The Bacon Bowl: Fayetteville Arkansas
Bacon is a journey not a destination and our journey to and from the 2013 Petit Jean Bacon Bowl in hip and happening Fayetteville, Arkansas was littered with… excitement? Eric and I decided to load our luggage to the breaking point with The Bacons Jams: Bacon Spread made with Petit Jean Premium Bacon and embarked at exactly the right time to get to the Philly airport 10 minutes before our flight. At this point Eric thinks its my fault that we were late and I chalk it up as a mutual thing.
We go home, rest and get back to the airport in time for a later flight. While in Charlotte for a layover (there were no pedicures with pink pig face toe nails), we found out that our original flight was grounded due to engine trouble with celebrity bacon lover and fellow guest of Petit Jean, Adam Poch, on it. After arriving late in Fayetteville we found out that Adam was put on a bus out of Memphis and not due to arrive until 5am the next morning. This 24 hour long journey for NY to Fayetteville was presumably worse than anything the Big Brother producers had thrown at him.
At this point I took full credit for making us late to that defunct flight. Upon settling into our hotel room, Eric set up the snack table. I know what you are thinking, the big kid who cooks for a living should have been the one to think of a snack table... not the skinny guy who eats tic tacs all day. Well, as I found out over the trip, Eric is a far more experienced traveler than I. The snack table had everything to sustain us over the weekend: fruit, granola bars, chips, vitamins, and yes Bacon Jams! We cruised Dickson Street, a mix of South Street and Old City, to get the lay of the land. I have to say Fayetteville seemed pretty cool and the folk were beyond friendly.
The next day we found out how cool it was. The volunteers from Youth Bridge Foundation and a local frat had the whole space set up and ready to JAM! We barely lifted a finger until it was time to give out the samples of The Bacon Jams. When that happened we learned two things. First, NWA (North West Arkansas not the rap group) love The Bacon Jams. Second, the folks from Fayetteville all know an exec from Walmart! We sampled all the local bacon fare including a pork belly sandwich on bacon weaved bread (that is weaved bacon cooked until crispy and used to substitute bread.) Afterword, a night on Dickson Street! Apparently, it was Halloween but we were sans costumes so I slipped into my old faithful, Tall Tony Stark. All in all, a great trip with fun people.
