July is National Hot Dog Month, but here in North Carolina we eat them all year long, usually graced with a slide of chili and a mound of finely chopped cole slaw. That’s how we do.

You hear it every four years without For the truth is that there are no fail. In fact, I’m quick fixes. The problems may not be not sure you can insurmountable, but we’re looking have a presidential at planting seeds that may not bear election without both fruit for a couple of generations.

Most of High Point Road gives off a musty smell — a moderately offensive funk that derives its industrial essence from some combination of hot asphalt and vulcanized rubber. Burger King, McDonald’s, Bojangles, Krispy Kreme, Biscuitville and Cook Out lay down a fog of fryer grease that blankets the two-mile stretch saddling Interstate 40.