Today was a beautiful day. Although the temperature was a bit on the cool side (56 degrees), the sun was out and the sky couldn’t have been any bluer. 

Since we had done all of our “chores” yesterday, our reward was to enjoy the day today. We’ve done a lot of exploring around here, and have visited all of the nearby towns, but we thought we’d head out for a drive. Yep, today we were Sunday Drivers!

We headed north, first on the Interstate, then to the highway, the to farm roads, then to the back roads. The scenery was beautiful, and along the way we took note of each historical place. Most dated back to the mid 1800’s, and I like to imagine what it must have been like back then. When the German settlers made their homes here, there was no heating, no air conditioning and making it even more difficult, there were Indians that were not interested in having these new settlers. (Please no political comments regarding immigration!)

We pulled into a little town, drove past the small, very old church, and an equally small, very old school. This little town so so cute and so picture perfect, I made the comment that it looked like a movie set. We reached the intersection which consisted of a stop sign ( no traffic signals here!) and to the right was an old gas station, and to the left was the country store. Well, who can pass on that? I was pretty sure Andy Taylor and Barney Fife would be inside having a piece of pecan pie. 

We went in, and sadly Andy and Barney were long gone. This place was pretty small. And it wasn’t so much a general store as it was a diner (although we did see a rack of sunglasses for sale). We walked in and felt like city slickers lost in the country. Only we were there on purpose! 

We walked up to the counter to place our orders and spoke with the cutest little old man who surely was the owner. He was cute as a bug, friendly, kind – like the kind of grandpa everyone would want to have! He proceeded to tell us all about his place, and that they were known for having the best hamburgers and cheeseburgers. We placed our orders and he told us that we would pay when we’re done, and if we tried to skip out he had a 9mm under the counter! I actually don’t think he was kidding.

The burgers were good, then he started bragging about the pies. So we were pretty much obligated to have a piece of pecan pie (we couldn’t hurt the man’s feelings after all!). We finished and paid, and chatted with him for a bit about the history of the area. As he talked, some of the local people meandered in, some with roots dating back to when the town was settled. 

We drove home – which really wasn’t very far, and I couldn’t help but think to myself…I thought we lived in the country, this must be the country in the country!