Bacon fried biscuits and country folk

I decided to skip visiting Yellowstone and Teton NPs when I hit I-25. After both of my headlights burnt out in one day, the bike needed some professional attention. Plus Matt was in Denver, so we could hang out for a few days before he jets to London for two years.

Being too far to make it in one evening, I stopped well after dark to stay the night in Casper, WY only to find out that a rodeo championship had taken all the rooms for a hundred miles in either direction. Even though the night air carried a chill and the moon was hidden in our planet’s shadow, I decided to push on to the next town.

After an extra hour of pitch black Interstate night driving a family of deer paused in my lane and nearly forced me off the road. The advice "they don’t walk backwards" echoed at the right time telling me to aim for the hind end of the middle one. I narrowly avoided a highspeed collision with a deer in the middle of Wyoming where I hadn’t seen a car in ages.

On the edge of Douglas, the next town. I saw a blue sign that simply stated "Camping" which lead me to a KOA. I found the night registration box and thought I understood the directions, deposited my money, and proceeded to park for the night. I ended up parking in a spot for an RV and sleeping in the grass under a small tree between my spot and the 5th wheel trailer behind a long 4 door pickup. My little tent barely managed to trap enough heat to keep my feet from going numb.

I awoke the next morning to what sounded like a bubbling spring. When I got out of my tent I met a nice man from Mississippi who was cooking breakfast for his family. He offered me a cup of coffee right after saying good morning. The sound I heard was an family sized portion of bacon in a frying pan. After the bacon he started something I’ve never seen. Using the hot bacon grease he took ready to cook oven biscuits, cut them in half, and dropped them in. The closest relative I can think of is the hush-puppy, but it’s a distant one. These fried biscuits tasted like nothing I’ve ever eaten. Plus they cooked to a golden brown in about 30 seconds. By the time the biscuits were done most of the family had gotten up. I enjoyed the chance to visit with 3 generations from near where I passed through Mississippi. The most important thought of the morning came from the grandmother who said, "Nice doesn’t cost a thing." It was great to wake up and share stories with this family. This was yet another case of meeting incredibly nice people, either locals or other travelers