Bonus Road Trip (7 of 10)- Columbia, Mo., to The Indepence Bowl

Since we originally started the Road Trip series back in the spring of this year, we set out to try and cover every state, including Alaska and Hawaii (for the Aloha State, we used a short drive on the island of Maui). And, we think got all the states except for possibly Missouri.

So, we are including the Show Me State here just to be 100-percent certain. Since we are sort of based in North Carolina, this may seem like high treason as the University of North Carolina Tarheels will face the Missouri Tigers for the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La.

This is actually an early bowl as it will be played on Monday, Dec. 26, at 5:00 p.m./Chapel Hill, NC, time.

For this entry, we chose two Mexican restaurants as our points of destination. La Siesta on North 9th Street in Columbia, Missori, the city where the Tigers are based, is the Mexican restaurant for Mizzou. And, for Shreveport, we have chosen Superior Grill, which also has three other restaurants in Louisiana and one in Alabama. In Sheveport, the restaurant can be found on Lime Avenue.

If you are in Chapel Hill, NC, we saw that our friends at the Turkish restaurant Tallula's on Franklin Street about 15 hours and 30 minutes from the Superior Grill in Shreveport, La.

But, we are looking for the distance between Columbia and Shreveport; and the answer is:

A) 9 hours, 45 minutes

B) 10 hours

C) 10 hours, 15 minutes

D) 10 hours, 30 minutes

E) 10 hours, 45 minutes

SIDEBAR ONE: Lots of books with very long titles are out these days, including this one we saw mentioned in "Rolling Stone" and later at a book retailer in Washington, DC: "Free Ride: How Digital Media Parasites Are Destroying the Cultural Business, and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back" by Robert Levine, who is also a contributing editor to "Rolling Stone."

SIDEBAR TWO: We love headlines from the satirical news publication "The Onion," and this header from today's edition was as always quite funny and very dark: "(Detroit) Tigers Sign Jim Leyland Through His Death in 2012."

It should be pointed out that the legendary baseball manager Jim Leyland is alive and well; in fact, he turned 67 on Dec. 15th.

Quote of the Week- Ludwig van Beethoven

In the Whoops Department, we meant to quote Ludwig van Betthoven (1770-1827) first, and then quote Bryan Adams in the next entry. But, the phone was ringing and we are listening to the Virginia Tech- Georgia Tech football from Atlanta which have the Hokies beating the home team Yellow Jackets 21-13 at half-time. Ok, yes, that was a cop-out!

For fans of the Stanley Kubrick cinematic classic "A Clockwork Orange" (1971), the ninth symphony from 'Ludwig van' which is featured in the film always conjurs up sadistic notions (that film wasn't exactly "Bambi").

If you want to hear Bethooven on the Internet, both WETA-FM in Washington, DC, which is an NPR station, and WCPE in Raleigh, NC, which is an independent, non-profit station play the likes of Bethooven, Mozart and Metallica (ok, they don't play Metallica!) 24 hours a day.

Here is the quote:

"A great poet is the most precious jewel of a nation."

Silly Photo to Fill Space- UNC Mascot

For those of us who live on the North Carolina-Virginia border, the annual football game between the Virginia Tech Hokies, where my late father and sister went to school, and The University of North Carolina is perhaps more exciting than the in-state rivalries, especially since Wake Forest, Duke and The University of Virginia have weak football programs at the moment.

The game takes place on Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill, and I know my friend Greensboro, NC, folk singer Bruce Piephoff will be rooting for his beloved Tarheels. We should also mention that Bruce is actually performing in Aberdeen,NC (not Southern Pines, NC, as we stated in our 'Easy Rider' entry yesterday; we are too lazy to make corrections) at The Rooster's Wife on Sunday at 6:30 p.m.

SIDEBAR: Our beloved Ragsdale Flying Tigers in Jamestown, NC, (not my alma mater) beat rival Glenn HS 49-21 to advance in the North Carolina state high school football playoffs tonight.


Other state scores are as follows:

High Point Central 28 Smith 22

Eastern Alamance 36 Rockingham County 10

Randleman 36 Reidsville 35

Carrboro 55 Whiteville 33

High School of the Week- Northwest Classen High School in Oklahoma City

Greetings from the Waffle House in Staunton, Va., (well we are not actually there at the moment!), where we profile Northwest Classen High School from Oklahoma City as our High School of the Week.

The high school, which is the alma mater of country singer Vince Gill, is nicknamed The Knights. The school principal is Tamie Sanders. And, the school's demographics are 38.5 % Latino, 25.8 % White, 22.4 % Black, and .00000000009 % Pashtun (forgive the humorous reference to an Afghan ethnic group).

Alas, folks in Oklahoma are not likely to be happy tonight as their beloved Oklahoma Sooners, the top-ranked team in college football, fell to the University of Missouri by a 36-27 margin. But, then again we can't feel too sorry for Oklahoma since it is a red state and it now approaching 3:30 a.m. here at The Waffle House in Harrisonburg, Va.,.......oh, I mean Staunton, Va., of course!

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Tarheel Mascot

Today, we are posting photos for the respective mascots of the Virginia Tech Hokies and The North Carolina Tarheels. The two teams will meet in a college football clash in Blacksburg, Va., on Thurs., Oct. 29. The game will be televised on ESPN. I happen to someone who travels between Virginia and North Carolina constantly, so I look foward to seeing the game though due to my schedule I'll be catching the second half!