Her parents, brother, and Granddad were already in Tellico Plains. It is about an hour or so south of Gatlinburg in the Cherokee National Forest. Mrs. Melanie loves the mountains and has made it an annual trip. She rented a cabin for a week, so we got to join for a few days.
It was a four hour drive and in the easter time zone, so we didn't arrive til 2 AM. Eli Gold kept me going til we got to Georgia then heavy eyes started to set in. So we stopped at the always hopping Pilot station in Rising Fawn for some caffeine and sunflower seeds. One of the workers was very nice and told me about how important it was to keep the hot dog buns stocked at all hours. "If the truckers come in and look in here and there's no hot dog buns, then that's like going to a strip joint with no girls." I decided to stay an extra step back from the hot dogs, just in case. I then made my way over to the fountain drinks for some Mountain Dew and noticed they were out of cups except for the smallest and the largest. The smallest was a 12 oz, way too small for this hour. The large one was way more expensive so I asked the hot dog guy about the deal with the cups. (Apparently truckers don't get as mad about empty cup slots.) He told me they were out of all the middle sizes and to get whatever I wanted and he'd charge me for the smaller size. I said good deal. Now I've seen the Route 44, Thirst Buster, Big Gulps, etc. However, they pale in comparison to what this station had. A 64 oz, hydrate you through the sahara, half a gallon (just under 2 Liters for my metric buddies) of caffeine goodness. I had never seen a cup so big. I put mine under the fountain, set it to the desired size, went to the bathroom, then when I came out it was almost done. There was also some sunflower seeds on their clearance table.
So Rebecca and I came out with a gallon of coke and sunflower seeds for just over $2.00 and we escaped unharmed by the angry truckers.
