Why are we at the Walmart distribution center and What is a Tamale?

" One main factor in the upward trend of animal life has been in the power of wandering."

~Alfred Worth Whitehead

"You are a failure GPS!" the following picture is after we selected Walmart in the GPS to stop and get some hummus and apples... it failed to include distribution center in the title. Thus we ended up in the middle of nowhere a couple miles off the highway.. Great Job Suzy.

The drive from Alabama to Mississippi we rocked out to eighties and acapella music provided by Helen.. amazing! The eighties Cd is Autumn's favorite so far. As we entered mississippi we stopped at their rest area/welcome center.. all I can say is WOW! This place had free wi-fi, free coffee, free restrooms ( that were clean), tons of great touring guides, and the inside was sweet, like a formal living room. It also had a huge dog park outside and gorgeous grove of trees that we frolicked through to get some of our jitters out.

Welcome to mississippi:) 

After plenty of tree climbing and pictures we loaded back into the car and headed to Vicksburg where we would stop to have dinner. Unfortunately, all the places we were calling in Vicksburg would be closing at 5, and we were suppose to arrive like 2 min before. Luckily we found one, The Tamale Place, that was open until 8. I wish we had taken a picture of the Tamale Place, because it was truly sketch. On a strip of road that had hardly anything on it, we arrived as it was starting to get dark, and the tiny building looked like a bail bonds drive thru. To make it even more interesting when we walked inside there is a huge glass window separating the cooks in the back and the customers with a lovely sign that reads:

If you are on you cell phone, we will not serve you.

If you are using profanity, we will not serve you.

If you have a credit card, we will not serve you.

If you lean through the window, we will not serve you.

Of course when I entered I was on my cell phone, with Erica Bethel Metzger, and had to quickly go outside, because I was getting eyeballed. When I came back inside, Autumn and I looked over the menu and decided we would get a tamale, because that was what was recommended, but what is a tamale?

We debated not asking for fear of getting a dumb look, but finally gave in and asked the girl in front of us, who, after a dumb look said, "what, ya'll really don't know what a tamale is?You're not from round her are ya? Well, I don't know how to describe um, but theys good."That was enough for us, we ordered a half dozen and anxiously waited.

When we got up to the window the guy scooped our tamales out of the pot, plopped them on some news paper and wrapped them up. This was going to be good. I looked at Audi who was looking skeptical at this point, and just shrugged, when in Rome...

The tamales were fabulous.. super greasy.. but totally worth it. After we opened them up, I realized I had had a tamale before, made by Brian, from an el salvadorian recipe from his wife Jenny. The one's jenny made were of corn and not greasy at all.. you topped them with a creamy cheese. These on the other hand were a mixture of pork and I don't know what, dripping with grease and pretty spicy. So even though it was sketch looking, we give The Tamale place a thumbs up.. a definite stop to eat if you are passing through.

 

From the Tamale Place we went to Vicksburg's downtown to explore and catch a glimpse of the Mississippi river. There were some beautiful churches and overall really quaint, but it was starting to get dark so most things were closed ( pretty much everything in town closed at 5 pm), and since there was no one else about we decided to head out soon after we arrived. On the Road Again..

Stopped at subway for dinner.. Autumn and I have a new fave the veggie sub with every veggie toasted with cheese and add marinara sauce... so yummy.

After Vicksburg we passed through Louisiana. We really wanted to swing by New Orleans, but weren't sure if we could lock down some one to stay with, and we were super anxious to get to Aunt Noni and Uncle Jims so we pressed on. I wish I had more to say about Louisiana, but it was dark at this point, and we were on the highway. Almost to Texas. Yee haw

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