Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Barbecue Country Doctor Drag Strip

On Saturday, a group of us took a road trip to eastern North Carolina for a day of barbecue sampling in Goldsboro and Wilson, a winery tour, Vollis Simpson's whirlygigs in Lucama, the Dunn-Benson Drag Strip, and the Country Doctor Museum in Bailey.

Ross can give you all the details about the barbecue we sampled over at Chowhound. Let me just say that I am ready to take a banana pudding tour of NC barbecue restaurants. Oh my god. I have never been a big banana pudding fan, but I am now!! Do all barbecue restaurants in this state carry banana pudding? I think I need to take a road trip to find out!!!

As far as barbecue is concerned, my friend, Robert has always sung the praises of Wilber's Barbecue on Highway 70 in Goldsboro. Other NC barbecue enthusiasts hold Wilber's as the eastern NC standard by which to gauge all others. Hmm. We weren't that impressed. Some coworkers and some other Goldsboro natives have told me that right across the street from Wilber's you'll find better barbecue at McCall's. They were right. McCall's ran out of barbecue soon after we arrived. We got the last pound of it. Time to make more.

The visit to the Country Doctor Museum was amazing. The museum itself didn't thrill me all that much, but our tour guide was the best. I swear this woman looked like she was an 18 year-old, sweet-as-pie, sorority girl wearing the cutest little sundress. She kept amazing me with her ability to just spout off the facts of the museum collection in this matter-of-fact tone. She told us which instruments were used to saw off limbs in less than 60 seconds, which plants could induce the shits, and how the iron lung chorus used to creep nurses out. It was borderline performance art.

You should definitely check out the Dunn-Benson Drag Strip if you are in the area. Don't forget your earplugs. I have never witnessed anything like that before in my life and for some reason, I really loved it. Wheelie-poppin' fast cars!!! Woo hoo!!!

Have you ever been in the presence of Vollis Simpson's whirlygigs? There's nothing I can say to explain the experience. So, if you haven't ever been to Lucama to see his artwork, please go. He is an amazing person to chat with. Very sweet man. He's 87 or thereabouts, so don't put off your trip to visit him. And his artwork is phenomenal. I bought one of his pieces a few years ago. I haven't put it out in my yard yet, but I should. It's got a bird sniffing a cat's butt on it. Now that's what I call art.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wish I lived the life of Charlotte. I think the life of Charlotte is pretty awesome. When I grow up, I want to be Charlotte!

Charlotte said...

Minty, I've been trying to schedule a time for us to hang out. My life generally isn't that interesting really, I just have amazing friends who do fun stuff and invite me to tag along.

You and I should take a road trip somewhere. Where shall we go?

Anonymous said...

Well, I have an old friend who lives somewhere near Asheville, who I haven't seen for 10 years. She's quite a character--the story's too long and bizarre to tell here but when you hear it I think you might just be intrigued enough to want to meet her. Could be fun!

Howlin' Hobbit said...

Dang it! Do I have to grow up to enjoy a life of Charlotte?

Charlotte said...

Minty, I'd love to take a trip to Asheville to meet this person. I can't wait to hear the story!!

Howlin', you don't have to grow up. I'm certainly not grown up yet... I want to be Carmen Miranda when I grow up.