A Tour and Two Southern Passings

Chewing the Fat

...in which Rex and Paul chew the fat about Sam Houston's brother's grave, Calico Rock, the River View Hotel there, Angler's Resort near Mountain View, jam sessions in Mountain View, folk festivals in the area, the JFK Overlook at Heber Springs, Wilbur Mills, Fordyce and its great sports history, the Smithsonian's Hometown Teams traveling exhibition Paul and the Arkansas Humanities Council are working on, how auctioneers always seem to be called "Colonel," how Rex became a Kentucky Colonel, Paul's odd affection for the game of cricket, Rex's love of the old Iron Bowl games, his book Southern Fried, the Southern Foodways Alliance, how Paul fought the perception that he might be a food snob by making Sloppy Joes and eating a whole box of Little Debbie cakes, stopping at the Bulldog in Bald Knob for strawberry shortcake, how the boys need to get to some food festivals to replenish their supplies of various sauces, RIP: the footbridge at Oark that got washed away in the flood about the same time they talked about it on the last Chewing the Fat with Rex and Paul, the peach-picking paradise at Clarksville, Rex's suspicions about Paul's commitment to Rex's Burger Challenge, Mennonites selling jelly, wondering if Rex and Paul might get asked to be grand marshals at the PurpleHull Pea Festival, the passing of Congressman Jay Dickey—a true Arkansas character, and RIP: Bryce's Cafeteria, which died recently at 86.