Bonus Road Trip- Manteo to Murphy (To Flee Irene)

In North Carolina, the term "Murphy to Manteo" is used constantly for entities which serve the entire Tarheel State whether it be "Our State" magazine or North Carolina Public Television.

But, with Hurricane Irene now hitting the shores of the Outer Banks around Kill Devil Hills, it seems that right now travelers are more likely to head west, which would be from Manteo to Murphy. The route goes through Chapel Hill where the University of North Carolina Tarheels play. Given that Hurricane Irene is expected to be a devastating storm, one has to wonder if the Carolina Hurricanes hockey game perhaps should have chosen a different nickname.

For those who did not major in North Carolina geography in college or live in Wyoming or Uzbekistan, let me explain that Manteo is a town in the Outer Banks whereas Murphy is in 'Deliverance country' near the borders of Georgia and Tennesse in the far west, mountainous part of the state.

We imagine that it has been a slow Friday night for such Outer Banks establishments as Front Porch Cafe, Stripes Bar and Grille, and Chilli Peppers Coastal Grille, assuming they were even open at all.

So, for this Bonus Road Trip, we examined the distance between the town hall of Manteo and Daily Grind and Wine, a cafe in Murphy which has the motto: 'Life is too short for bad coffee and cheap wine."

Thus, we ask you the blog-reader how far apart these two towns are.

Is the answer:

A) 8 hours, 30 minutes

B) 8 hours, 50 minutes

C) 9 hours, 10 minutes

D) 9 hours, 25 minutes

We will give the answer over the weekend.

SIDEBAR: "The News-Observer," the newspaper for Raleigh tweeted tonight that downtown Wilmington was a mess even though it is a few hours south of the eye of the storm. But, there are lots of sporting events in North Carolina which are still on, as of press time.

The Winston-Salem Open, a tennis tournament in (where else) Winston-Salem will have a final featuring American star John Isner and French tennis player Julien Benneteau tomorrow afternoon at 12:30 local time. The game, if it is played, will be broadcast nationally on CBS.

And, tonight, the University of North Carolina-Greensboro (they are the Spartans, not the Tarheels) opened their season at home against Duke University, which was ranked 12th in the country. The Spartans were able to pull a 3-2 upset thanks to two goals from Turkish-German player Hakan Ilhan.

Silly Picture to Fill Space-Minor League Hockey Fight

Since we used an image of the Charlotte Checkers' mascot (a polar bear) for an entry in this series on our other blog, we thought we'd show the violent side of minor league hockey with this fight featuring a player from ECHL's Idaho Steelheads.

One of the Boys from Boise's next home game will be against the Boys from Salt Lake City (the Utah Grizzlies) when the two teams meet on the Steelheads' home ice on March 16.

The Steelheads have had an outstanding season from goalie Richard Bachman as has recent ECHL Player of the Week James Sixsmith of the Grizzlies.

In SLC, the Grizzlies will host the Stockton Thunder (from Stockton, Calif.) for three consecutive games starting on Friday. The other games will be on Saturday and Sunday.

The Grizzlies' actually have a Happy Hour, which seems startling considering that the team is in one of the reddest states in America. But, when one reads further they find out that in fact the Happy Hour means five-dollar concession meals from 6:00-7:00 p.m. only.

I could not deduce from the Grizzlies' web site if the team serves Bud Lite or any other alcohol products, not could I find out if Donnie Osmond has ever sung the National Anthem for them.

But, we wish the Grizzlies well against the Thunder. If I didn't live in Greensboro, NC, (which ironically no longer has a hockey team even though the city briefly served as home ice for the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes before the tea permanently moved to Raleigh and won a Stanley Cup), I would be there to cheer on the Boys from Salt Lake City.

Besides, I don't care much for Bud Lite anyway.