Mount Sterling, Ohio

Pennsylvania. West Virginia. Ohio. Kentucky. Indiana. All in a day's drive.

Aching hearts quietly endured the first hundred miles. Tears occasionally rolling down cheeks. Distant gazes out the window.

Interrupted sporadically by road construction.

As lunch time came and went, the kids began grumbling about lunch; however, I decided that a road trip like this could not succumb to big box restaurants and suburbia...so I made them wait until we were well past Columbus, OH. Then I started looking for a little town near interstate which may be easily accessed. Nikela scanned the map checking the GPS accuracy. Finally an exit appeared offering gas...with only one gas station. This was the stop for us. Though I wasn't so sure about the Subway, so we decided to drive into town. Three miles. The waving corn fields welcomed us. We pulled into Mount Sterling searching for a local diner. First, I found a great parking place for my big rig and trailer along the street. Then we bailed out, only to discover the diner had moved. Unsure where to go we turned to go back down the street a couple blocks to a Dairy Freeze we had seen.

However, as we walked down the street, Kade commented, "Here is a place."

Sure enough, it was an ordinary little brick building with nary a sign in sight that I had almost missed, but it looked exactly like what I was looking for.



As we enterd, the waitress greeted us in friendly local authenticity (vs. trained friendliness). As we studied the menu, the kids decided they wanted to share nachos. We love super nachos...and these were exceptional! As we ate and chatted, we studied the walls which were adored with local art. It was so fun. Homemade cheesecake. Cherry pie ala mode. Brownie Sundae.




Then, the leashes for the dogs were MIA (can you believe it?), so I stepped into the local hardware store. The gentleman asked if I was moving to town. He didn't ask if I was new. He already knew. I assured him he had the moving part correct, but I wasn't near my destination...yet.

I love the charm of small towns. As we strolled through the antique store and art gallery we never did see the artist, but we thoroughly enjoyed the shop. Very different than the stores that have people standing by the door at the mall in the city to ensure no one left without paying.

The streets were quiet. I watched a retired farmer slowly strolling down the sidewalk in his bib overalls. I smiled.

Finally, we reluctantly said farewell to Mount Sterling our hearts buoyed.

Road trip continued.

Several hours later we were welcomed warmly by my sister.