Helen's brother Ed said I had to have a Mitchums burger before I left. So Helen and I sat around telling lies and talking about writing and travel until Mitchums opened. She says she is not working on a book right now but I think she is working on a autobiography and if so, it should be a hoot, as we say in the south.
At 11am we went down to the corner and ordered a burger. The buns are made by Jamie the baker on the property. The burger is cooked in the parking lot by Dave. He had to cook 2 for me, as the first one jumped off the plate into a parking place. Mitchums is named after Robert Mitchum who used to have a house in the area. Great burger and great lunch event with everyone knowing and visiting with Helen.
Jamie the baker
Dave the burger flipper
Helen inducted me into the First Church of Elvis Reformed and then we said good by and I headed south.
I headed off into the hot boonies. It was a very beautiful ride but I saw temperatures of 109 on Big Red's OAT gauge.
I pulled into Ken and Karen's about 2:30 and was happy to find that their happy hour starts at 3 pm.
Ken is a retired museum director and Karen is a retired school teacher. Ken is also an accomplished photographer and has created several great books. His latest , created by he and Karen, is Out and About in Mexico City, a book about the parks in Mexico City. When the publisher first sent him down to Mexico City, they found all the parks a lot alike and they were not sure what they would do. The more they visited the parks, the more they began to see the life that the park takes on with it's patrons. That is what the book became and it is a great story of life in Mexico City seen through the people in the park. The book is available online from Amazon.
After happy hour we were off to the Red Rooster in the middle of nowhere for all you can eat crabs. The beer was good, especially since I was not driving, and a mess of crabs were consumed.
DAY 23
I was glad to see that I was south of the Mason-Dixon line again, indicated by Ken cooking grits for breakfast.
Ken and Karen live in a 1800's house in the town of Nanitcoke, MD. The very small community has done a great job of keeping developers out and preserving a little of rural Maryland.
We went to Salisbury and visited the University and the Ward Museum of Decoys. With Ken explaining the art of the duck and how it related to our history and how you can track the spread of cultural methods of art, made what looked like just a carved duck into a very interesting tour. The more modern birds that are carved solely for art purposes were just stunning.
Back to the farm for another happy hour and great dinner of surf, soft shell crabs, and turf, a good filet.
This is the first day on this trip that I did not ride Big Red.
