Back to Cracker Barrel - Day 9 of 10

You can't go home again, or at least you can't go back to Cracker Barrel and have the same experience. I went back tonight for more chicken fried steak, and I have to say I was disappointed. I have to preface this by saying that I had gotten up at 5 am for my press breakfast so I was fairly worn out by dinner. I didn't like that she asked me if I wanted brown or white gravy. Are you kidding? It's like asking "Do you want 1000 Island dressing on that Cesar salad?"

So when my plate arrived, I noticed the uniform nature of the piece of meat. It is typically ragged along the edge, but I swear they must have changed vendors and this was like a pre-formed meat patty rather than a real piece of beef.

I had brought a magazine and the USA Today from the hotel room to read. I know some restaurants do this as policy, but I don't like being given my check along with my food. It's like they're saying, "Hurry up and eat and get out."

I had eaten about half my food, was engrossed in whatever drivel I was reading when my waitress asked me if I was finished eating the cole slaw which was in a side dish and I probably had a bite left. Really? Do you need that little bowl that badly? I really don't like when the dishes are removed one by one as I eat -- I've even had an overeager busser take the plate away as I'm putting the last bite of food in my mouth.

It was really the first time I'd had all day to relax and I was being made to feel rushed.

The cheery manager was going table to table (they call it "touching tables" in the trade)to see if everything was OK. When he got to me, I told him that I was feeling rushed and mentioned the cole slaw bowl. I have to say he did a good job answering my complaint. Said that Cracker Barrel has a recent corporate push to "pre-bus" so they can move new people in quicker and sometimes the servers/bussers get carried away. Fair enough.

On an unrelated note, I miscounted the length of this trip. I thought if I left on April 6 and returned home on April 16, that was 10 days, but it's actually 11. I don't go home until Friday, but I'll be glad to get there!

Signs, Signs - Day 9 of 10

Wish this were clearer, but the sign says
"Warm up with Hot Chocolate." Depsite the sunny skies, palm trees and temps in the 70s, everything must be relative and locals no doubt feel chilly and need to warm up.

Central Florida - Day 8 of 10

I've come to this air show for more than 25 years -- the one thing I do enjoy about it is the Spanish Moss. The airport has lots of old trees just dripping with the stuff. Some years I've taken the dry cleaning bag from the hotel and stuffed it with Spanish Moss to bring home for my own garden. In New York, a fist-sized bag of Spanish Moss is five dollars.

This area of Central Florida is still very rural. Lots of agriculture, including strawberry farms. Loads of roadside stands selling strawberries now -- ranging from a little farm stand to a guy selling out of the back of his station wagon. The going price seems to be $4.99 for a flat -- I think that would be six to eight pints -- great price, but I've never attempted to bring some home.

On the way to the airport today I saw a truck full of oranges and you see orange groves here too. It sounds prettier than it is -- it's sort of sandy soil, small farms and homes.

Everything went well today, but tomorrow I have my press breakfast. It's set up by 7 am, but I'm meeting my client at 6:45 which means I'll be up before 6. I can be a morning person, but I prefer not to be. Of course, I'll do the whole "did I oversleep?" drama all night long.

I really trust this caterer -- it turned out to be someone I grew up with who I had not seen since high school. He went to college in Florida and stayed. So in addition to being an old, old friend, he is also the best caterer I have ever worked with. I was talking to his business partner today and kidding him about getting to bed early so he doesn't oversleep, and he said "That won't happen. I'll sleep in the store if I have to." Which is great. There's nothing like the sight of your catering truck pulling up to the venue.

More Amenities - Day 7 of 10

Today I just did my regular work and finished about 1/2 of an article that's due on Wednesday. The big air show starts tomorrow and I have a meeting at 10, followed by a lunch/briefing. Then I think I'll be able to come back and finish my article.

These are the standard Holiday Inn amenities, and a bad photo to boot. You can see you get a small test tube worth of product. The body cream says soften; the shampoo says shampoo; the hair conditioner says tame and the soap says cleanse.

A factor that makes being able to cleanse, shampoo and tame difficult is that the water pressure is so low. You can adjust the shower head from "thick dribble" which is sort of like a half-hearted hose to "light spray" and spray connotes way more power than there is. It's more of a wide sprinkle. Tomorrow will be my third shower here and each day I spend more time rinsing my hair thinking I'll get all the conditioner out.

I have to say the weather has really been great -- breezy in the high 70s.

Signs, Signs -- p.s. to Day Six

I have to confess to a fascination for signs. Always stop to read them. Always stop to ponder them. This one is from lunch at the drive-thru at Wendy's, and it essentially makes no sense.

What Wendy's is saying is you don't get tomatoes unless you ask for them. So no apology is required. If you don't like tomatoes, you're saved from having to pick them off. If you do like tomatoes, you're still getting them.

I hadn't noticed in New York the tomato shortage, but I haven't priced any in the grocery store either.

View from My Window - Day 6 of 10

Conde Nast Traveler used to -- and may still -- have a feature page that faces the inside back cover called "The View from my Window" where readers have sent in magnificent views from various hotel windows. The caption always sounded so enchanted -- like "Grand Island Oceanfront Resort, Eleuthera, Bahamas -- Room 458" and you'd see pink sand beaches, sailboats, turquoise waters, swaying palm trees -- the works.

I have rarely been that lucky. The view here is fairly typical for my travels: parking lots, highways, gas stations, other hotels. I did manage some stunted swaying palms, but that's about it.

Two highlights in the past 24 hours: [wait, make that 3] -- I did get my Cracker Barrel dinner. I went about 8 thinking the dinner rush would be over, but when I arrived, there was a line and a PA system announcing names of reservations and I wasn't that desperate so I drove around for a while -- didn't want fast food/drive thru, and the other choices were Dennys, and those kind of places. There was a place called Grand China Buffet -- and I do love Chinese food, but man, I thought that might be a risk. I drove around and then went back to Cracker Barrel and those extra 15 minutes made the difference.

I got my chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, corn and coleslaw along with a glass of lemonade. Jesus, take me, I'm ready to go. That was so good. (If I'm ever about to be executed, drive me in shackles to Cracker Barrel for my last meal of chicken fried steak.) Read a magazine and had a wonderful dinner. That was the first highlight.

The second highlight was when I went to brush my teeth before going to bed last night, I dropped the brush head on the floor, immediately bent over to pick it up and it was gone. No really. Gone. Disappeared into thin air. I looked everywhere, including inside the tissue box. You think you're losing your mind. Maybe I just thought I dropped it, and it's here somewhere. Things don't disappear into thin air. Finally I gave up and went to sleep un-brushed which I hate.

This morning I thought surely I'd find it, but I didn't so I eventually called down the hallway to a housekeeper who came in my room, got flat on her stomach and found it somehow wedged into this space under the vanity. I wanted to kiss her. It was the kind of trick that if you attempted to do it, you couldn't. So finding my toothbrush head was highlight #2.

Then I thought I'd have to spend some time looking for a laundromat, a place I hoped never to have to frequent again. The hotel guide that they had on the desk only mentioned "laundry and drycleaning services" and I wasn't about to pay to have laundry sent out. Coming back from dinner last night, I saw something right opposite my room which is a laundry room, the only one in the hotel, and it's right across the hall.

I got quarters and detergent and Bounce from the front desk and my laundry is being done now. What a time saver.

I finished my one article this morning, so now it's on to the next one. I was supposed to have dinner tonight with one of my clients which I was looking forward to -- the kind of business dinner that's with a friend. But the company president is coming in a day earlier than planned so my client has to be with him. Dumped for a president; rank does have its privileges.

Just went to put my wash into the dryer and I saw the housekeeper sweeping in the laundry room and I thanked her again, said I hadn't had to feed quarters into a machine in some time --these hotel machines are two dollars for wash and two dollars to dry. She said the going rate at a regular laundromat is $1.75 to wash and still 25cents to dry. My undies are getting one cycle and if they're not dry, they can air dry the rest of the way.

Hope the view from your personal window is a beautiful one.

Changing Locations - Day 5 of 10

One show is finished, and it's on to the next. The press room got packed up and I stayed and talked with some people, left the big fancy hotel around 2, rented a car and now I'm in Haines City, Florida, which is about 20 miles from where the next show is. But since I'm on my own dime for this show I wanted a hotel that was economical.

When I checked in, I said I was a little farther away than I thought I was going to be and the front desk clerk gave me a shortcut to get there. Plus he upgraded me to a King Suite. Suite is a bit of an exaggeration. It's the room you see in the photo, but then there is a walk-through kitchen area with a fridge, microwave, coffee maker, cabinets and a sink. Also a sofa and coffee table. But it's really one big elongated room.

Of course I thought I'd be able to do my own work while monitoring the press room, but all I accomplished really was to keep up with emails -- I guess that's something so I have a bunch of articles to write -- two of which are due on Wednesday so I'm going to write for a while, then go out and have a nice dinner.

Well nice is a relative term, too. One of my guilty pleasures is the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain which we don't have in New York, and my favorite thing to order there is chicken fried steak, which we also don't have in New York. I noticed there's a Cracker Barrel at this exit -- you can imagine my excitement when I saw the billboard, but I didn't see it yet -- I'll find it.