Mom and My Lincoln Highway Cruise

Several years ago, I think 2004, Mom and I drove back to Illinois from Goldsboro, NC, so we could attend the gathering to honor Don Schrickel in Green Bay, Wi. He was a BIG-Time Packer fan and it was held at Brett Favre's Steakhouse. Don worked with Dad at Quaker Oats and the family lived about seven streets over in one of the biggest 1960s subdivisions, Winston Park in Palatine, as built by the Winston-Muss Builders.

We stopped in Mt. Airy, NC, Andy Griffith's hometown and what he based Mayberry on in his popular TV series. She's been there on a bus tour and we stopped at Snappy Lunch, which was mentioned on the show. I had the best porkchop sandwich ever. This place has not changed since the 30s, and the owner grills right at the window so you can see what he's doing. It's only open until 2, and you'd better get there early, as there were probably thirty people waiting for the 30 seats when we left at noon.

Anyway, to get back to the Lincoln Highway, we drove the superslab (roadie term for the interstate) to Canton, Ohio, where we spent the night. I had my first visit to a Faoli's, the poor man's Olive Garden. Great food.

We then got on the Lincoln Highway the next morning and drove through Ohio to Indiana. This is what brings me to why I'm writing about this trip.

The Ada, Ohio, Herald says that ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation) is going to put Lincoln Highway markers up along the various alignments. I sure wish they had them up when we went through as we lost the alignment quite often. Fortunately, it usually followed current US Highway 30, but even so. Mom got very good at spotting the unique Lincoln Highway markers that were set out by the Boy Scouts in 1928, after US-30 had replaced LH.

Also, this past weekend, Van Wert, Ohio, had their annual Peony Festival. Evidently, there are a lot of commercial peony operations in the area. They had a parade, vendors, elected a queen, and had a tour of homes featuring the plant. One even had a peony tree dating back to 1917.

Mom and I had an excellent dinner at the 1920s Balyeat's Restaurant in Van Wert, and had a very interesting talk with the waitress who was in her 80s and had been a German war bride, having met and eventually married an American GI, and moving to the US. She had been working at Balyeat's since 1947.

Been Cruisin' the Old Lincoln. --RoadDog