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Road Warrior or Wearier?

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Whether it\'s a hop, skip or leap in Boulder, Colorado, or a "Holler and a Swaller," in Nashville, Tennessee, our country offers wonderful diversity in entertainment, attitude, food or transportation systems.

During the last two years, I\'ve been experiencing this variety as I travel around the country providing training and consulting for my clients. I\'m part of a large group of business travelers who some people refer to as "road warriors." On the days when I\'m stranded on a runway for hours due to a snow storm or frustrated by poor service at a hotel, I feel more like a "road wearier." But most of the time, the people I encounter and the scenery that drifts by the window of yet another rental car make it all worthwhile. When you live in the heartland (Overland Park, KS; a suburb of Kansas City, MOyes Kansas City really is in Missouri), things are a little different any direction you travel.

One of my first travel assignments was in the neighboring state of Nebraska. Many people asked what could be interesting there. Nothing earth shattering. Just the pure tranquillity of the gently rolling hills and carefully-tended farmland, and the Indian food in Lincoln. You don\'t always have to be in a big, cosmopolitan area to find eclectic food. Lincoln, the site of both the Capitol and the state\'s university, and Omaha, the largest city in the state, have refurbished market areas. Years ago these markets were bustling with farmers selling hay and grain. Now agribusiness has given over to restaurants, bars and quaint boutiques. You can sit outside in nice weather or dine inside and observe the original construction of the warehouses. And, it was at one of these restaurants in Lincoln that I had some of the best chicken massala I\'ve eaten.

Of course you can\'t even begin to talk about food, which is one of the best parts of the end of a day on the road, without heading South. When you hear the words "country buffet," and you are south of the Mason/Dixon line, you are in for a treat. These folks know how to put out a spread complete with homemade vegetable soup and banana-cream pudding that will leave you content for days. There\'s always fried chicken, and if you\'re lucky maybe dumplings too, a variety of vegetables seasoned like only southerners know how to, fruit cobblers, and yes, sweet, brewed tea.

My favorite of these buffets is in Jackson, Tennessee, at Casey Jones. The restaurant is next to a general store with lots of goodies. The atmosphere is Tennessee casual and friendly, and they even have fresh cracklin\' bread on the stove. In warm weather, on Wednesday evenings, you can hear the "Picktorial" society. This is a large group of individuals who gather in small clusters around the parking lot and play bluegrass. The older men teach the younger boys, some of who seem barely old enough to manage their instruments, all the old tunes, so the music will continue on through the generations. If you stop and chat, you\'ll probably even hear some "horse swapping" stories. There\'s nothing like a Tennessee story.

Stories and music go hand in hand in Tennessee. In Memphis it\'s the blues and rock-a-billy. You hear music everywhere you go, from the minute you get off the plane and enter the airport. Neon lights with flashing guitars combine with throbbing bass notes to lure you in, especially on Beale Street. The many clubs, named after legends like BB King, offer live blues nightly served up with gumbo, catfish and people ready to share tales of actual Elvis sightings, when the King was just another hopeful at the recording studio around the corner.

In Nashville, they welcome you with a "Holler and a Swaller." If Memphis is King of rock, blues and food, then Nashville can boast the best of country and a true party attitude. You can\'t be in Nashville and not have fun, unless you\'re trying really hard to be bored. To get into the lingo, there are more country acts on the street named Broadway than you can "shake a stick at." From girls in big hair and sequins hoping to get a break, to has beens who stagger on stage, the music keeps you singing along. The audience is always fun to watch as well. There are the ladies in bluejeans and boots passing the tip jars, businessmen in suits shaking off a hard day of meetings and travelers from around the world wanting to experience the setting where many famous country stars get their start.

The night I was there, an English country singer was at Tootsie\'s celebrating his 55th birthday. He had traveled to Nashville for the occasion, and realized a lifetime dream when one of the groups invited him on stage to sing along. Actually, that\'s part of the experience. People pop on stage for a number or two all night long, while the people in the audience clap and dance wherever they can find a spot. And, several times a night, you\'re greeted with the band announcing the custom of a "Holler and a Swaller." After a rousing "Yee-Haw," everyone is encouraged to take a swaller of their favorite brew.

Speaking of brew, the smells of the country are interesting too. In Milwaukee, you smell beer as the city comes into view. Then, there\'s Hershey Pennsylvania, where you are greeted by the smell of chocolate (or at least you think so) and street lights shaped like Hershey kisses. Riding through the Hershey plant where you observe the candy-making process, sets you up perfectly for the last stop at the candy store. I left with two bags full, only to think later, I could have bought all the same stuff at Wal-Mart and not had to carry it back home, but it wouldn\'t have been the same somehow.

My work days on the road end at four, and I always try to see the sights, like the Hershey plant, that are well known in whatever area I\'m in. I\'ve toured CNN in Atlanta, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, battlefields in Vicksburg and Gettsyburg and landmarks like the Mayo clinic, the stately Duke University campus, Churchill Downs in Louisville, and the monuments of our capitol, that seem even more magnificent since September 11.

This was the year for many of America\'s castles too. I Saw San Simeon, former home of William Randolph Hearst, on a sidetrip in California; Monticello, the home designed by its ingenious owner, Thomas Jefferson, in the autumn, with Virginia\'s beautiful fall foliage forming an extraordinary backdrop; and The Biltmore at Christmas. The surrounding mountains of Asheville, North Carolina, are a perfect setting for this true castle built by the Vanderbilts. There were 42 Christmas trees, at least one in each room. The rooms were each decorated with their own themes, and carolers and musicians were located throughout the house to add to the magic.

Those are some of the bricks and mortar monuments, I\'ve been lucky enough to view. Then there are God\'s offerings. These are the eye candy you experience driving along. I think of them as those unexpected "around another corner" delights. You find them on drives like the one between Eau Claire and La Crosse, Wisconsin, where the " driftless bluffs," as they are known locally, dip and role with cozy farmhouses and dairy cows chewing their cuds interspersed along the way. (If you\'re lucky you can even get fresh cheese curds to snack on while you drive). Another unexpected treasure in the Kansas prairie is the Flint hills along I-70 just west of Topeka. It\'s as if Laura

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