Page 39 - May 2023 Issue.indd

has greatly expanded since 1977, making
the route from Georgia to Texas and Don’s Tree Farm

back far different than the country roads
and two-lane blacktops that would have
been used by the Bandit and Snowman.
FAST GROWING
Nevertheless I persisted, fi nding myself

in Texarkana just after Christmas in late PRIVACY EVERGREENS
2006. I won’t bore you with the circum-
stances and details of the drive there Open Sat & Sun 10-2; Mon-Fri by Appt

since the film does not, and after all, the
theme song for the movie is “Eastbound Green Giants • Emerald Green • Spruce
and Down” and not west. I criss-crossed Schip Laurel • Leyland • Hollies • Pine
the city (this is before smartphones)
until I found a Coors distributorship; so ORNAMENTALS: Cherry, Plum, Red Bud,
as to not incriminate myself, I decline to Crepe Myrtle and Fruit Trees

offer any information about the quantity
of beer bottles I may have requisitioned STOP DELIVERY AVAILABLE
while there, but I do want to acknowl-
edge I was not driving a tractor trailer PAYING Drive a little,Save a lot!
so 400 cases simply would not fit in my RETAIL 6396 Hickman Rd, Greenwood, DE

passenger vehicle.
302-349-0555
If you were today years old when you donstreefarm.com
realized the place name Texarkana is
a combination of Texas, Arkansas, and
Louisiana, that’s okay. Th e nomencla-
ture allowed me to justify the path I Dave’s David Grinavic,
cut through the southwest corner of ASE Master Technician
the Razorback State, ducking Buford Riverside 32600 Main St.
T. Justice all the while, to make my fi rst Queen Anne, MD 21657
ever visit to Louisiana. Would Burt Garage, Inc.
Reynolds and Jerry Reed have gone 410-364-9336
that way? I have seen, believe it or not, COMPLETE AUTO REPAIR & MAINTENANCE
serious online studies published by fi lm • Computerized Engine Diagnostics
and highway experts suggesting three • Performance Tune-Ups
possible 1977 routes that would have • Front End Alignments Oil & Filter Changes
logistically allowed the stars of the movie • Brakes • Shocks • Electrical Repairs
to do “what they say can’t be done” (1800 • Battery Replacements • Mufflers
miles in 28 hours) and this is one. And • Tires (Rotate and Balance)
hey, any excuse to go to New Orleans • A/C Service • Exhaust Systems MD State

is a valid one. The French Quarter was • Lock-Out & Jump-Start Service Inspections
• And more!!!
exciting and beautiful, even in the post-
Katrina rebuilding phase; my shrimp and rest. I stayed that night in Meridian, have never again stayed at the same
po-boy was delicious. I went back in which normally would be uneventful hotel. I won’t hold that incident against
2009 twice, 2015, and 2020 with plans but in this instance allows me to share the rest of the otherwise fi ne establish-
to live that life as often as possible in a brief anecdote that was awkward back ment proprietors of Meridian, however;
the future.
then but not so much now: the hotel after all, they did see fi t to open both a

The journey then took me into Missis- desk clerk was highly suspicious of why Cici’s Pizza Buffet and a Buff alo Wild

sippi. I had been there before to see Civil I, as a twenty-something man, would be Wings there.
War-related national park units such checking in to the hotel with, get this, a Alabama was a bit more memorable,
as Shiloh National Military Park and woman. It didn’t matter to the battle- but again in unforeseen ways. I paid
Brices Cross Roads National Battlefi eld, axe that we were married or that I was my respects to Bear Bryant and Forrest
so I was able to make good time with a frequent and literally card-carrying Gump at the college football stadium
few stops. Not encumbered by a time- Hilton Honors guest; we must have been in Tuscaloosa before moving on to
sensitive bet with Big Enos Burdette, I up to no good. I have passed through Birmingham. East of that city, true to
was able to actually get out of the car that town at least three times since but
the action of Smokey and the Bandit, I

39