Greenville, Illinois: It's A Hoot

If you happen to be Roman Catholic, it's springtime and you have grandchildren the age of eight it means only one thing. It's First Holy Communion time. Catholic's understand the significance of that first reception of the Holy Eucharist. If you aren't Catholic don't worry about it.

Her Majesty and I left Dublin, Ohio yesterday afternoon around 3 p.m. and headed out for Olathe, Kansas. Our grandson has his First Communion this Sunday.

Since I have numerous overnight stays in motels coming up in the next two months I made the executive decision to stay on the cheap. Well, not that cheap. Motel 6 and Red Carpet don't fill the bill. Anything above a Super 8 will work and since they're now part of the Wyndham chain they've become more respectable.

We'd driven five hours and stopped into one of those massive service station/restaurants in Effingham, Illinois. I asked the counter lady about Super 8's and she said to drive forty miles to Greenville, Illinois. "You can't miss it", she said. "It's right next to the Huddle Inn" I said I'd be certain to look for it. I figured if she knew the Huddle Inn it must be a spectacular operation whatever it was.

After exiting off of I-70 in Greenville it wasn't difficult finding our motel. My next concern always is to check the place out. I make the wife sit in the car while I give it the once over. Our receptionist did not speak an Indian accent. That's a plus. I didn't smell curry or incense. Another plus. The motel ran a video showing the rooms and there wasn't bedroom with cigarette holes on the spread. In addition, it cost only $50. Bingl! "Book us", I stated.

After a restful nights sleep we awakened and thought it'd be a good idea to eat breakfast in a real honest to goodness restaurant instead of fast food. Voila! The Huddle Inn was twenty paces from our room. Do you know one way to tell when you're in a small town? Restaurants and bars have names like Come Inn or Walk Inn or Stumble Inn.

But since the lady from almost an hour away knew about the culinary abilities of the Huddle it must have had the reputation of the Ritz?

Our waitress a local. Most folks in small towns are locals. Greenville is located an hour east of St. Louis. That's pretty much downstate Illinois except the crooks in Chicago* consider any area south of the most corrupt city in America downstate.

The community is slightly southern but not quite. The citizens do say, "Y'all come back" In the real South they'd add a "Ya' hear"? to complete the sentence.

Our waitress, Durleen, took our order. There is hardly anyone alive with the name Durleen living above the Mason-Dixon Line. And tis dates back to 1835.

 We like to keep breakfasts light  so we both asked for veggie omelets. Then, our little cutie asked what we wanted for sides; we had the choice of grits or a biscuit and gravy. For the both of us that's like giving out yuck on a spoon.

I suggested  fruit. "Umm, we don't have that stuff", she said. Fruit? What a novel idea to put on a menu. Guys in bib overalls in this part of the world normally pass on this delicacy. The more I think about it fruit might be bad. I can't imagine Tubby Thompson ordering peaches and pears for his meal. Forty pancakes, ten sausages and a bag of oats sound more like it.

At the conclusion of our meal I decided to make conversation with the Durleen. I wasn't being cute with her, either. I asked how many people lived in this community. She answered as serious as if I had leprosy. "Well, I'd say there are four thousand but we don't count the guys in the local prison. Besides, most of them are from out of town"

I was dumbstruck, nodded my head and thanked her. She was a wonderful server, too. I even gave her a larger tip than normal.

As I left the Huddle Inn one and only one thought entered my mind. This is going to make a fantastic blog post.

I enjoy places like Greenville, Illinois. They remind me of my hometown, Boone, Iowa. The only difference, of course, there are no women in town named Durleen.

*Fun fact of the day. Since January 1, 2016 up to April 21, 2016 1,000 citizens of Chicago have been shot.