Let's Talk About Chicken

You guys--there is a lot of important things to discuss today. But let's not talk about them now. Instead, let's talk about chicken.

We spent most of Tuesday this week in Kentucky, a beautiful state that up until now I have mainly associated with the chicken pox (in a not fun family vacation when I was little. All I remember about it is mom showering C and I at the same time and it being so painful that I screamed and cried.)  [WHOA! I just realized this---CHICKEN pox! And here I am talking about how KY loves chicken! CRAZY!!] But as an adult, I can tell you that it is a GORGEOUS state and I highly recommend takeing a drive on the scenic byways instead of the highways. In fact, that is how I would like to travel from now on.

It's no surprise that Kentucky is proud of it's chicken. I mean, it's mainly just known by the initials now, but everyone knows that KFC means Kentucky Fried Chicken (their website has no mention of those 3 words together, only KFC. They do use "Kentucky Grilled Chicken", though). And KFC stuff is everywhere--I even saw grafitti taggers/ gang symbols from the "KFC Krew" (which a quick google search makes me ask--are they not American?) At a tourist info stop we made, there was a giant Colonel Sanders that you could pose with (sadly, the camera was in the car, but the lady that worked there told me that everyone from age 2 to 92 poses with him. I mean, how could you not?) A chicken truck in the parking lot talked about a chicken festival. We saw many other fried chicken chains.  Chicken chicken chicken!  But I guess, what can you expect from a state that is shaped like a chicken leg?

Sidenote: I have this chicken leg pencil sharpener, that I probably got in elementary school. This pencil sharpener has followed me around my whole life. Even as an adult, when we would stay at mom and dad's house and the cats were allowed in that bedroom upstairs, Allie would always find it and clunk it around the room all night. I've not yet unpacked everything that we brought home from that house, but I bet that I tossed it in a box and it will surface yet again.

Now, everyone who is from the South and now lives in the North knows that the most exciting signage you could possible see when you are hungry and it is now Sunday is the Chick-fil-a logo. Oh, what a dream! It is like a beacon in the night--an oasis in the desert. But how many times have you been thwarted by the color scheme and same font as the Peterbilt logo? You know what I'm talking about. False excitement, sheer disappointment. It happens to me every time, even when I know that Peterbilt is there (I'm looking at you, the one near the Jackson airport.) See?

Separated at birth, no?

Finally, I am wondering if the fact that we now have a Chick-fil-a in Chicago will make it less special to me, since I will be able to get it whenever I want. Part of the glory of the C-Fil-a is seeing one on a roadtrip and knowing that you are approacing the Bible Belt (I am aware that there are some in IN, WI, etc, but in my experience, it is a Southern roadtrip thing.) Will it just become a fast food joint? I've already been twice since they opened and I am going again next week. Fuzzy doesn't think so, since I am barely downtown. But I am concerned. I might need to just not go ever again (after next week) so that I can keep it sacred. We'll see. Only time will tell.

(photos found on the internet via ntu.org, paleoperiodical.com, and then Chick-fil-a and Peterbilt or something like that.)

UPDATE! I call this portion of my tattoo my "chicken leg." Sorry for the blurry photo.