I didn’t do it often.
But every now and then.
Especially when the road was long and the hours were spent watching the white lines slither past like racing stripes on asphalt.
We would pull into the most familiar fast food place in the world.
McD’s.
When you’re racing cross country on unleaded and caffeine, speed hits the spot.
I had a regular on order.
It wasn’t hard.
The menu hasn’t changed that much since the beginning.
Two cheeseburgers.
Small fries.
Large Coke.
The Coke from McDonald’s has always been something special.
It’s shipped in metal canisters, it’s got more carbonation than syrup, it’s still old formula coke.
All rumors of why.
It could just be the taste is iconic.
You just know when it’s off.
It’s supposed to taste the same, no matter which drive through you pull forward in, but…
We all know that’s not the case.
Sometimes though, I’d go off menu.
Back then.
I’d get a fried apple pie filled with lava, or at least contents as hot as magma felt.
And a caramel ice cream sundae.
To make my own a la mode.
It had crunch. It had heat and sweet and probably a little bit of mischief mixed in.
And though it’s not quite as good as Mamaw’s
It is up there in that category.
Probably because both are gone.
Forever.
Some time in a health fad in the 90’s, McD’s switched from fried pies to baked.
And the world was never the same.
And in the late 00’s, Mamaw stopped baking.
And my world has never been the same.
Though I catch a hint of the taste every now and then.
Sometimes in just a crunch, or texture.
Sometimes in the way baked apples taste fresh from the oven.
Just pieces of the magic formula recipe that will never be again.
A few things for you today: Brand New Gumbo Mystery! L.A. Gumbo
AND
Battlefield Z Complete Boxset is still on sale
So is The Shadowboxer Files Boxset
PLUS
Memories of the good times 😊😊