Lincoln Highway
Day 12
Today was a laid back day. Malti had taken Harold to a doctor’s appointment, so while she was gone Steve and I went to Niles a small town near Union City. Our plan was to eat at the Skillet’z a restaurant recommended by Malti. The manager saw us drive up and park our car, then she greeted us at the door and inviting us in. She was very interested in the car and Steve, of course, told her about our journey west in it.
We sat down and ordered breakfast, but before the meal came the manager came back and gave me a small canvas bag with their logo on it. I was surprised at her generosity and accepted the bag graciously. Then when the breakfast came, she also gave us complimentary beignets. I’m not sure what we did that made her so nice to us, but I wasn’t going complain.
After breakfast we found out this particular town doesn’t completely open up until the weekend. That meant the Silent Film Museum with Charlie Chaplin was closed, too. We saw some antique shops were opened so we spent the rest of the morning looking around in them, where I did purchase a few things I didn’t need!
When we began to walk back to the car Steve said something to a man who passed us. I guess Steve had talked to him before, when he was waiting for me to finish shopping. The man stopped and asked us if we’d like to know some history of Niles. We said, “sure” and the man (who we never got his name) took us on a walking tour of about 8 blocks. He showed us Charlie Chaplin’s house and another one he pointed out was used for the “Ladies of the night”. I never did catch was that now or in Charlie’s time. The coolest thing he pointed out was a tree house that looked like a Pirates ship,
Once we were back where we had started, we thanked him for his time and left. We hadn’t even gone a block and Steve spotted another old gas station to take a picture at. Then we did leave Niles and went to find an Ace Hardware store.
Steve wanted to have another key made for the car just in case he’d lose his one and only. The Ace Hardware store was huge and had everything. We were told the store is one of the largest in the country.
When we arrived back at Malti’s house she was waiting for us. She was trying to call a news station to come and interview us, but didn’t have success in doing so. We were flattered that she wanted to do that, but ok that it didn’t happen. Although, since we’ve been here she’s had neighbors and friends stopping by to see the car and tell them our story. She definitely makes us feel special.
Tonight we ate out at an Afghanistan restaurant and the food was excellent. I don’t know the name of the meal, but I do know we have enough for lunch tomorrow.
We took a drive after dinner and we ended up stopping by a lake. The sun was just going behind the mountains and we asked a couple if they would take our picture. After the picture taking we were going to take a short walk, but it was 56 degrees and we were all too cold to do it.
Tomorrow we hope to leave close to 8am and get an early start to San Francisco . We have heard nothing but bad about San Francisco and we have been advised to watch the car and leave nothing of value in it. There have been reports of people bashing out windows, etc. So, those of you who pray, say a prayer that our car won’t be touched and we’ll be safe, too!
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