-=> Sean Dennis wrote to Dave Drum <=-

 DD> I bet there's a Cracker Barrel though.  Bv)=

 SD> Nope, nothing there yet.  There IS a Cracker Barrel north of town right
 SD> off of I-26, across from Waffle House. 

Cracker Barrel seems to be spaced about 90 minutes apart in Illinois.
All on/just off interstate highway ramps.

 DD> Our franchisee did outdoor (patio) even w/heaters in the winter time.
 DD> And hung on. He also leased the last Denny's location (before they tore
 DD> it down) and installed a Spaghetti Shop franchise. It's still under the
 DD> same ownership - but it's now a "Beef O'Brady's" sports bar franchise.

 SD> I haven't been to our local Beef O' Brady's in 10 years but they are
 SD> still there and still evidently going strong in the same location.
 SD> They are in an odd location but if you want them, they're there.

I'm not a fan of most sports bars ... but, then, I'm not a saloon-a-tick.
There's one I go to called Brickhouse - for the chilli. And the waitress
with the sizeable assets. She always give our party great service - we
tip with "funny money" ... U$2 bills, gold dollar coins and half-dollars.

 DD> I wish we had a Waffle House or a Toddle House. We're forced to make do
 DD> with a Memphis based Huddle House.

 SD> We've three WHs here; one a short drive north of me (3 miles) and one
 SD> west of me (4.4 miles), and the one across from CB (6.6 miles).
 SD> They're all really good places especially the far-north one.  I like to
 SD> go around 9-10 AM. Past the breakfast rush hour.  I do admit to
 SD> enjoying going to a WH around that time with my laptop and a MiFi to do
 SD> my morning computer work while eating.

There are but two WH locations in Illinois - Granite City and Collinsvlle
(both St. Louis Metro-east). I did note that in scrolling through their
"Find a Waffle House" page there are a butt-load of locations in one
Tennessee city. Clarksville .... so many I thought they might have their
Corp-Rat offices there, But the Bing-O search engine tells me they're
out of Norcross, GA.

 DD> You know what they say about "great minds" (Not talking about us, of
 DD> course.)  Bv)=

 SD> More from our OTR experiences.  Mine is more of just doing
 SD> cross-country driving in a car, not a semi.

I've hitch-hiked, driven (cars and semis), ridden motorcycles over 49
of the 50 Untied States. And most of the Canadian provinces (except the
maritimes ... including a trip to Oshawa, Ontario to see a Long John
Baldry gig.

The limited sccess Interstate highway system has pretty much killed off
"thumb tripping" around the country.

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

      Title: Baldry's Pistachio & Rosewater Sponge
 Categories: Cakes, Desserts, Nuts
      Yield: 12 servings

     12 oz Self raising flour
     12 oz Granulated sugar
     12 oz Salted butter
      4 oz Crushed pistachios
      6 lg Eggs
      2 tb Milk
 
MMMMM--------------------------ICING---------------------------------
      6 oz Salted butter
     12 oz Icing sugar
           Few drops of culinary rose
           - water

  Set the oven @W 360§F/182§C

  Grease 2 cake tins, then line with baking parchment.

  Measure your flour, sugar and butter into a large mixing
  bowl.

  Crush the pistachios and add to the bowl of dry
  ingredients.

  Add the 6 eggs to the bowl and mix together using an
  electric whisk

  Once all your ingredients are mixed together, add milk
  to get the mixture to a dropping consistency

  Divide the mixture equally between your 2 tins, then
  bake for 40 minutes

  To make your rosewater icing, add your icing sugar,
  butter and rosewater essence into a bowl and mix
  together.

  Once the sponge is cooled, slice each sponge into two,                       
                                                                               
                                   
  to create a layered cake. Add the rosewater icing
  in-between each sponge, then decorate with 2oz crushed
  pistachios and dried rosebuds on top

  RECIPE FROM: https://baldrysgrasmere.com

  Uncle Dirty Dave's Archives

MMMMM

... "May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house" G. Carlin
___ MultiMail/Win v0.52

--- Maximus/2 3.01