The original intent of getting away from I-24 on my way back from St. Louis was to find food. I hadn’t eaten much of anything all day Saturday and I had only grabbed something that was supposed to be breakfast-like and cheap when I fueled up. I hadn’t thought of food the entire time I drove to visit my family, or while I was play-fighting with my nephew, or anything like that. But the second I crossed from Illinois into Kentucky, my stomach made it’s issue known. That’s how I found myself on Kentucky 1594, and that’s how I found this gem of a building. I couldn’t get the Cruze pulled over fast enough.
As I got out of the car and assessed the surroundings, the only thing I could think of involved the voice of Jackie Gleason: “Give me a Diablo sandwich, a Dr. Pepper, and make it quick…I’m in a god-damn hurry!” If this isn’t the prototypical “choke-and-puke” restaurant from Smokey and the Bandit, I don’t know what is. (edit: it’s not…that one is in Georgia.) It’s small, it’s low and the parking lot has plenty of room for rigs. You could easily see four or six trucks, a small group of motorcycles and a station wagon or two parked here as people chowed down on hamburgers, catfish and whatever else before hitting the road for the next leg of the trip, can’t you? (Go figure that my stomach rumbles a little thinking about what a Diablo sandwich must taste like. Still haven’t tried one!)
I’m in my mid-thirties. The Interstate has always been there, and has always been the go-to for driving across the country in a timely manner. If I’ve gone backroading on the old highways and state routes, it’s either because it’s necessary to get where I’m going since there are no close Interstate routes or because I’ve purposefully decided to go roaming. It’s how I’ve found some of the cooler things in my travels, like the ghost town of Brenda, Arizona or the unbelievably gorgeous camping spot I know of near South Park, Colorado. I’ve seen restaurants like this in old movies and shows, but in real-life? Maybe two, ever, in tiny little towns in the Midwest and South, that are still in operation. There’s just too many off-ramps lined with Fast Food America and truck stops anymore.
I know a good portion of the BangShift reader population is older than me. What do you miss from days gone by? And don’t say you miss the hush puppies, we ain’t got no time for that crap.
Oddly enough, due to freeway usage I no longer get my fill of corned beef hash.
This tasty concoction, when made from scratch, is never the same in any two eateries. The repetitive consistency of the mass produced canned sort is thrown to the winds under these circumstances, and every single place you order it, it will have a different taste. Not a single one of which I’ve yet to find unpleasant.
In the past I’ve done road trips for the sole intention of sampling that variety of hash for a day or two. But thanks to age, time, freeways, whatever …… I’ve not done it in years.
The small mom and pops stores- be it a restaurant or a gas station or whatever. Nowadays it is all chain restaurants, chain this and that. No room for the little guy trying to make a living with his own business. The variety of the small businesses are much more interesting than any homogenized chain crap.
Thousands of tiny white roadside chapels which dotted the roadsides of the highways. They looked like a 1:50 scale church. I always wanted to stop at one and go inside, but my old man said it was for Catholic people and we were Presbyterian. My mom said that people went in those little chapels and prayed to St. Christopher for safe travel.
Great question! Family road trips every summer started pre-I-5 out of Washington State down Hwy 101. I still have a fondness for the agriculture station just south of the Cali state line (don’t know why), and the drive through the Redwoods (ahhh). After stopping in Ventura at the grandparents it was Route 66 across to Texas to the other grandparents. Honestly, it was the little motels with swimming pools and mom and pop diners that stood out for me. Such great memories. To this day I still prefer the side roads to the massive concrete ribbons called freeways. I guess that’s some of the Americana I wish to hold on to!
https://www.food.com/recipe/diablo-sandwich-410139
sounds good to me!
Ive done the Back to The Bricks Promo Tour Twice here in Michigan
kinda a Michigan version of Power Tour
we use all Secondary Highways in our Travels its amazing how many of the Tourist places/ Mom & Pop Restaurants, that are (Still There !) Here in Michigan
When we travel as a family we always make it a point to try to eat at the little mom and pop places when we can, it’s hit and miss but always a good story. I also really like staying at the old motels where you park right in front of your door.
Since moving to NC from NJ, I miss diners! In northern NJ, seems every town had at least one diner. It’s great traveling the back roads thru different towns and visiting those eateries.