The Way It's Supposed To Be

I admit. I'm tired of steakhouses with a buffet and folks bellied up to the trough for rolls and bad mac & cheese, and cookies. I want to walk in, order a steak and potato, saunter over to the salad bar, make a salad, and sit down and eat a good steak with some Texas toast. I found it in Meridian, MS at The Old Farm Beef House. 10 ounce ribeye for $15.99, medium rare. No frills, but a good steak cooked over charcoal. The way I remember steak houses "back in the day".

The Final Stretch

It's the final push to the end of the Natchez Trace. It's getting hilly. Seeing more deer and turkeys on the side of the road. The flat-landers have to stop at every waterfall since we don't see many of those.

And then it ends. Just like that. Mile Marker 442.

We are sad. We don't want it to end. What we thought would be "boring" has turned into "relaxing". Once we're off the Trace, mailboxes, powerlines, driveways, and 18 wheelers seem foreign to us. We want pine trees and Indian mounds.

We're almost at Nashville, but after the Trace, I can't stomach Nashville traffic, so we opt for the downtown sights and shops of Franklin, TN. It's way past lunch, so we dive into BB's BBQ for some 'Q and cornbread (must be a TN thing).

With a belly full of 'Q, we make tracks for Lynchburg. It's time to wind down by the time we get there, so we settle into the Lynchburg Country Inn.

Nice little inn 1/4 mile from the Jack Daniel's distillery which is where we're headed tomorrow.

(It's dark now...and then the sun comes up.)

Daylight breaks, we head for the Iron Kettle for breakfast as the tour of the distillery doesn't get going until 0900. No Egg-Mcmuffin here. Take a look at the picture. I think it will explain things better than I can.

We drag our full bellies off to the distillery to meet Mister Jack. Here's the man...

Here's the spring where ALL the water for makin' whiskey comes from...

Here's the original building where Ol' Jack did business next to the wood stove...



Here's the final product...


Tour was free and definitely worth stopping by for if you're in the general area ('cause it is a bit of a drive from anywhere).

Let's review:

The Natchez Trace. Drive it. The whole thing. Eat somewhere beside a chain restaurant. Stay in a Bed and Breakfast. Enjoy.

B-Word