Friday, July 11, 2008

Road Trip 2008: Day 17 of 17 (Jackson\Home)


Sunday June 8

We ate breakfast at the hotel in Jackson, Mississippi and then hit the road for home. We stopped in Birmingham, Alabama for lunch. There was a Wendy's, a Krystal, and another restaurant called Milo's at the exit we chose. We had never heard of Milo's, but there were plenty of cars in the parking lot. It was a hamburger restaurant like the other two and I figured it must be pretty good if the locals are choosing it over the more well known restaurants.

I ordered a cheeseburger with ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise only for Derek - his usual preference. The order taker looked at me funny and asked if we had ever eaten at Milo's. I informed him that we had not and he proceeded to tell me that Milo's is famous for their special sauce and that the hamburgers just come with the special sauce by default. Derek looked skeptical, but you gotta go with the house special.

We read about the history of Milo's on a poster in the restaurant. "Milo" started his restaurant after World War II and the special sauce was perfected over many years. He knew he had it right when the customers kept asking for more of the special sauce. The special sauce was kind of like a gravy with grilled onions and pickles thrown in to compliment the flavor.

I thought it was pretty good. It was different. The order taker told us that we would either love it or hate it. I could see how you could develop a craving for it. Helen managed to get it down, but wouldn't do it again and felt that the special sauce fought back once it was down. Derek cried that he was looking forward to "just a regular hamburger". I praised him for trying it and then got him a "regular" hamburger, which he devoured. Adam had the chicken fingers and avoided the whole controversy.

We concluded our 17 day 3000 mile trip in the late afternoon and found that the pets had not forgotten us. We took a deep breath and began the task of unloading and cleanup. We had cereal for dinner, went to bed, and I went back to work the next day.

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