In-N-Out, Ward’s, Duck Commander, Pops, Golden Chick, Spylt Milk, & More Kansas Vacation Tidbits

As I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, I’ll acknowledge that this is being posted days later than expected-my bad. As is customary, each December I visit my sister in Kansas and her family. Unlike customary, this time I drove a vehicle out there and flew back on Allegiant Airlines. The circumstances as to why won’t be explained here-it’s nothing for anyone to worry about. My sister and her family are doing fine; it’s always nice visiting them, although as always chaotic because all three children are young boys.

The first day I drove to Vicksburg, Mississippi. That was unremarkable aside from more than half the day being ugly & rainy. I did have a late lunch at a Whataburger; the chain isn’t top-tier yet they haven’t had a location in Central Florida in years. Dinner was had at Ward’s, a fast food joint I only recently learned was a Mississippi staple. They did have a tasty burger & fries. The hotel was a Comfort Inn; while the TV picture was comically bad, I otherwise can’t complain about the room-clean and with a microwave/fridge.

The next day, I drove to Oklahoma City, stopping at a few locations. I ran behind the entire day so not as much time was spent in Dallas as expected. Alas… while in Monroe, Louisiana for a meal, I learned that a Duck Commander museum/gift shop was a few miles away. I never watched Duck Dynasty-“reality” TV isn’t for me. However, it did give me something to discuss as a few minutes was spent looking at their small gift shop. The traffic in Louisiana and Texas was quite bad-it’s not just Florida where people’s driving skills have eroded through the years and you experience deranged lunatics.

While in Dallas, a stop at a place I wanted to try for years was made. In-N-Out is a cult favorite with a devoted fanbase so I’ve been curious for ages. Finally, I can say… the fries are good (as long as you don’t let them get cold) and the pink lemonade was tasty… as for the burger, it was very good. If they had a location around Orlando, it’d be a place I’d frequent at least once in awhile. The hotel I stayed at in Oklahoma City wasn’t very good but that will have to be discussed next time-I don’t want this entry to be the length of a novel.

The third day I drove to Wichita, where I spent my time until flying back on Friday the 11^th. On the drive to Wichita, I was on the historic Route 66 for a few miles to visit a fancy gas station known as Pops-they are known for having hundreds of different obscure sodas. I did pick up two to have in Wichita. As for my time in Kansas, one afternoon I returned to the Scheels sporting goods store-but didn’t purchase anything-although a purchase was made at a Duluth Trading Company store. Another afternoon I had fast food chicken at Golden Chick, a regional chain new to me yet judging by their website, they originated in Texas. They had fine food. An unexpected delight was finding cans of a drink known as Spylt Milk (great name), which is caffeinated flavored milk. That was actually very good. Sadly, they don’t sell it anywhere near Florida.

The night I flew back to Florida, it was Allegiant Airlines-meaning that it was no surprise there was a massive delay. At least I didn’t have to spent hours stuck at the airport in Wichita-a late dinner was had at the airport’s River City Brewing location-they actually had good food. Unlike the disaster that was last December when I was stricken with the worst food poisoning of my life and barfed more than once while on the plane, this flight was more normal. The delay lasting so long that I didn’t arrive back at the house until after 3 AM wasn’t delightful but otherwise I can’t complain.

To reiterate, it’s always nice seeing that side of my family at this time of year. I’ll return at the end of 2025 to discuss a few things-by that time I’ll have finally seen Avatar: Fire and Ash. There hasn’t been the right time yet to see that over 3-hour long picture and I hope the crowds aren’t as large for the movie after Christmas.

Richloam General Store, PopStroke, Taffer’s Tavern, Nine Inch Nails, & Naples

My apologies for not posting this a few days ago like what was planned. Other things have happened that I’ve been preoccupied with… don’t worry, nothing bad.

One fun happening was returning to the Magic Kingdom a few weeks ago. The highlight was riding TRON Lightcycle/Run again; for the time, there were some minor changes meant to plug TRON: Ares. The ride now has a storyline where “code” from the enemy in Ares has infected that world, meaning there’s more red than blue during the ride… and instead of Daft Punk’s music from TRON: Legacy, the Nine Inch Nails soundtrack from Ares is heard. To state the obvious, back around this time in 2000, I never would have thought that NIN music would be heard during a Disney ride… I wouldn’t have believed there was a TRON ride, either.

One weekend afternoon, I went to a unique place in the middle of nowhere. It’s an old general store founded in 1922-the appearance hasn’t changed much since then-and is located by a former railway. Richloam General Store has very nice employees and various retro gifts for sale. Not that many pictures were taken while there-a rude family was milling about the entrance. I state that as they had a dog with them, despite obvious signs that dogs weren’t allowed in front of the store. I’ll be happy to return one day, hopefully not as busy. It was charming and quaint.

Another night, a trip was made to Pointe Orlando, a place rarely visited by me. Given the new expensive rates to park there, there isn’t great motivation to visit more often. That’s a shame, as that location has never drawn huge crowds and some interesting new places have opened. That includes Taffer’s Tavern-that’s Jon Tapper of Bar Rescue fame. That’s a show never seen by me although more than one person I know is a fan. My visit was due to general curiosity more than anything else. The building is best described as “cozy” but I can’t carp about the service nor the food. In addition, Pointe Orlando has a new hallway best described as “a liminal space.”

It certainly beats PopStroke, a.k.a. the "hip" miniature golf place that has the involvement of Tiger Woods. The bar area looks great and the food was alright... however, having to do EVERYTHING on your phone was enough to turn me off even before the lousy service and the excessively loud music/noise. I will never return. 

As done the past several years, some days last week (including Thanksgiving) were spent in the Fort Myers area. As always, the time spent down there was fun. This time I was able to spent some time in Naples for the first time. Some areas are ritzy, especially the HUGE mansions that can be found right by the beach. No new restaurants were visited, although that is OK as that’ll change this month and the day after Thanksgiving, the now-yearly tradition happened: a sub sandwich was picked up from Lennys Grill & Subs to eat a few hours later for dinner.

I’ll return sometime later in December.

Predator: Badlands, Mountain Dew Baja Blast Midnight, Coca-Cola Holiday Creamy Vanilla, & Shelby Oaks

As now customary, this will be one part of two; the second will be posted likely the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Hopefully everyone has a nice, long holiday weekend-I should. I did go to Epcot last week to once again experience their annual Food & Wine Festival before it concluded.

Another customary thing I did: revisit various places. This includes the Lotte Plaza Market Asian grocery store to purchase more food & drink. Most aren’t really worth mentioning, to be honest. Thus, what I will mention are two new beverages. The first was Taco Bell’s exclusive flavor, Mountain Dew Baja Blast Midnight. I like regular Baja Blast; not surprisingly, a grape version is one I was happy to have tried. Second: Coca-Cola Holiday Creamy Vanilla. It’s not too terribly different from regular Coca-Cola Vanilla. That said, I do enjoy both.

Since last time, I’ve seen a pair of movies theatrically. The first was a horror film called Shelby Oaks. It was the feature film of a famous YouTube movie reviewer, Chris Stuckmann. He’s not one I’ve ever watched regularly, whether it was during his previous era of “dude who yells and curses constantly” or his current era of “he doesn’t criticize any movie now that he’s in the industry.” The movie got a mixed reception; me, I actually did enjoy the tale of a woman attempting to look for her missing sister. Appealing to me was that it was NOT the usually insufferable “elevated horror” and instead felt like something from the past. The movie did have faults, for sure-however, the claims that the movie “didn’t have a third act” are completely erroneous and there were nice atmospheric moments not often seen in horror anymore.

The second film was Predator: Badlands. Of course, the original is an all-timer I’ll always love. Predator 2 is pretty sweet (don’t listen to the naysayers) and I guess Prey was fine. Otherwise, a great creature has been in some lousy movies. Yes, Badlands was “safe” for modern audiences by having an underdog “runt” Predator-a Yautja, to use the proper name of the alien species-attempt to kill an unstoppable monster & he has a wacky synthetic human sidekick. Even I can admit there was a bit too much humor and it’s quite different in every facet from the original Predator movie. Those points duly noted, I still enjoyed Predator: Badlands. I was fine w/ them attempting something new, people wanted to see a Predator movie that at least partially took place on their home planet, and creativity shone both in the score and the various creatures on what they called a Death Planet. I was happy it wasn’t a movie I was disappointed in.

To reiterate, I should return sometime the Saturday after Thanksgiving.