Summerdale, AL, Part IV: Food and New Friends

One afternoon when we were walking around the campground we ran into Darrell and Judy Patterson outside their rig, and they invited us to stop and chat. Darrell and Judy are full-timers who have a blog called Wandering America that we follow, and they have a co-op site at Rainbow Plantation. Margery and Judy have corresponded by email, but we had never met the Pattersons in person, so we were glad to be able to catch up with them while we were in Summerdale.

When we mentioned we were originally on our way to the office to pick up a new activities calendar for the campground, the Pattersons told us about a dinner at the Escapees clubhouse on Sunday called Souper Sunday. A number of the ladies prepare different soups, and for $3 a person (the proceeds went to charity), you could sample as many soups as you wanted. That sounded like a good way to get to know some people as well as a good way to enjoy some delicious food, so we decided to join them.

One thing we learned about the Escapees a long time ago most of them don't take themselves too seriously, and there's always a bunch who aren't afraid to make fools of themselves. Last September at the Escapade, there was never any trouble getting people to volunteer to put on ridiculous costumes and perform funny stunts and skits to entertain the rest of us. Souper Sunday was no exception. There is a group of ladies at Rainbow Plantation who call themselves the Chenilles (Rainbow Plantation’s own bathrobe ensemble). They got up and serenaded us with a couple of silly songs.

After our entertainment, we all got to wander around to see what kinds of delicious soups there were.

There were at least 20 different soups from traditional soups like chili, chicken noodle, beef barley, and split pea with ham (one of Paul's favorites) as well as more exotic soups like mushroom and wild rice, and pumpkin with mushrooms and curry. Our favorite was the pumpkin with mushrooms and curry.

Darrell and Judy also invited us to join them and a group of people for lunch the following day at the Roadkill Cafe in nearby Elberta, AL. The next photo shows the majority of our group outside. We ended up with 8 couples.

As you might guess from the name, the Roadkill Cafe doesn't take itself too seriously either. Just check out the mural on the wall outside...

...and the sign inside the door.

The Roadkill Cafe specializes in down-home Southern cooking, and they are only open for lunch. Although you can order from the menu, everyone we saw was having the all-you-can-eat buffet. It is good food for $8 a person; and on top of that, someone in our group had coupons that gave you one buffet at the regular price and the second one for half price.

The buffet always includes fried chicken plus at least one other meat - it was pork chops in gravy the day we were there. There was also salad, green beans, collard greens, corn, mashed potatoes and more. Everything was delish, including the chocolate cake and soft-serve ice cream for dessert.

As you might be able to tell from the photo of the outside of the restaurant above, it was cloudy and it rained most of the day. According to our weather station, we got 1.89 inches of rain over a 24 hour period. The region needs rain, so that was a good thing, especially because it was a fairly steady rain instead of a quick downpour. That also meant it got cool after the rain, so we'll be anxiously awaiting a warm up because we still have some sightseeing we want to do before we leave Summerdale. Stay tuned.

Comments

[Kathy Donley]

Reading your blog was such a better description of the outings than the pitiful one I managed of the same thing. Glad we got to met you both, know we will probably see you again. Travel safe.