Don't Taco and Drive.

Today I had the great fortune of being in a town in Illinois that has a Taco John's. Being able to eat lunch there made my week - maybe even my month. If you don't know, Taco John's is a fast food restaurant specializing in Mexican food. Think Taco Bell, but gloriously delicious. Almost as good as Amigos.

In spite of a huge difference in population, Illinois only has 13 Taco Johns locations while my home state of Nebraska claims 39. It is almost unfair of the fine people of Nebraska to hoard them so.

Today I noticed the illustrious Mr. Todd Zastrow discussing the merits of another regional Mexican fast food joint - Taco Bueno. I can imagine there are similarities and it begs the question - is this all just a matter of familiarity?

As a Nebraskan, I love Taco John's and Amigo's even though I rarely get to enjoy them. I also have an unnatural affinity for a little place named Runza - a chain that makes their business selling, of all things, German stuffed sandwiches consisting of dough stuffed with beef, onions, sauerkraut, and happiness.

Because I am from McCook, I am also a historically frequent patron of Mac's Drive In. Since moving away, I have never missed the chance to eat there while in town. The same is true of most people from that area. Our experience there has clued us into the fact that Mac's serves the best little hamburgers in the universe. Their onion rings, mushrooms, fries, and more are also impossible to top.

According to me... but maybe I am biased - these are some of my favorites from growing up. That isn't to say they aren't wonderful places to eat and that Taco John's and Amigo's render Taco Bell basically useless - because those things are fact. I am merely suggesting that nostalgia and the comfort of their familiarity add to the experience.

Seeing familiar faces behind the counter at Mac's are a part of that experience. I don't recall a time that I have visited Mac's on a trip home without running into at least a few people or groups of people that I know and am excited to stop and talk to.

It's like that.

I had been talking up Mac's to my wife so much at one point before a recent visit that I started to wonder if I was overselling it. Dining there the next week confirmed that I had not been overselling the place in the least.

I have stories attached to my experiences with the places I named.

I remember the time when I used my drink cup to get an unhealthy amount of nacho cheese from Amigo's lobby cheese pump for the bus ride home after some school event in high school.

I also remember the time I was eating a Taco John's taco while driving in North Platte. I was so distracted by said taco that I ran a red light and narrowly escaped having my '89 Ford Escort crushed.

Today, I consider myself an expert in eating-while-driving, but even 10+ years after that incident I remember it to the extent of changing my behavior. At lunchtime, I enjoyed my Taco John's tacos from the comfort of my car... safely parked in its own cozy little spot.

Learning from experiences and mistakes is maybe the essence of personal growth. In my life, though I have seen this extrapolated to a comical extent.

One bad experience often causes people to swear off a wealth of potentially rich episodes of life.

The fact that I ran a red light while eating a taco does not lead me to believe I should no longer enjoy a taco at all - just that I shouldn't drive while distracted by something so mouth-watering. At the same time, one fantastic taco-eating experience shouldn't convince me that I should only eat taco's at the Taco John's in North Platte, Nebraska.

The world beyond Taco John's is full of scrumptious tacos, and even the menu AT Taco John's holds wonders that exceed their tacos - namely Potato Ole's.

If I had never tried something beyond that, I would never know the wonders that are Amigo's Chicken Soft Taco and Crisp Meat Burrito, and my life would be much smaller for it.

Learning from experiences, negative and positive, isn't equitable to being limited by them.