The story of a Kentucky Colonel

Stuart reminded me today of a piece of his history I'd forgotten: he's a Kentucky Colonel. Just like THE Colonel. You may wonder what prompted the reminder of such important history. As you remember, we just spent a noisy night at a campground barely off I-40, in Newport, TN last night. Knowing that we'd just crossed over the most difficult of the mountain roads, the section between Asheville, NC and Newport, we opted to go no further that day. The road is a miracle, according to geologists. The rock supporting and surrounding that roadbed is about the most unstable stuff on the east coast. But, don't tell the vast amount of truckers who depend on that route to get across the mountains! Our host at the Newport KOA told us the repair from the rock slide, which closed I-40, took almost two years.  But, back to the Colonel.  We headed north from Newport this hot morning, chosing to drive on 25E, rather than an interstate.  Good choice!  It's the kind of road that has the green dots on the map, indicating that it's a particularly scenic route.  And, it's a route that took us through Corbin, KY.  The place Colonel Harland Sanders perfected his Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe.

We followed our instincts, and a couple of signs, to find the site of the original cafe.  The Colonel moved to Corbin, KY, in 1932.  He first worked for a couple of gas stations, and with the Depression very close in everyone's rear-view memory, managed to buy a gas station on what was the main road from Cleveland to Florida.  He quickly built a small cafe and motor lodge,  serving tasty meals to travelers.  In the early 1950's, with Ike's new interstate road by-passing his town and his restaurant, he took his first social security check ($105), and began traveling and teaching small business owners how to make his pressure-cooked chicken.  In just a few years, he was a millionaire.  And, he did it by telling anyone who'd study his method to pay him "when you can".

The Colonel is one of the originators of American fast food.  His idea of frying chicken in 9 minutes, as opposed to the normal 30 minutes, and therefore giving people hot food quickly, was adopted by others.  The little museum, built to resemble his original cafe,  has a replica of the original kitchen, complete with a 1940-era Hobart dishwasher.  Restaurant owners could take notes about that today.  We ate on plastic plates, with plastic sporks.  He was not only a cook, but a marketing genius.  Inside the cafe, he built a replica of one of the rooms of his motor lodge.  Knowing that the women would want to check out the rooms before agreeing to allow the family to spend the night was key to his marketing scheme.  So, the "ladies room" was actually inside the replica of the motor court room inside the cafe!  The women could see how clean and neat the room was, and would endorse the idea of spending the night there.

I don't know how he earned the Kentucky Colonel honor. I do know that in his younger days he was a politician.  In those days, I believe it was earned through political endorsements or community service work.  Stuart earned his through his ex-father-in-law, who was from KY, and sponsored him.   Stuart doesn't expect anyone to call him Colonel.  He has no clue how to fry chicken, surely won't let anyone pay him "when you can".