While traveling thru South Carolina, I decided to go in the back of the van & lay down for a bit. Jay wanted me to stay sleeping so he pushed the van until we really needed gas. When we pulled off the exit, the van started to sputter & then it stalled out. Yup. Awsome. Ok, so jay got it back started & he limped it to the nearest gas station, thinking that it was probably just too low on gas. While he was filling up, i saw a kitty.
then another. then 3 more. there was kitties EVERYWHERE! so cute! i wanted to pet them, but thought better of it, as catching rabies or whatever else 
would make the van breaking down seem like cheesecake.But, i could feed them! I got out some cheese out of our cooler & cut it up into little pieces... threw it out to the cats.... they dove! they growled! they fought! they were soooo hungry! i kept getting more & more.... cats were coming out of the woods, crowding around us! they may be homeless, but at least, for the next hour, they wouldn't be hungry.
Meanwhile, while i was feeding the kitties, jay was worried about the van. All filled up, it was still sputtering & wanting to stall out. We called a few Advance Autos to see if they had a scan tool that we could use to figure out what was wrong.... nope.
So, i scanned our Garmin Nuvi & found a little auto place called Dixie Auto Parts. They had the tool & could scan the van for $15.
We headed over to Dixie Auto.... a little place in what seemed like to us, the middle of nowhere. But boy, was it busy! The phone was ringing off the hook & the place was full! Jay & i kinda stood out, with our hairdoo's & Jay in his Bruins jersey, but as we've noticed in the south, everyone was super friendly.
Jay had guessed, before we got to the part store, that the problem was the EGR valve. After they did the scan, they told him he was right. ..... of course!
Now, the new problem is that they didn't have a new EGR valve in stock. No one did. So, we decided we would change it once we arrived in Jacksonville, at our friends' Erik & Stacey's place.
While at the parts store, we asked them where would be a good place to get a bite to eat... someplace where the locals go to get good southern cookin'.
The lady at the store recommended Sweatman's ..... she said Anthony Bourdain from No Reservations went there & gave it excellent reviews. DONE. SOLD! WHERE IS THIS PLACE!--
(i love anthony bourdain!!!)
Only about 6 miles down the road, we headed for Sweatman's. A big metal pig markes the turn & the building is an old farmhouse on what seems like acres of land. Once inside you are greeted by the cashier. $20 for both of us, all you can eat. Your choices are rice, pork hash, bbq pork, smoked pork, fried pork rinds and sweet tea. oh, and for a vegetable, cole slaw! hahaha! so much for being a vegetarian!!!
Delicious food! I even ate the pork rinds (which i haven't eaten in about 25 years!) The sweet tea was awesome, too.
We had our fill & headed on our way, down to Jacksonville!
More to follow....
coaly gallant*
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