On the Trail of Pork
Editor’s Note:
My wife and I enjoyed a terrific vacation at Topsail Island, North Carolina for a week in September of 2007 with a bunch of our best friends, gathered there from all over the Eastern US. At the end of the week we dispersed, and our pal, Brian, headed home to Maryland.
I can say, as his long time friend and fellow adventurer, Brian, doesn't need much to get him to abandon most everything in search of most anything. Some would say he is easily distracted, but I think he is truly inspired!
Here is a short email and some photo attachments Brian sent me after he arrived home. He could have driven straight home. Instead he had a small adventure, inspired by the need for a clean restroom, a taste for tomatoes and some porcine influences I seem to have had a part in…
Mon 10/8/2007 12:48 PM
Dan,
As I was leaving Topsail Island and traveling on the back roads, I spotted a Piggly Wiggly and thought of you. And, remembering Diane's delicious tomatoes, I wanted to get some tomatoes to eat. I also thought they would have a restroom. The first pic is the outside of the Piggly Wiggly (fig. 1). As I walked in, they had a pig painted pumpkin (fig. 2), so I took a shot of that, too. What they did not have was a restroom or good tomatoes - I bought some tomatoes and, compared to Diane's, they tasted like plastic.
I then decided to get some authentic North Carolina barbecue on my journey. I got off course and became intrigued by the billboards shown in the next pic (fig. 3). I figured if they are the Pork King, they must have BBQ, so I might as well get off course even farther.
I finally arrived and, as shown in the next pic (fig. 4), it closed 15 minutes before I got there. If it wasn't for those Piggly Wiggly plastic tomatoes, I would have made it.
The Pork Center is a farm complex, so I started looking around for a place to water the landscape. That's when I discovered the Pig Loading Zone (fig. 5). I've never been to one before!
I finally found some BBQ at a place called Ralph's, shown in the next pic (fig. 6). It is just BBQ, but it is a huge place, and busy. With difficulty, you can see the pink neon pigs below the name in the pic, and I got you a menu with a pig on it.
Later,
Brian
