Today’s Letter is “B”

When we travel, it is fun to stop and see people along the way. At today’s first stop we did not see anyone we knew but we sure enjoyed breakfast with friends. Our stop was in Bellflower, Illinois. 

The road into town was lined with corn way taller than “knee-high by Fourth of July.” The water tower marked the town. And every small town has a meeting spot. For Bellflower, that spot is the Lion’s Cafe. 

Papa and I walked in after two men. We sat down at a table next to them. After ordering breakfast, I asked the men if they knew Tyke and Jane. For the next hour, we enjoyed a tasty breakfast and delicious stories as more men from town joined the group. 

We were told how our friends were responsible for the flag mural outside at the end of the building where we were. And, it seems Tyke has a very good “parade wave” which was witnessed recently when Tyke was Grand Marshall of the local parade. 

Back in his high school days, he and his brothers were outstanding basketball players. They even took big city Urbana into triple overtime in a state tournament game. That was in the days before teams were ranked by community/school size. They were the “David” against “Goliath” Urbana. 

There is a class photo that sits on a shelf and watches over the happenings at Lion’s Cafe. Can you spot a familiar face?

From Bellflower we moseyed up the road to Braidwood and met family at the Polk-A-Dot diner. This is a Route 66 nostalgia diner filled with statutes and all types of memorabilia. An added special meaning for me was my talented, artist brother is creator of the signs and many of the backdrops (like Superman) for the displays. He told us the Elvis statute was actually used by Elvis to promote shows as he toured. It’s solid concrete. It was shipped to the concert venue. It contains a speaker and would play Elvis music prior to the show. 

Thanks “B” for a great day.