Driving to St. Louis – Lunch Along the Way

With Laurie’s immediate family living in the St. Louis Missouri area and our son living in Omaha Nebraska, our car is pretty much on automatic along I-40, I-24, I-57 and I-64 to St. Louis.  Because it’s a about a 500 mile drive from our home to St. Louis, we rarely stray from the Interstate Highway System…

The good news is that this time we were making the drive in the early spring and it was a sunny day.  Laurie snapped this photo of a bright field of mustard plants in bloom as we cruised through southern Illinois.

The first documented use of mustard was in the Middle East ca. 3000 BC.  I was surprised to learn that radish and turnip plants are related to wild mustard plants.  The top 5 mustard producing countries are Pakistan, India, Canada, Nepal and Myanmar.  The USA ranks ninth with about 18,365 tons harvested per year.

While still in southern Illinois, Laurie also spotted and took this photo of a field of red clover in full bloom.  Red clover is native to Europe, western Asia and northwest Africa but it is now grown around the world.  It’s widely grown as a fodder crop and it’s highly valued for its ability to fix nitrogen in the soil, thereby increasing the soil’s fertility. 

   

FYI…Red clover is the National Flower of Denmark and the State Flower of Vermont.

Let's back up a little and talk about our lunch along the road to St. Louis!  As I’ve mentioned before, we invariably stop at a Waffle House at least once anytime we’re on a trip in the southern USA.  The company has over 2,100 locations in 25 states.  This particular restaurant is located in Paducah Kentucky.

What do we like about Waffle House?  First of all, we like their food.  Secondly, most of their employees are very friendly.  Third, we don’t care much for the fast food chains.  Fourth, the price is right.  Fifth, they have table service.  Sixth…and not necessarily last…these restaurants are microcosm of the USA, with the customers and employees providing plenty of visual and social entertainment. (We especially love watching a great grill chef at work at any Waffle House when they’re really busy!)

It was past lunch time but we both wanted breakfast.  Laurie ordered 2 eggs over easy with bacon, toast and crispy hash brown potatoes.  As usual, the hash browns were just about perfect as were the eggs.  We’d been drinking coffee all the way from East Tennessee to Paducah so we just had water with lemon…

I changed it up a little…substituting sausage patties for the bacon and adding sausage gravy to my crispy hash browns.  Yum!

 

For the uninitiated, there are a plethora of options for those hash brown potatoes.  You can get a regular order, a large order or a triple order!  You can have them plain or with grilled onions, cheese, chunked ham, grilled tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, fried mushrooms, Bert’s chili, the country sausage gravy, combinations of the above…or…you can go “ALL THE WAY”!  Where are the Rolaids!?

As usual, we were happy Waffle House diners!  One of these days, we’ll have to try one of their waffles…given their name, it’s a bit weird that we haven’t yet.  With tip, the bill came in at $17.42.  This location is at 3522 Clarks River Road in Paducah Kentucky.  Phone: 270-442-0133.  Company website: https://wafflehouse.com/. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave