roadtrip chris arbon: Strait Detroit and Wedding Steak.

Five Days On The Road.

____ The first morning where the ice-scraper had to come out of the trunk since the early months of the year. But by sundown on Sunday the temperature is up to 17 degrees C and a comfortable night at the Kwik Trip on Interstate 94 in Mauston, Wisconsin. The second night at Dexter is even warmer at +20. The delivery is for 6 a.m. and to park on the doorstep would be nice but Downtown Detroit has a reputation. It might have been OK but if anything had happened; I could imagine the verbal flak. "How could you be so stupid as to park overnight in a Detroit side-street with a high value load?" The TA Truck-stop at Dexter was the best option at just one hour away.

____ After unloading; I would have put big money on a reload in Canada; it was only yards away. But instructions came for a load out of Mount Hope in Ohio; four hours away. I arrived at Midday and was told it would take three hours to load. Time to wander into town for in search of lunch in the heartland of Ohio's Amish Country. Mrs Yoder's Family Restaurant looks favorite but there is a twenty minute wait for a table. A party of one taking a table for four is not what they need so I'm offered a seat at the community table. I opt for the buffet and immediately dis-grace myself my not saying a short prayer before I tuck-in.

Mid-week lunch-time transport for October.

____ The place is not a tourist-trap but is a destination. Somewhere to go for lunch in a classic car. It is good food, nothing fancy except for the strangely named "Wedding Steak." It gets the conversation started at the community table and once they notice my English accent then there is no stopping them. They guess correctly that I'm a truck-driver loading at the garage-door factory and we all try the wedding steak; which turns out to be a rather good meat-loaf with a white savoury glaze or icing. The place is very busy for a mid-October Tuesday lunchtime and the place to eat in Mount Hope. They do play the Amish card but no more than a British Fish and Chip Shop, an Irish Pub or a Chinese Restaurant. Fascinating old photographs of barns with an outstanding picture of fifty straw-hatted, hammer-wielding carpenters clambering all over a recently-raised timber frame. A memorable meal with no-one in the whole place playing with there phone.

____ Before the loading is finished; there is time to take some photos of the numerous horse-drawn buggies trotting up and down the road beside the truck. Various styles but all black and going briskly about there business. Then I get the call that the trailer is loaded and I'm soon away from quaint life-style of the Amish. Their religious beliefs are similar to the those of the Mennonites, the Hutterites and Mormons. I have worked for three \Mennonite transport companies and there seems to be an alliance between them because Big Freight, Flying Eagle and Penners have all done a lot of their work.

____ From Lake Station, it is an easy two-day run back to Winnipeg with the first of three deliveries on the trailer. The other drops are in Regina and Calgary but I leave the trailer in Winnipeg and bob-tail home to finish the trip inside of five days. An average of 500 miles a day; as they say in Canada, "Could be better, could be worse."