Eating our way across America! EDIT Final Chapter - Montana Owners Club

boylanag · 05-15-2009, 05:33 PM

We are in the Rapid City, SD area and yesterday we asked the hosts at our CG where they would go for a great burger. They did not hesitate and said Gas Light Saloon on Rockerville Road in Rockerville, SD. This is a stereotypical western saloon and restaurant and the burgers lived up to the rave reviews we got at the CG. This looks like it could be a really fun place at night, too. Across the road is a group of storefronts that look like like an old cowboy movie set. Today, we left Mt. Rushmore and stopped at Peggy's Place on Highway 16A in Keystone, SD. The sign said "Home Cooking" and it sure tasted like it. We talked with Peggy and her husband and they took the time to talk with us very touristy types and gave us some great local sights to see and routes to take. Carol has made her own spaghetti sauce for years and hestiates to order spaghetti from a restaurant because she had been disappointed too many times. This definitely was not a disappointment. The ingredients were fresh and tasty and the conversation was the topper to a very nice stop.

Art-n-Marge · 05-15-2009, 05:57 PM

Great story. It appears you need to change the map in your signature to reflect your new conquests.

Happy trails,

boylanag · 05-15-2009, 06:05 PM

You're right, thanks. Soon, I guess!

Bill-N-Donna · 05-15-2009, 08:47 PM

The unexpected things like that are sometimes what makes a trip so great.
Glad you are having a great time!

Mrs. CountryGuy · 05-16-2009, 03:47 AM

New places to eat are one of the joys of traveling, ask Al!

He loves seafood, he sees food, he loves it!

boylanag · 05-16-2009, 04:02 AM

Many times, we eat our sandwiches along side the road and have gotten some great scenery that way. We will still keep looking for the better "home cookin'" cafes, though. Suggestions are always welcome, too!

Wayne and Carolyn Mathews · 05-16-2009, 04:25 AM

One of the things we're looking forward to this summer is eating our way through the seafood on the Oregon coast.

I think the two foods we miss the most since leaving Texas are authentic Tex-Mex dishes and seafood. We hope we're as lucky as boylanag was then we ask for seafood recommendations from the local Oregon residents OR from you MOC members who have already discovered some good places for us to try.!

Wayne & Carolyn

adelmoll · 05-16-2009, 04:30 AM

Jim, try The Purple Cow on the main street in Custer. Not only do they have great pie but they make a great buffalo stew.

Helen

boylanag · 05-16-2009, 04:42 AM

When I was working, I traveled a lot and would ask a local in a store or gas station "Where would you eat, and I don't mean McDonalds?" More often than not, I would get a very good answer. Found some interesting and good places that way. Steve Reigle reminded me of that a few weeks ago when he said that he and Vicki do the same thing when "touristing." Now, that is usually one of the first questions we ask in a new CG or store. Helen, it looks like the Purple Cow for us next week - thanks!

exav8tr · 05-16-2009, 11:39 AM

For the Oregon coast you only have to remember one word - MOE'S.....

richfaa · 05-16-2009, 01:48 PM

Purple Cow.. Great food. ..Food story.. We were traveling across Texas On I-10 in the middle of nowhere, which is most of Texas.... We never make reservations and it was time to coil up for the evening. Helen found a P.A C.G a few miles up the road and called for a site. They asked us when we would be in and Helen said .... around 7 PM...they said... we will hold dinner for you??? The C.G was small, old but very neat and run by a church group that looked by their dress to be a cross between quakers and Mennonites, a large group lived in the C.G. They meant it when they said ..we will hold dinner for you. The small Office and restaurant if you will, was in a house, in fact it was a house.The menus were hand written and they cooked up a meal that was unforgetable.. Come in for Breakfast they said, What time do you open we asked... just knock on the door they said..we did..It was one of those special events.

boylanag · 05-16-2009, 06:15 PM

Great story, Rich! We found another today. It was getting late and we pulled into Spearfish, SD. Stopped at a convenience store/gas station and asked the clerk where he would go for a good steak that would not break his piggy bank. He thought for a moment and then said the Shoot the Bull Steakhouse in downtown Spearfish. A lady standing in line said "Yes, we eat there a lot." Long story short, we had a good steak dinner and will be able to afford to go the Alpine Inn in Hill City in a few days for another steak. Montana Sky recommended this one to the forum a year or so ago and we will try it soon.

Phyllen · 05-17-2009, 08:06 AM

This, too, is something we look forward to when we fulltime.

About 5 years ago we toured Ireland, always staying at B&B's. We would ask the owner their recommendations as the best food in town. Never once were we disappointed. The best seafood chowder anywhere!

Last year we toured Scotland. However we stayed in one location in a Hilton condo complex. We cooked our own breakfast and dinners. Ate out for lunch. It was hit and miss. Some food simply okay, most not so much. Can't beat asking the local for their advice.

Phyllis

boylanag · 05-18-2009, 01:19 PM

Today we took in a morning viewing of Mt. Rushmore and then took Helen's advice and went to Custer and had lunch at The Purple Pie Place. We are going to nap now after all that fresh air and really good food and return to see Mt. Rushmore's light show tonight.

sreigle · 05-22-2009, 10:23 AM

I see you discovered, as we have, that the best way to find the best food in a local restaurant, as opposed to a major chain, is to ask the locals. They have guided us to many great restaurants, some of which we would never have ventured into on our own. This approach is now our standard way of finding good food.

boylanag · 06-16-2009, 01:53 PM

We found another couple of jewels today. In De Pere, WI is the Nicolet Restaurant in an old train depot. Home cooking with the greatest home made raisin bread toast for breakfast. Then, after spending some time at the Bay Beach Wildlife Rehab Refuge in Green Bay, we went to Greenleaf, WI, a very small farming community near De Pere, and found the D&G Restaurant in the center of town. The entrées, soups and pies were home made and the place was small, clean and very busy at 5:00PM with locals. The prices were very reasonable and we will definitely return when in the area. The wildlife refuge is interesting in that they advertise that injured or sick animals can be dropped off here. They have a really nice nature center and animals in "natural" settings that can be seen along walking paths. A great way to spend a few hours on a summer afternoon.

Art-n-Marge · 06-16-2009, 06:15 PM

Ohmigosh!!! A restaurant, a wildlife refuge, dropping off sick or injured animals, good food, you don't suppose..... yuck, perish the thought. But next time you're there ask to see where they keep these animals and there better be some!

boylanag · 06-17-2009, 01:32 AM

I did ask and they said that the animals were all sleeping at this time but that if I came back later I might be able to see them. Makes a guy wonder, eh?

boylanag · 06-17-2009, 03:17 PM

Found another "must stop home cookin'" spot, Deb's in Gladstone, MI. (no, Art and Margie, they are not taking in sick or injured animals) We had the chicken pot pie and it was great with a topper of home made light, flaky pastry. We were so full that we did not have room for their home made deserts, which is probably a good thing! Really nice city owned cg, too - Gladstone Bay CG. Right on a wetlands which is on the Little Bay de Noc of Lake Michigan. It has a boardwalk, too, through the wetlands and along the shore of the bay. Large sites, full hookups, cable and wi-fi.

boylanag · 06-21-2009, 03:04 PM

We are finally in our home park in Davison, MI and getting ready to unpack, clean up and prepare for our next adventure. Gotta add one more cafe, the BnL Cafe in St. Ignace, MI. We saw an old car show with a bunch of cars from the 40s, 50s and 60s and then to the BnL. This is right out of the 50s itself. Home cookin' and they even make their own potato chips. Great made from scratch food, red vinyl booths and stools at the counter and even a big, ole juke box on the rear wall. They even used red vinyl tape over the rips in the seats. Made me think of Vickers Ice Cream Shop in old Muskegon Heights - the paper covers for the straws were dipped in our malts and then we blew them like a pea shooter so that they stuck on the ceiling. The ceiling looked like it had a bejillion fingers waving down when the breeze blew.

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