On the road again: World Fantasy Con, Columbus, day 6

I hate travel days. They almost always start rough for me, because I don't sleep well when I know I have to get up early. So it was today, as I woke up about ninety minutes--a full sleep cycle--before I had to get up and could not fall fully asleep again despite being very tired.

Once I got out of bed, however, the day proceeded well, if in a haze of fatigue. The drive was long but uneventful, which is a good thing.

As we were cruising through West Virginia, we saw a sign I couldn't resist: Tudor's Biscuit World. Onto the exit and into the wilderness we drove, until in the town of Ripley we came to the small shop. Most of the business consisted of construction workers in trucks using the drive-through window, and the place was closing in less than half an hour, but we went inside; I wanted the full experience.

Not my best plan. The bathrooms had flooded, so the smell was on the funky side. The young woman behind the counter was surly and nearly unintelligible. The biscuits were better than cardboard but not by a huge margin, and their contents inspired such unfortunate discussion moments as the following:

"That could be a real egg."

"No way. That egg-like thing came from a bottle."

"But is sorta has white and yellow areas."

I can't speak to all the world's Tudors, but if you're in the Ripley area and considering this one, drive on by.

The resulting stomach aches, by the way, gave us all the excuse we needed to stop in Tamarck again, where the rest room is clean and they don't mind you sitting there for a spell. Once we were better, we had to sample the Katie's Korner ice cream, which from its Web site looked pretty good. Our samples sadly proved to be merely okay, with hints of oddness in their flavors. While I'll continue to order Jeni's whenever I can get it, I don't feel the need to try Katie's again.

I'm in my home office now and working like mad to catch up, so I'll return to that. It is good to be home.