2021 Ohio trip

As I've done every year from 1999 on (save 2020, of course), at the end of August I took a road trip to Ohio. I didn't make as many stop as I normally would but I still had a couple of decent meals along the way.

I left home on a Wednesday and my first stop was Gross' Burgers in Danville, IL, on IL-1 just south of I-74. It'd been a number of years since my last visit and I was looking forward to reacquainting myself with one of their thin, flattop burgers.

I'm not entirely sure of the details but I believe either the owner and/or his family have a history of USMC service.

Unfortunately the burger photo didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, due to either a film problem of the sun streaming through the window and causing some flare. Regardless, the double cheeseburger with bacon was very good; the first bit I nibbled from the edge seemed a bit underseasoned but that was an exception.

My Wednesday destination was Spring Mill State Park in Mitchell, IN, the birthplace and childhood home of US astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom, who tragically died in the Apollo 1 fire in 1967. There's now a memorial in Mitchell and on its 4 sides are inscribed the story of Grissom's life, and the wall surrounding the memorial is built of bricks taken from his boyhood school. There's also a Grissom museum just inside the Spring Mill entrance but I didn't have a chance to check it out.

Of the 7 Indiana state park inns that offer lodging, 6 also have a dining room and that was my choice for dinner. Usually I gravitate toward fried chicken or a breaded pork tenderloin (BPT), but this time the country-fried steak caught my eye. It was a hefty piece of tasty, tenderized meat and along with the potatoes and beans was quite filling; my only quibble was that I could've used a little more gravy.

From Thursday through Saturday I didn't stop anywhere of note, but on the Sunday leg of my trip home I made a nice discovery: Sgt. Pepper's Chicken in Martinsville, IN. It occupies a corner spot of a strip mall and could be easily overlooked, but it's absolutely worth a stop.

At Sgt. Pepper's it's possible to order ala carte and a lot of the sides are served deli-style, so I decided that 3 thighs would be all I'd need. And it turned out to be a good decision because sides would've kept me from eating as much of the delicious, juicy, crispy chicken as I did. The meat and the crust were both properly seasoned and spot-on; I don't know if Sgt. Pepper's pressure-fries but whatever it is they're doing is right.

Because there's always room for chicken, when I reached McCormick's Creek State Park outside of Spencer, IN I chose to have chicken that night as well. Unfortunately this chicken was a little under par, as it seemed like it may have been cooked earlier and then held. I've eaten at the S.P. inns close to 20 times over the years and was one of the very few - maybe even the first - times I've been disappointed.

Monday's trip home included the last stop of my trip: the Old Log Cabin on US-66. I was hoping for chicken but there wasn't any listed on the menu posted on the wall, so I opted for a BPT instead. It was crisp and hot and properly overflowed the bun, but what really made me happy was that my onion rings were cooked to 0rder - nice and dark! Hopefully someday I"ll be able to back and check out the chicken.

The rest of the trip was uneventful and I'm already working on next year's itinerary.