Day 28 – Hays, KS to Flippin Arkansas!

Clint laid in bed while I went down to scope out our free breakfast. I must admit that free continental breakfasts east of California are not too shabby. It’s not just your run-of-the-mill packaged pastry and a weak pot of coffee, fruit if you’re lucky. Every hotel we’ve been to on our trip has put out a pretty good spread. The Hays Day’s Inn was no exception. There was of course coffee and juice and pastries, but there was also oatmeal, hard-boiled eggs, cereal, fruit, doughnuts, yogurt, and there was even a waffle iron and batter for do-it-yourself waffles! I grabbed us a few snacks and headed back to the room.
The day was cold, and there was so much fog, you couldn’t see further than a few hundred feet. We felt a bit bad for the hunters; there was no way one could see well enough to shoot a bird. And it wasn’t like there could possibly be that much more going on out here. What was the hunters back up plan? We were on the road before 11 am, and knew only one thing that was a must for the day: lunch in Salinas at the Cozy Inn.
Rosie’s old roommate Sonia, and her husband Chris, told us that since we were driving through Salina anyways, the Cozy Inn was a must. Sonia has a healthy (unhealthy?) love of bacon, so we knew that we could trust her food opinion. The Cozy Inn is about 10 miles off of the 70, into the quaint suburb of Salina. Turns out that this tiny restaurant has been awarded Kansas’ 2010 Best Burger award, and it was worth the stop!

The staff was exceedingly affable, and asked us right away if this was our first time there. When they learned that it was, they showed us the burger size and told us how many most people usually ate. See, I’ve been calling them burgers, because that’s how they were presented, but these are slider-sized burgers. Clint went with the 6-burger combo, which included a soda and chips (no fries here!), and I went with the kids’ sized 2-burger combo. While we waited in the narrow space, we watched our burgers being made and answered questions about where we were from and where we were going.
We were back on the road in just a few minutes time, as we opted to eat in the car.

We chose to eat in the car because we began to think we could make it all the way to Flippin by tonight. I finished my two burgers without a problem, and moved onto one of Clint’s. Luckily, 5 were enough for him.
We reached Kansas City in a few hours’ time. The drive was as uneventful as the landscape. We planned to bypass Kansas City since we were trying to drive all the way to Arkansas tonight. And, cities always take more time to navigate through on the quest for good eats. However, we both got really hungry right before we reached K.C., and misjudged our body cues. When we reached the Missouri side of Kansas City, we pulled off the freeway and searched for something to eat. Fast food places seemed to be the only option for miles around. Since we had eaten burgers just a few hours prior, more burgers were really out of the question.
Fortunately, my friend Liz Boen came to the rescue right when Clint and I were both at break down point. Liz attended Kansas for post-grad studies and knew where to get good BBQ. Unfortunately, we had to back track to find the place. Fortunately, my phone has a handy (albeit unpredictable) navigation device. Unfortunately, about 7 options popped up under the search for Gates.
We chose the closest option that did not include ‘& Sons’ in the title. The closest Gates Barbecue was only 8.3 miles west. Not too bad. We drove a few miles on the freeway before exiting into the projects. We didn’t think too much about it until the route took us further and further into the shady part of Kansas City. Where had Liz sent us?
We arrived at Gates, only to discover that the trusty navigation device had sent us to the headquarters. Apparently, Gates has an office in the ghetto. We’d consumed too many minutes on this search to give up now. So we once again employed the phone to pick out the next closest Gates BBQ. As we snaked through the run-down neighborhoods, we looked around at the other drivers. Did we stand out? Could people tell we were lost? Would we be targeted?
This time, the phone led us to an actual restaurant. We were relieved and annoyed all at once. Gates is the same as Gates & Sons. We were only 2 miles from a Gates & Sons when we first started our search. But, we reached the restaurant in broad daylight, and it was filled with people from all walks of life, so we couldn't complain. We ventured in and waited in the short line. The options were exactly what you would expect from a BBQ joint: a few meat options, some standard sides, fries and onion rings, and meat sandwiches served on white bread. Clint picked the ribs, and shouted his choice to the loud woman taking orders. Yes, there were several people in front of us, but she was done taking their orders, and so just shouted over them to take ours. The phrase of choice here is "May I take your order?" Don’t be mistaken, this is not a friendly question if you shout it at your guests without a hint of query in your voice. It's all about intonation, folks.
Why she was in such a hurry was beyond me. But, I was hungry and maybe the other patrons don’t like to wait for food either. I was not quite ready to order, so I hid (yes, hid. I'm not above hiding) in the line until another register opened up. I got yelled at for ordering at a different spot than my dining partner. Welcome to Gates: hospitality optional.
I had chicken and a side of beans, and we both had sweet tea. The food was great. The only thing green on our plates was the pickle slices, but the meat was no joke. Both meats were tender and flavorful, and we enjoyed them to the beat of the register ladies’ shouts. "May I help you?"


We were back on the freeway 2 hours after we first began our search. It was worth it though; we almost made it through the day without anything of note happening. Luckily, Liz sent us to an authentic BBQ place, and we made it out alive.
We continued east through Missouri before running into the 65, which heads south to Arkansas. Clint drives very safely. Which is great when you’re on those dirt roads, or you don’t have somewhere you want to be. Everyone knows that you can go at least 4 miles over the speed limit on the freeway and not get pulled over, but Clint spent a lot of the trip telling me not to speed. When we got into Arkansas, I saw why he played it so safe. A car trailing us a little too closely got pulled over by a policeman, presumably for driving so near to our rear.
We made it to the Ponders just after 11. This isn't the house that Clint grew up in, and navigating here involved country landmarks like, 'turn at the Hammons Realty sign' and 'veer left at the dirt road.' The bypass road that we took was apparently not here when Clint lived here, so he was a bit confused at first. We did not get lost though, and Gary and Toni were still up when we reached the house. Even though they've only been here a few months, the house feels like a home. Everything has it's place, and it's clean and comfortable. About an hour after we arrived, Nick and Courtney showed up with their 2 dogs. We all stayed up and chatted for a couple of hours before heading to bed.