Famous Lines...

We all know the famous lines, The Maginot Line, The Mason-Dixon Line, The Line in The Sand, but recently I've been investigating a far more insidious line. One that most of the population never sees and never even suspects. That's right... The Hardee's-Carl's Jr Line.





A few days south of RI I encountered the first sign of Hardee's and their nefarious "Thickburgers" and throughout the South I have been seeing the smirking star wherever I go. Of course I am used to seeing that leer out in California closely accompanied by mention of the "Six-Dollar Burger" a thick burger that is like what you would pay six dollars for in a fancy restaurant. (Like Chili's or TGIFridays you know... "fancy" places) Of course, the ironic beauty is that since the name was so cleverly applied to this product inflation has pushed the price of the Six-Dollar Burger to nearly (you guessed) six dollars! Certain combo meals including this item are over 6 bucks, and I am guessing that most of the "fancy" places include fries for no extra charge. So what will they do with the Six-Dollar Burger? Keep the name for the sake of nostalgia? Start calling it the $8.95 Burger?

Whatever happens it is clear that Hardee's and Carl Jr can not exist in the same place. They are like matter and antimatter, surely any town to have both would be destroyed in a cataclysmic explosion. But this begs the question "where is the line?" Could Mr Hardee not manage to cross the Rockies, and his bastard son Carl filled the resulting void of thick burger suppliers? Or is the line farther east? Did the mighty Missouri River prove an insurmountable obstacle?

Likely we will never know the answer to these questions on the origin of The Line (unless someone were to do a simple internet search, but where is the fun in that?) But in my travels across the country I will endeavor to find the current geography of the line. So far the last Hardee's I saw was in Kansas City, MO. I have heard rumors of Carls Jr in Golden, CO, but these are as yet unsubstantiated.

So if you my several readers would like to help my in my quest to define The Line feel free to contact me with any relevant sightings from around the country.

Other less well known but no less insidious lines: The Helman's/Best Foods Line and the Von's/Safeway Line.