsurge since we used to take the old two lane 301 to Jacksonville and Interstate 95N. Number of chains interspersed throughout the Mall strips, so we settled on an old favorite, Bonefish Grille, where we enjoyed their signature “Bang Bang Shrimp” and over the top Vodka martinis. Tomorrow would be soon enough to open the little house in Englewood, spend hours on the phone with COMCAST trying to get communications restored as usual, uncover and move furniture, and find all the problems the gremlins had managed to think up over the summer. With 66 inches of rain this summer, the lawn sure looked healthy.

Often, when I’m looking for a good comfort recipe, I pull one of my all-time favorite author (“Prince of Tides”), Pat Conroy cookbook off the shelf. This time it was for his Corn Pudding recipe, a real soft spot in this household.

• R E C I P E •

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter quarter cup sugar

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour (see note)

half cup evaporated milk

2 large eggs, lightly beaten one and half tsp baking powder

2 ten-ounce boxes frozen white corn (preferably or substitute) thawed and kernels blotted dry

• Place a rack in the middle of oven. Preheat to 350 deg. F.

• Butter a 2-qt. casserole and set aside

• In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Mix together the sugar and flour and stir into the butter. Stir in milk eggs, and baking powder.

• Add the corn and pour in to the prepared casserole. Bake until lightly firm (center will jiggle), about 45 minutes. NOTE: I often crunch up about a 4" stack of Ritz crackers along with the flour which I think adds to the flavor. A pinch of cayenne or dash of a favorite hot sauce or chopped banana rings also add some zing.

Fair Winds and Good Roads
– Lee S. Wilbur