Our motel listed free breakfast in its ad but we didn’t see anything in the area where it might have been served. There were probably only six rooms out of about 50 occupied last night. We had seen a bagel place on our food quest last night and went there. Barry Bagel was quite fine. It gave the appearance of being part of a local chain, which still fits with Jim’s definition. They gave huge spreads of cream cheese on their bagels.
Our drive today will take us to the Chicago area. We left around 8 this morning and Jim estimated a 5 hour drive from where we were staying to Skokie, and we had said we would arrive about 4. That gave us some time to spend seeing something along the way. While Ardith drove, Jim pored over an AAA Tourbook that covered the area we were traversing. We decided on South Bend, Indiana then decided that the place we most wanted to visit was the Studebaker National Museum, but recognized that there were a lot of other interesting things in South Bend that we wouldn’t be able to do. It turned out to be a really great choice.
The museum traced the history of Studebaker from a blacksmith shop in Gettysburg, PA to a few years beyond the company’s demise. The earliest artifact was the Conestoga wagon John Studebaker had built to move his family from Gettysburg to Ashland, Ohio in 1836. His sons began a wagon making business that became the largest manufacturer of wagons in the world. One of the early advertising slogans was “The Sun Always Shines on a Studebaker Wagon”. A piece of advice from John to his sons form the company’s mantra for over a hundred years: ”Always give the customer more than you promised”. The museum was filled with wonderful cars that had been restored to their original glory. We each had our favorites.
Jim liked seeing the Rockne (named after football coach Knute Rockne, who was briefly a sales manager until his death in a plane crash). He had heard stories from humorist Jean Shepherd about his father’s desire for a Rockne and had assumed it was an imaginary car, but it was quite real. His real favorite was the 1951 Studebaker with the nose designed to resemble a P-38 World War II fighter. He loved that car when he was a kid and the car was new.
Ardith loved the 1932 President Convertible Coupe as seen being introduced by Jim.
Other highlights included early record setting cars including one that had been driven over 475,000 miles over largely unpaved roads. There was also a collection of carriages that were owned by US presidents in the mid-to-late 1800s, including the barouche used by Lincoln on his ill-fated ride to Ford’s Theater.
The final room included experimental cars and military vehicles.
The museum was surrounded with magnificent homes that had been built in the era before the 1930s. Many of them were constructed of stone and had beautifully landscaped yards. One of them was built for Clem Studebaker, one John’s five sons. It was called Tippecanoe, and is now open as a restaurant. We asked at the museum desk about a place to eat that we could walk to and they directed us there. After a pleasant 3 block walk, we found the restaurant closed – it was Monday.
We went back to our car and drove on a road that looked as though it would have several eating options. Much of it was in a very depressed area, so we bypassed that. Just before getting on an expressway, we came to a cluster of chain fast food places. In the middle of them was a place called King Gyro. It was one of 3 such places in greater South Bend. The manager of the place was happy that we chose them on our local food tour of much of the country. The food was quite good. Jim had a classic gyro. Ardith had a grilled ham and cheese on rye.
We continued on the road, driving through very slow Chicago traffic to Skokie, Illinois and to the home of our friend Leanne. We took a walk around the downtown area before meeting Leeanne and her family at their home. The downtown is being revitalized and the town is dealing with the loss of many small businesses because of the economic conditions.
Leanne and her husband Ricky have a soon to be 6 year old daughter named Layla. She and Jim had a very special time playing together. She reminds us of our two granddaughters.
We enjoyed real Chicago deep dish pizza (one half cheese only, the other half spinach and olive) in their back yard while having a great time talking. We walked a few block to a local ice cream place that included several unusual flavors – Jim enjoyed lychee. After that, the 5 of us walked through the neighborhood including a street with no street.
No comments:
Post a Comment