Joe Kennedy

Joe Kennedy is routinely named the region's best writer by readers of The Roanoker magazine.

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Former President George H.W. Bush popped in to Three Li'l Pigs Barbecue in Daleville Tuesday for lunch.

If it weren't for the lawful driving of a Roanoke County animal control officer on Interstate 581 and the 10 trucks that occupied the two northbound lanes of I-81, I might have been able to see him.

But the animal control truck rolled along at a glacial 58 mph and everyone else stayed timidly behind, owing to the red and blue lights atop the cab.

Then, the tractor-trailers on I-81 north not only blocked the passing lane but also the view of vehicles headed south. If any had looked presidential enough, I'd have pulled an unauthorized U-turn in the median and started a controlled pursuit.

How long could a former president, age 82, go without visiting a rest stop after downing an Amstel Light with his vinegar pork barbecue sandwich and onion straws meal?

And how often do we see someone so famous?

On the road

Bush told his admirers he was riding from the Homestead Resort in Bath County to Bristol because Ingalls Field, the highest general aviation airport east of the Mississippi, was socked in by fog.

Nobody thought to ask what group he had addressed at the Homestead, the nature of his business in Bristol or how he feels about the state of the world.

By the time I reached the Botetourt Commons shopping center, not even the scent of presidential cologne remained.

But for Bill Gaul, the restaurant's co-owner, his staff and some of the stylists from the nearby P.Zaz Salon and Spa, the thrill was not gone.

"He just asked questions about the restaurant and about the food," said Sandi Hart, who waited on him. "He was really, really friendly."

When Hart told him her son, Chris Wrobel of Allentown, Pa., was a huge fan of "Baby Bush," the ex-prez handed her a tie clip in the shape of the presidential seal and told her to give it to him.

Inquiring mind

He asked if Daleville were a bedroom community, and what colleges were nearby, told Gaul the meal was good and said to a couple of stylists, "Sure, I'll get a picture with you beautiful girls."

He wore a golf shirt, a blue blazer and gray slacks, a portrait of elegance.

Traveling like a rapper, Bush had a posse of Secret Service agents and a state trooper. He rode in a black Suburban like the ones you see on the news, while the trooper had his car and other agents rode in a blue SUV.

Some ate in their vehicle.

Bush and an aide lunched inside with a few agents eating nearby.

When hairstylist Jodie Miller approached the restaurant and saw all the agents in their black suits, "I thought maybe there'd been a funeral," she said.

The group downed nine meals. The former president paid the $71.63 tab with a $100 bill and took no change.

His companions added $20, giving Hart a $48.37 tip.

The ex-prez was deeply interested in the restaurant's peach ketchup. His aide took down the Web address in case his boss decided to order some.

His Suburban pulled away 10 minutes before I turned up.

About a dozen people had been eating when he arrived, but all of those had gone. The people who saw and talked with him had nothing but compliments.

They said he looked calm and healthy and acted modest and down-to-earth.

When stylist Candice Sheridan posed with the former president, "I felt like a teenager," she said.

She is 23.

Bush told them he hoped to fly back to Maine Tuesday night. But at 4:25 p.m. Tuesday, Ingalls Field Assistant Manager Dean Black said Bush's Hawker, a small jet, was still grounded.

"I can't see but about 25 feet out the window," Black said.

The former president might not have gone anywhere.

But if he went out to dinner in public, he undoubtedly knocked 'em dead.

Joe Kennedy's column appears on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.