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Westbound on Interstate 40,
© Mrs. CarPeo |
gets you to the Memphis Pyramid
(Home of the NBA Grizzlies)
The next exit is in Arkansas
but first you cross
the Mississippi River Bridge.
The 2529 mile road goes through
eight states but no interstate link is
as scenic as Tennessee/Arkansas.
We were there on August 12, 2016
Tennessee has its pyramid and the bridge
is photogenic enough to warrant this hyperlink
Then Arkansas greeted us with
in North Little Rock.
The cliche,
If you've seen one Cracker Barrel Restaurant,
You've seen them all,
is pretty much 99.9% true
Every porch is fraught with
oversized rocking chairs
Each restaurant is entered through the gift shop
with the identical "gifts" available
then each dining room has the identical number
of booths and tables in the exact same layout
The service is always most efficient and polite...
The menus have no variance in food or price
The food is always scrumptiously mediocre
and your coffee cup is always quick
to be refilled, if you so desire
Glasses of water arrive at your table
without your having to ask for water
We left there very satisfied customers
and I am grateful that Mrs. CarPeo
wanted nothing more from the gift shop
than some licorice candy
and a toothpick
The one difference between this
Arkansas Cracker Barrel
and ten others I visited in my lifetime
was a very minor one:
virtually the entire staff
was African-American
To regard this as anything but a minor difference
is to avoid understanding the United States of America
in the twenty-first century
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