It was the summer of 2009, right before the beginning of my senior year in high school, and I found myself in the car with Erik Noel.
For about a year now, I had been a part of a local mixed martial arts team, and it was this night that Chase, one of our featherweights, would be stepping in the cage in northern Kentucky.
So as Erik and I were driving into Kentucky we had one major thought: We need to eat some Kentucky Fried Chicken.
As you may remember from one of my earlier columns, Erik Noel was the brain child of my bucket list. Seeing as he and I shared a similar bucket list item, he was licking his chops as much as I to get his hands on some homestyle food.
That's when we found ourselves walking into the local establishment. The whole idea of eating KFC in Kentucky came from the idea that any Kentucky franchise would naturally be better than other franchises outside its state of origin.
Walking through the double doors, we weren't disappointed. With chrome walls and an old-fashioned track player, Erik and I were transported back to a diner that looked as if it were straight from the 1950s. Not only did the establishment seem as if it belonged to another decade, but Erik also quickly discovered that this KFC also had something that is taboo in today's world - an all-you-can-eat-buffet.
Now the entire goal of my bucket list (if anyone out there is making one) is to enjoy the experience of the things you've accomplished alone or with a friend. In Kentucky, I did just that with Erik.
Just eating chicken in a different state seems rather uneventful unless you look closer. Once you break that surface you can see the joy and the satisfaction of completing a bucket list item. The jokes and sayings of that day may be lost now, but the day itself is forever cemented into both our beings.
As we left the restaurant, we soon arrived at the arena where the fights were to take place. Our boy Chase was the eighth fight on the card, so when he finally stepped in the ring, the entire trip led up to this. What could have been a 15-minute fight, Chase finished in two.
As I watched him leave the ring with his hands triumphantly in the air, I couldn't help but let a grin work its way across my face. The day was over, and so is this story. You stay classy Athens.
Austin Wyant is a freshman studying international studies and a columnist for The Post. Talk turkey with Austin at aw149110@ohiou.edu.
4 Opinion
Austin Wyant
