Indian, spectacular wedding,
has been going on for days
and days, a party like I have
never seen, elephant dancing
without a care, a smell, curry
in the air.
Punjabi rites in Sanskrit
Hindu dance, all together
uniting a pair in togetherness
and forever.
Another large table,
one hundred pounds, curried rice
cooked to perfection,
no end in sight...
The same day, 1957
Mother and Father wed
in the Chapel of Saint Cecilia
the party not nearly as
elaborate, bright or pungent,
but together they stayed,
forever until the darkness
settled over her and ended
their dance.
WPCannon
Mobile, AL
27 April 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Al-T's
After driving all day and all night, what is the first thing a trucker does
when they stop and get out of their truck? They start looking for another place
to sit down. That’s an old trucking joke, very old, but not far from the
truth. And the best place for a trucker to sit down after battling
traffic, bad weather and distracted drivers is at a table or counter where good
food is being served.
It’s been said that truck stops serve the best food and that may have been
true at one time, but these days the good old fashioned truck stop diners have
been replaced by fast food— only good for filling up an empty belly. Lost is
that Mom & Pop feel and that once was an important part of the American
trucking landscape. I should know, I was on the road for twelve years.
The hardest part of the job was being out there; away from home and family.
This isolation gave rise to the need to be connected. C.B. radios gave truck drivers a way
to communicate and commiserate with one another without having to stop the
truck and sit down across from one another to do it. Misery loves company; or so
they say.
It was too many years, and too many miles ago to know exactly
where I was headed but I do remember I was driving northbound on Interstate 65
in Kentucky when I heard a truck driver on the C.B. start talking about
the best food he’d ever had. The driver’s name, or handle, I never got, or
can’t remember, is more like it— but he was from south Louisiana (that I could
tell from his dialect and his passion for food in general). But he carried on
and on for miles about some place called AL-T’s Seafood & Steakhouse in
Winnie Texas. He carried everyone else on channel 19 right along with him that
night. I have to admit, I got caught up in his enthusiasm too and
so, eventually, I started making mental notes. He talked about the freshness of
the food at Al-T’s, the seafood at Al-T’s, especially about how folks
cooked it like “they was cookin at home”. The roux was of a particular
fascination to the driver, and oh how he carried on about the roux, how perfect
it was, how this roux made the best gumbo he had ever had. He
went on about roux and gumbo for at least another hundred fifty miles.
Now I know a thing or two about gumbo. I know that the mere mention of
the word evokes in me memories of my mother and Christmas Eve. Mama made gumbo
every year at Christmas, which we feasted on after mass on Christmas Eve.
Mama’s gumbo was what I was craving when I parked at the truck stop on the
Interstate 80 junction near Gary, Indiana. I knew I would not find any gumbo
there, I also knew that my mama was gone and whether I was home on Christmas
Eve or not, she was not going to be there making the gumbo. I also knew that as
soon as I could, I was going to be hopping off I-10 in Winnie, Texas to find
out what all the fuss was about concerning Al-T’s.
It didn’t take me long to get to Winnie. I was in good with the freight
brokers and dispatchers back in those days so they hooked me up with a load
back down to Dallas and from there it was a hop, skip, and a jump down to
Houston. I left Houston one evening, headed east on the road to nirvana.
Al-T’s
was everything the mystery driver on I-65 said it would be and it’s still like
no other place I have been while on the road. Al-T’s is not a truck
stop-- in other words you’re not eating out, you’re eating in. And
it may be the best place to eat along any road in the USA. Since my first
time there, I never missed an opportunity to stop and eat at Al-T’s, and if
there is one thing in this world, that a truck driver loves to do, its pull up
a chair, sit down and eat.
Al-T’s -Winnie, Texas, on Interstate 10 between Beaumont and Houston.
Al-T's Seafood & Steakhouse
Just off Interstate 10 • Winnie, Texas, USA
P.O. Box 1458 • Winnie, TX 77665-1458
(409) 296-9818
Just off Interstate 10 • Winnie, Texas, USA
P.O. Box 1458 • Winnie, TX 77665-1458
(409) 296-9818
The Poetry of Breakfast
with Anna and Regina
at Webb's Cafe in Calvert;
is the omelet going to fit?
It fits-- mostly, but
in the scheme of things
nothing is small enough
or large enough in the
universe for us to fit
into the nothingness
of our lives only
breakfasts and Angie
and mornings at Webb's
WPCannon
14May2013
Webb's Cafe
Calvert, Alabama
with Anna and Regina
at Webb's Cafe in Calvert;
is the omelet going to fit?
It fits-- mostly, but
in the scheme of things
nothing is small enough
or large enough in the
universe for us to fit
into the nothingness
of our lives only
breakfasts and Angie
and mornings at Webb's
WPCannon
14May2013
Webb's Cafe
Calvert, Alabama
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