Burger King Thursday Rundown

Spring is here! The weather is warm and the forecast for the weekend is nothing short of gorgeous. Let’s get going with tonight’s Thursday Rundown…

Burger King > McDonald’s – Would you believe that Burger King is now more affordable than McDonald’s? Last week we ate inside the Burger King restaurant on Sprague (which is in desperate need of a remodel) and got way more food for $20 than we would at McDonald’s. What’s not to like about $2.99 kid’s meals, options galore for adults, and free crowns?! Although Sloan and Beau are loyal to McDonald’s, we will try to shift that allegiance ever so slightly 😊

Sloan and Beau chilling at Burger King last week.

Mario Nostalgia – Who needs the Super Mario movie when you can watch a series based on the Super Mario 3 Nintendo game? If you have a Paramount+ subscription you can watch the show and instantly get a jolt of retro thunder. The show begins with elements directly from the video game including music and the Mario Land game map that shows the level you are on. It kept Beau occupied as well as his daddy.

The Super Mario 3 TV show is actually a thing!

A Fun Time of The Year to Reminisce – At this time each year, I fondly remember an epic road trip that I took with my dad. This week in April back in 2014 was when my dad helped me move across the country. We took a U-Haul from western Montana all the way to the very eastern end of the United States. It was an incredible experience and the towns of Spearfish, SD, Council Bluffs, IA, Paducah, KY, and Camden, SC, will also hold special places in our hearts (well, maybe not Council Bluffs) as those were the towns we spent the night in as we navigated across the United States. Tomorrow will mark the 9-year anniversary of when our U-Haul rolled into Myrtle Beach. By the way, here are my tips for taking a cross country road trip

My dad and I took a celebratory picture after turning in the U-Haul.

Waffle House – I think I have an early contender for my annual “Brent’s Top Songs of the Year.” Two thumbs way up for “Waffle House” by the Jonas Brothers. Not only do I really enjoy the unique 80’s vibe, but the Waffle House reference in the chorus brings back fond memories for me (🎵No, don’t get stressed, it’s goin’ get figured out, oh, deep conversation at the Waffle House🎵). When I lived in the South, I loved finding an excuse to eat at the Waffle House and I would say some pretty epic conversations went down over those meals. Out of all my dining experiences there, I still vividly remember Sidney and I pulling over at a Waffle House restaurant in a small South Carolina town as we neared the end of a long trip coming home from Baltimore. We were tired but so happy!

Shameless selfie photo of me eating at a Waffle House in 2014.

Navigation – I want to end tonight with a meme from Lindsi, my good friend and frequent idea contributor to this blog. It is funny, I look back on the MapQuest era as tough, let alone the period from just a couple decades ago when you used maps and asked for directions from convenient store workers to get where you wanted to go. Needless to say, it is hard to fathom that even those options used to not exist. We are all so spoiled with navigation on our phones and even with such a remarkable tool, I still manage to screw it up on a frequent basis. Props to our ancestors!

Our ancestors are the real MVPs!

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Thanks for joining me tonight. Without loyal readers like you, this blog wouldn’t be as fun. I hope you have a magical weekend and I will look forward to touching base next week. Don’t Blink.

600 Miles of Beauty

What a day! By a wide margin today provided my dad and I with the best experience so far on our cross country trip to Myrtle Beach. We drove in four states, saw beautiful country, went by major cities, experienced some interesting weather, and knocked out over 600 miles.

My dad and I had a GREAT day on the road going through four states.

My dad and I had a GREAT day on the road going through four states.

We hit the road early this morning as we were cruising in the U-Haul by 6:30 a.m. Reason for leaving so early was twofold: We wanted to end the day earlier than the past two days and frankly we wanted to get out of Iowa as soon as possible (did I really just say that?). It didn’t take long until we entered Missouri, the state where we would spend the majority of the day driving through. The Show Me State was absolutely beautiful as we enjoyed the vibrant green trees lining us on both sides and pristine cut grass dividing the east and west roads. We forgot about the beauty though for about ten minutes as we drove through a torrential downpour. After the rain let up and we could breathe a little easier we admired the ensuing lightning storm that lit up the morning sky.

The highlight of the ride through Missouri for me was going past Kansas City and getting a gorgeous glimpse right inside Kaufmann Stadium. We also stopped in Columbia where we fueled up and then enjoyed lunch at Lee’s Famous Chicken. Ending our tour through the state was a ride by St. Louis where we saw the Gateway Arch and the Edward Jones Dome.

I took this photo of St. Louis from our U-Haul.

I took this photo of St. Louis from our U-Haul.

Right after St. Louis we entered Illinois. The scenic views from Missouri carried into the Prairie State as lush greens continued to dominate the landscape. We mostly drove right through except for a stop at a rest area where my dad and I stretched our legs and strategized on where we would end the day at.

The decision of our mini meeting was to stop in Paducah, Kentucky. Although we flirted with the idea of driving all the way through to Nashville we thought back to our goal at the beginning of the day to try to leave ourselves more time to enjoy the evening. We honored our ambitions and drove the short ninety minutes from the rest stop in Illinois to the Hampton Inn of charming Paducah. As I sit here in our room I am looking forward to a nice dinner at the town’s most popular steakhouse, some relaxation, and then the NBA Playoffs later tonight.

With the sun and high 70's weather in Kentucky please excuse the sunglasses.

With the sun and high 70’s weather in Kentucky please excuse the sunglasses.

Here are today’s stats:

Total Mileage Today: 605 miles

Total Mileage for Trip: 1864 miles

Number of States Visited Today: 4 – Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky

Number of Stops Today: 4 – Outside of Council Bluffs, IA (needed to shut my door harder), Middle of Nowhere, MO (bathroom break), Columbia, MO (gas and lunch), Middle of Nowhere Illinois (strategy meeting and bathroom break), Paducah, KY (ending point of the day).

Food Consumed During Today’s Drive: Lee’s Famous Chicken 5-piece dark chicken box, 1 pack of Planters Heat Peanuts.

Drinks Consumed During Today’s Drive: Can of Xyience Energy Drink (Tangerine Twister flavor).

I had a really nice time today! Can tomorrow top it? We are aiming high as we look to make it all the way to my new home of Myrtle Beach which would put us in town one day early. We will have to drive over 700 miles and deal with losing an hour but we will try to make it happen. Thanks for the interest and support during this cross country extravaganza. Remember that you can follow live updates of my journey via Twitter (@BrentReser) and you can make my day by tweeting at me by utilizing the #BrentCoastToCoast hashtag. I can almost smell the beach from here. Don’t Blink.