Day 3 - LHA Conference 2019 at DennyGibson.com

Day 3: June 15, 2019
Pies and Poles
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I mentioned in yesterday's journal that the hotel rooms were completely unchanged from last year. The same could be said of most of the physical makeup of Reed-Niland Corner. The booths and stools in the cafe look the same and so do the displays over at the garage. What has changed is something more basic. I and a whole bunch of road fans had mixed emotions when Sandi Kelly announced that she was moving on from managing the hotel and restaurant at the end of 2018. On one hand, we were all quite happy that Sandi and husband Mike would be able to relax and travel some themselves. It is certainly well deserved. But we were also very worried about what would happen to the operational side of this unique roadside attraction that Sandi had built over seven years. I'm not so worried now.

The cafe was idle for a couple of months but Charity and Arlo Starbuck had it going again in March. I entered the cafe for breakfast right in the middle of the twice weekly pie delivery. That's Charity behind the counter. I met Arlo last night but he's off at his full time job this morning. The cafe and motel appear to be in good hands so I can stop worrying and be happy that the Kellys have some free time, the Starbucks have a unique opportunity, and I have a place to eat and sleep at Reed-Niland corner.

The Reed-Niland corner is important as the place where the Jefferson and Lincoln Highways met. I'm definitely not driving the north-south JH on this trip but I did have to go just a few miles north to view an empty spot where a barn once stood. The historic structure burned to the ground in April. I took this picture during my 2018 full length drive and this picture today.

One thing that's almost assured when you spend a little time with Scott Berka is that you will add things to your "to see" list. That's what happened yesterday when Scott showed me a picture of a sign in the town of Menlo. Menlo is on the White Pole Road which is a twenty-six mile segment of what was once a much longer Iowa auto trail. When I learned that it was just twenty-six miles long, I decided to drive it all rather than jumping off the expressway for one sign.

I knew that the road was marked with white painted poles (There are over 700 of them.) although I didn't know it was part of Historic US-6. The old neon sign on the Stuart Hotel is interesting but it's the guy in the last two pictures that I came to see. Although you can't really see it in the pictures, much of the neon works and was lit. It's believed that the arm also works but it wasn't waving today.

Even though I knew it would not be the late Dick Grudzinski pumping the gas, I'd really been looking forward to stopping at the 1936 Kensinger Service & Supply in Grand Island, Nebraska, and was quite shocked to see how badly I'd timed it. The station closes at 1:00 on Saturday and is closed all day Sunday. I arrived at 4:30 on Saturday. My horrible timing did not, however, keep me from taking pictures and checking in on the 1915 Seedling Mile behind the station.

I'd skipped past my motel in order to reach the station a little quicker. I now checked in and headed a couple of miles up the street to Prairie Pride Brewing where I didn't exactly drown my sorrows but they did get soggy.

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