Countryside Jeep Ride

Bike Jeep:  Wrangler TJ

Route:  Google Maps

This post follows all three Food Ride rules, even if it breaks the unwritten 'Ride a Motorcycle' rule. But I've always thought that driving the Jeep with the top off is quite similar to riding a bike -- at least in the sense that you're out in the elements and you don't feel isolated from the environment like you normally do while caging it with the A/C on. I know I'll get there a lot faster and have more fun on a bike, but the Jeep has some obvious advantages in certain situations:  it goes places my bikes don't, it can carry things that don't fit in my pocket (including people-sized things, of which it can handle about three), I don't have to strap on a helmet or any other gear, and I can eat pizza while driving. She's been with me a long time, and I love her.

I also love The Country Bakery. That's probably obvious from a couple previous Food Ride posts (here & here), and today I was going to get some love in return. On the last visit I learned that they'll give you a free personal pizza on your birthday, so I was determined to get there for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It ended up being somewhere in between lunch and dinner. Perfect.

I got my pizza and I also got an unexpected something extra...

BREAKING NEWS:  My beloved Country Bakery is closing! Not really... they'll reopen next week in the building on 31-E where Honey's BBQ used to be. But it feels like they're closing.

Tree.

Barn.

Pond.

MORE BAD NEWS:  Mo's is closed!

It wouldn't be a true Food Ride if I didn't have to turn around at least once.

31-E -- not fun.

Nine-and-Three, kids.

The Country Bakery. At least it is for two more days.

FLASHBACK:  Here's a pic of the new location from a previous ride -- definitely a lot bigger!

Nice! I usually arrive too late for donuts.

Free Birthday Pizza! I'm gonna miss sitting at this picnic table in the middle of nowhere eating a fresh hot pie...

Take-out pizza for my people.

Chicks dig Jeeps with baby seats.
Sorry, I meant to say chicks dig big boxes of donuts.

VERDICT:  I don't know what to think about this. Being opposed to change in general, my initial reaction is sadness. The new location is exactly the same distance from my house and I'm sure they'll do a lot more business with so much more traffic. But my favorite thing about The Country Bakery is that it really is out in the country -- it is in the middle of nowhere! I sat outside for twenty minutes today and saw five cars on the road... and three of 'em were stopping by to pick up their own pizzas!

Also, it's a fun ride to get there. There's nothing fun about 31-E, so some of the charm will certainly be lost. There will be no more Country Bakery + Berry Patch + Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese family drives on Saturday mornings.

On the bright side, they'll have a lot more room and it sounds like they're putting it to good use. There's talk of an expanded breakfast menu and a variety of dinner items that will now be served during extended hours on Friday & Saturday evenings. Knowing how well they do donuts/bread/pastries/pizza, I'm sure they'll make a mean meatloaf.

So, goodbye Country Bakery v1.0. We'll always have the memories, and the pictures. And of course we'll visit CB v2.0 for more good country cooking. Ciao...

The Jeep hasn't made a successful pass on a two-lane road since the fall of 2000 while running north on 178 through Panamint Valley, CA... until now!

Ranger Bob's.

I've been to a wedding there. I've collected two First Place Chilifest trophies there. I like it there. But I miss Chilifest -- bring it back, Bob! Bring it back!

Corn to the left of me... Chickens to the right... Here I am...

Big Sky Country.

What do we have here?

Headin' home, eatin' pizza...

BONUS:  I came home to the coolest birthday cake ever! Well, at least the coolest cake since the last time Mindy made one for us. Thanks, Lana's Girl!

Route.

JEEP HISTORY:  We've been through a lot together...

Jeep 1.0.

Jeep 2.0.

Jeep 3.0.

BEST MOMENT:  We climbed Lippencott Road to The Racetrack in Death Valley a few times, this time with three people and three days of camping gear.

WORST MOMENT:  The Salton Sea is the stupidest place ever, but the people are friendly. The next day a Snowcat pulled her out. That wasn't cheap.

UPDATE (7/25/12):  Great news! According to an email I received today from The Hibners, The Country Bakery will be moving back to Austin on August 15th!  I know where I'm eating lunch in 21 days and again in 66 days.  I never did visit v2.0, but it will remain open in Glasgow until August 11th.



UPDATE III (8/15/12):  It's true... The Country Bakery is back!!!

UPDATE IV (4/27/13):  The Country Bakery has closed forever. Sad day. Thanks for the donuts, the pizzas, and the good times...

Last donuts. Last pizzas.

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Dovie's Cafe (Tompkinsville, KY)

Bike:  KTM Super Duke R

Route:  Google Maps 

If your conversation ever veers into Hamburger territory in this part of Kentucky, someone will inevitably mention Dovie's in Tompkinsville. Dovie's Cafe has been around since 1940 and it is famous for one thing:  Deep-Fried Hamburgers. You order your burger squozed or unsquozed -- the squozed burgers have some of the grease pressed out before it is slapped on the bun. 

This place has been on my list since the beginning of spring, and I finally had a chance to ride there today. Knowing that I was going to eat one of the most unhealthy lunches imaginable, I decided an early workout and a skipped breakfast might help offset the damage. That was dumb, and I sure was hungry when I got to Tompkinsville.

And that's where I suffered my first Food Ride Fail. Was it an Epic Fail? Nope! But for awhile I thought it was. And it would have been if a wrong turn and The Country Bakery didn't save my day.

[TANGENT:  In my opinion, the term Epic Fail has been overused in recent years. There is always a lot of fail happening out there, and that's normal. An Epic Fail should be truly epic (i.e., monumental).

The only recent example I can think of happened during the 100th running of the Indy 500 earlier this year. Rookie JR Hildebrand found himself in the lead of the race with only three laps to go. He had already negotiated 788 corners successfully, so he had to navigate only 12 more to put his face on the Borg-Warner trophy in his first attempt. 

But that doesn't happen. And it didn't happen. JR made it through 11 of those 12, and on the 800th and final turn of the race he slammed the wall and watched his historic moment slip by with the checkered flag in view. The Indy 500 has certainly seen it's share of mistakes, but I can't imagine there's been any worse error than this that didn't involve death. When the remains of his ruined car bounced off the wall and slid to a stop in front of us in Turn 1 (some 3500 feet after his crash started in Turn 4), I couldn't comprehend what I had just witnessed. But I knew what I had seen:  Epic Fail.]

Anyway, here we go...

Things just aren't as green as they were a couple months ago.

Mo's Grocery in non-existent Halifax, KY. You can get a good fresh Burger there, too.

Pitstop for gas & air in Scottsville.

The MotoGP guys were doing laps on new pavement at IMS today, so when I spotted this newly resurfaced parking lot I decided to do some laps, too. They did a great job eliminating the problem bumps, and after ten laps or so the grip really improved...

Shade Tree.

Fountain Run, KY.

The sign says this is the East Mud Lick Church of Christ in Mud Lick, KY. I spent a good portion of the day wondering if there is actually a West Mud Lick Church of Christ?

Unplanned pitstop to do the Something Bit Me! dance-and-strip routine. This is Sulphur Lick, Ky -- not to be confused with Sulphur Well, KY (home of the Lighthouse Restaurant). Lighthouse is said to be the King of the Meat-and-Threes. It's on my list...

Ranch.

So, now for the fail part of my ride... 

While everybody loves to talk about Dovie's, nobody ever mentions that Dovie's closes at 2:00 PM on Saturdays! It's not on their website because they don't have a website. I suppose I could have called to make sure that I could walk in at 1:45 PM and get a deep-fried burger, but that thought never crossed my mind. And boy was I hungry...

Hey, look, there's Dovie's! Say, why is the parking lot empty?

To make things worse, I did get to watch them fry up 12 Burgers that I couldn't have. I like their operation, though -- all the work is done in the middle of the joint so you can watch your Burger be made, assembly-line style. Three vats of soybean oil on the right, and a counter top to slap everything together on the left. And that's it. Simple!

That's the last Burger of the day being squozed. Torture.

Documentation -- they really do close at 2:00 PM. 

I think they felt sorry for me, so they offered to sell me a hot dog (deep-fried, of course). I almost finished my milk before closing time. Closing time means they are going home, so you are leaving.

Sure, I'll be glad to get the lights!

VERDICT:  A Deep-Fried Hot Dog tastes about like you'd expect it to. [Given the opportunity, I would have chose squozed. But after watching the process, I'm not sure there's very much difference.]

All you need to know about Dovie's is this:  THEY CLOSE AT 2:00 PM ON SATURDAY! And by 2:00 PM, they really mean 1:30 PM -- if you're not there by 1:30, you are not getting a Dovie Burger.

Dovie's Cafe, established 1940.

This looks like a step back in time.

Pitstop.

After this last pitstop, I made a wrong turn and my day took a turn for the better. I decided to just go East until I saw something that looked familiar. This is why I have the 'No GPS' rule!

I chose right, and it was the right choice.

I stumbled upon some fun roads, for sure.

I don't know what this was, mostly because I don't know where I was, but it looked like good clean fun.

Yeah! It's the Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese farm! That means The Country Bakery is nearby...

And there it is --The Country Bakery, one of my favorite food places.
(It's open 'till 6:00 PM on Saturday)

So, this is where my Epic Fail became a regular everyday fail. I'll take it!

What did I learn from this? When all else fails, find The Country Bakery -- they'll fix it.

They make pizzas in there. Donuts and all that bakery stuff, too (but by 3:00 PM on Saturday the donuts are long gone).

Happy.

If you can prove it's your birthday, The Country Bakery will bake you a Personal Pizza like this one for free.

Happier.

Paradise Point. If I wanted a hot dog I would have gone there. I still hope to spend a whole day there before the summer ends.

Headin' home, happy...

Route.

UPDATE (6/8/12):  I'll admit to holding a grudge against T-ville since that August '11 failure, so I tried to put it behind me today and go back for my Dovie Burger. Another fail. I got so lost on the way there that I can't even illustrate my path on a route map. My bad.

Once again, this turned into another great day anyway. My grudge has been retired thanks to Monroe County BBQ -- I love Tompkinsville! And I'll get that Deep-Fried Dovie Burger one of these days...

Apparently I can get lost in the Jeep just as easily as I can get lost on a bike...

Fountain Run, KY.
Somebody is re-opening this gas station and building a store complete with a deli.  Sweet.

Dovie's Cafe. 3:45 PM.
They close at 4:00 on Fridays.
I didn't even try...

Headin' home... with a bunch of BBQ.

Flippin, KY
42132

UPDATE (5/31/14):  Well, it took awhile, but I finally got that burger! If the original post had a negative tone, I apologize because these ladies couldn't have been nicer. Turns out that if you get here in time, you will get your Dovie burger. By the looks of things, you might not always get a seat, but you'll get a burger!

V-Twin horses at Fountain Run, KY.

Squozed.

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