Goin' 80 on I-80

Not much to tell about today’s adventures – just driving, driving, driving.  Not the greatest weather in some spots either, particularly through parts of Wyoming and Utah, but we’re about 125 miles into Nebraska right now, and we’re starving.  I may disappoint you and go to Denny’s, because already Tara is complaining about complying with my food choices, and it’s only the first day.  Tomorrow I’m planning on going to a farmhouse type spread in the Amana Colonies of Iowa, and she’s not happy about it, which I really can’t understand, since it’s just like Good and Plenty down in Amish Country in Pennsylvania.  Tough darts, we’re going.

Last night I had the worst food experience of this trip, and possibly one of the worst of my life.  There is this chain out in Utah (and I’ve seen signs for them in Wyoming too) called Wingers.  Their claim is that they’re “An American Diner.”  I went to one out in Provo on one of my previous trips (I passed it, incidentally, and it had been turned into an Indian restaurant, which looked pretty silly since it’s a big old silver diner looking building, but I digress), and I wasn’t really impressed with it, but we decided to give it another try and it was possibly one of the biggest mistakes of my life.  As far as being a “diner,”, well, that was a big fat lie, because it was all about chicken and especially about wings and their “original sauces”  It had nothing to do with diner food.  For another thing, the free popcorn they’re supposed to give you never materialized, because the popcorn machine was broken (this information was never volunteered to us, we had to ask).  The food was extremely overpriced.  Kevin got a chicken fingers dinner which consisted of about 4 fingers with some fries and a teeny tiny pot of coleslaw.  Ten bucks.  Tara got the same thing, only with “sticky fingers”, which was a unique sauce they bragged about.  More about that later, because a big surprise is coming.  Ten bucks.  I had “chicken finger sliders”, which was two sliders with the same sticky sauce, only on little hamburger buns with tomato, lettuce  and red onion.  One big red onion ring that was bigger than the bun, so basically, when you tried to eat it with the teeny chicken finger, you couldn’t, because once you passed the big ring outside, there was no onion in the bun.  And the whole thing just fell apart as you ate.  Small as they were, I gave up trying to hold the whole thing together halfway through the second slider.  Plus, I asked for a different sauce, and my request was ignored.  Seven bucks for that.   And the fries.  I can’ even begin to tell you how completely devoid of flavor they were.  Granted, they were hot and they weren’t greasy, but they were tasteless and the insides were mealy, and not in a good way.   I said something to the waitress about my disappointment in the fries (and in the entire meal) and she said the fries were supposed to have some kind of Buffalo seasoning sprinkled on them.  Well, there wasn’t a speck of Buffalo dust anywhere on any of our fries.  So everything was screwed up.  And did they take anything off the bill?  That would be a big fat NOOOOOOO!!!

 Three bucks for a cherry lemonade.  After tax and tip, this mess cost me $37.00.  There is fortunately, a toll free number to call on the receipt.  If I call within 72 hours I get a free dessert.  Which will be useless to me, since a) I’m moving away from all Winger’s “diners” as fast I can, and b) I’m never stepping foot in another one.   But you bet I’ll be calling that number anyway.

 Here’s the best part.  The “sticky” sauce on my sliders was vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it until I tasted one of Tara’s fingers (chicken, of course), and I realized – It was Rochester’s own COUNTRY SWEET SAUCE!  I’m absolutely positive of it!  So much for their “unique” sauce – I can have it at home!

 Lunch today was at Sonic.  It was pretty good, but I don’t think it lived up to the expectations those commercials give you.  There was a lot of bun and not much burger, but it was a flavorful piece of meat and I liked the fact that I could get their excellent flavored limeade as part of the combo at no extra price.  If I pass any more in my travels and the time is right, I want to try one of the $1 Candy Shop Sundaes.  However, that’s a lower priority than another shake from good ol’ Steak ‘n Shake.