On the road again

We woke up and got ready in time to meet folks at Shoney's for breakfast at 9. On the way out, I stopped to get a picture of Betty's grease cup.

In my experience, southern cooking revolves around grease, especially from pork and bacon. Whenever you cook sausage or bacon, you pour the drippings from the skillet into a jar or cup. Next time you cook, you grease the pan with those leftover drippings. That means bacon grease is an active ingredient in any traditional southern food involving a frying pan or skillet. I like this.

Mom never did this, because she wisely saw the drawbacks of using grease as an
ingredient when your family doesn't work out in the sun all day burning calories. I've since seen Granny and now Betty with a Pyrex measuring cup full of grease. I especially like that the stuff sort of settles into bands distinguishing the different sources, looking a lot like strata in a rock bed.

We had initially planned on eating at a local cafe, but it had only recently closed down. After a quick round of phone calls--with Betty using her cell phone--the three of us arrived at Shoney's right on time. Ronnie had to work, but his wife, Sherry, wanted to make sure she got to see us. Debbie came, too, along with her girls, Jennifer and Renee. Jennifer brought Jacob, her little boy.

We had a great time catching up with everyone. (Just like me, Mom hadn't seen any of them since Gatlinburg a year and a half prior.) Jacob, all of two years old, was already forming complete sentences. He was absolutely over the moon for Betty, and would readily do anything she told him to.

Saying goodbye was hard, like it always is. Mom and I weren't in a tremendous hurry--especially since Dalton is on the way to Missouri from Toccoa, knocking three hours off the trip--but Mom had to be at work the next morning, so we plowed on down the road. I did all the driving, just like on the way down. And, just like on the way down, we spent most of the time talking. We managed to go into things like environmentalism, education, and politics in general.

We got back home at about 9, ending a six-day, 2,000-mile road trip. I went to bed well before midnight, not even noticing the significance of the date until the next morning.