Motor Inn Truck Stop: A scene from the movie: They Drive By Night!

If you read the post about Dave's Place, you know we went to see my brother-in-law near Delphos in Northwest Ohio a couple weeks ago.  It's a funny kind of region to me, because there are no really big towns nearby, but there is an extensive network of small-to-medium-sized metropoli all about a half-hour's drive from each other, so you end up going to Celina to buy hardware and then to Van Wert to eat, then to Lima to go to the movies and so on, although for extensive shopping trips you might go all the way to that bodacious burg of Ft. Wayne, Indiana.  

Similarly, there is only one Interstate Highway anywhere near the area, I-69 through Ft. Wayne.  In this area the old US Highways are still the predominate routes to travel, with many of them being modern limited-access highways just like the Interstate except for the fancy red, white, and blue signs (and Federal financial support?).  Just as the US routes are still King, independent truck stops are apparently still numerous in the region, of which the Motor Inn Truck Stop, on US 127 at US 33 outside of Mendon, OH, is a prime example,. an ancient but well-maintained small concrete-block building in the middle of a vast ocean of asphalt with a giant canopy for truck and car refueling. The gas-station/convenience store side is old and kind of spartan, reminiscent of the small-town bus stations of my childhood in the 1960's (my Dad was a Greyhound driver, so I saw a lot of 'em).  The dining room, however, is quite modern, and the food draws many local residents as well as truckers and travelers. The service was decent even during the busy after-church rush on Sunday: We had to wait  ten minutes before a table opened up, but when one did they bussed it and had it ready for us in seconds.  The menu was good down-home food that was somewhat different from the menus at the big company truck stops:  I ordered Fried Rabbit, which was the first time I'd ever had that, and yes, Virginia, it does taste sort of like chicken!  The meat all tasted like white meat, though, and it was somewhat more dense than chicken but every bit as tasty.  The green beans were very good, with just enough bacon (and bacon grease?) to make it interesting.  When I started dipping bites of rabbit into the left-over gravy from my wife's plate (her biscuits and gravy were decent but it was white milk gravy instead of the southern-style sausage gravy I crave), the waitress, busy as she was,  brought me a small bowl of gravy of my own without even asking!  It's little touches like that which make me really appreciate Midwestern hospitality.  Ya, you betcha I do!  See www.motorinntruckstop.com  for pitchers....