UNUSUAL EXPERIENCES DRIVING TO COLORADO

 On any road trip I take there always seems to be things I've never seen before or things that are difficult to explain.  On my two, 26-hour journeys to Colorado, these are the few that really stand out.

VISITING BUC-EES FOR THE FIRST TIME

Buc-cees is a very large gas station/convenience store.  There are only about 50 stores built and I think the one I was at was in Tennessee.  The picture above shows a few dozen gas pumps. The average store has 100 gas pumps, yes, one hundred gas pumps! The largest one has 120 pumps and 12 EV hook ups.  

My first impression of inside reminded me of a very large Walmart, without all the blue.  They have a lot of tourist type things and a big selection of food that is cooked right there.  I went to use the bathroom and I thought I was in a pro football locker room.  Here's the picture I had to take, but I did not count how many urinals there were.

BUYING KFC

What could be better than a bucket of chicken from Colonel Sanders on a long road trip? I knew I would be stopping soon and I found one right off the exit and I got 8 pieces so I could have dinner and lunch the next day.  When the chicken pieces arrived, I was shocked when I saw they were in a box, pictured below.  I asked the woman at the register, "Did I get cupcakes too?"  After getting the chicken it occurred to me that I was at least an hour away from when I was stopping.  How long does it take for chicken to go bad? Fortunately ,when I got into the hotel, the fridge was working and the chicken-in-the-box tasted great. 

THE HUMAN COMPUTER

The Quality Inn that I walked into absolutely shocked me.  This is who or what met me at the front desk when I checked out.

A guy checked me in from Richmond, VA.  The checking in process was awful and I got lucky that an employee walked in to rescue me.  Both "human computers" were friendly, but it felt very impersonal.

CHICKEN WITHOUT WAFFLES-FOR BREAKFAST

Chicken and waffles is a very popular southern breakfast.  I'm not a waffle guy at all, but I did taste the chicken from a chicken and waffles meal once.  I started driving with my chicken for lunch around 1 am.  I had some ice in my cooler, but how long will chicken last? About 7:30 am I stopped for breakfast or brunch.  Outside of a Love's rest stop I had a very scenic view below:

And if you thought I was kidding about eating chicken after 7 am., here is how everything looked when I completed my breakfast/brunch.  I was hoping no one asked me where I got the chicken, since it was from a couple states away.