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I had no idea that Fairmont was home to some highly prized hotdogs but, as
soon as I made my presence known on Facebook, a friend let me know about
Yann's Hot Dog Stand. A little checking on line
revealed a passionate and sizable following for the quirky place. I left
town way too early for Yann's to be open but I drove by anyway. It's
fairly easy to find. Not because it is well marked but because it's right
next to a big bridge. The only markings are some words in the windows and
you have to look real hard to see "DELICIOUS HOTDOGS". I can't
imagine myself driving back here for a hotdog but the praise of the
faithful is pretty convincing.
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I also found praise for another local spot on the internet. Praise for
McAteer's
lacked the religious fervor of that for Yann's but it was pretty strong
and French toast suited my 7:30 appetite much better than a chili-dog
would have.
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Unlike most of my trips, the destination was more important than the route
on this trip. For the most part, I simply let the GPS decide how to get
there which meant my east and west bound paths were almost identical. The
biggest difference occurred west of Morgantown. No doubt influenced by my
end of day motel hunting and restarting in Fairmont, Garmin sent me home
on US-50 rather than back along I-70. Fifty passes through the scenic area
between Clarksburg, West Virginia, and Athens, Ohio, largely as divided
4-lane.
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In Athens, evidence of last November's fire is still very apparent. The
fire started a few doors from Jackie O's BrewPub and Public House and both were
closed temporarily. The smaller BrewPub was furthest from the fire and
reopened quickly. The larger Public Room remains closed. Tuesday is a
special day at Jackie O's. $2 will get you a pint of nitro powered
O'Hooleys Irish Stout or a shot of Jamison. I passed on the Jamie but did
take advantage of the bargain O'Hooley's.
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Between Athens and Chillicothe, US-50 is pretty much a 2-lane highway.
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Chillicothe's Sumburger Drive-In had been the subject of a recent
text exchange with a friend and I did go a few miles off Fifty to pay it
a visit. Because the booth-side telephones had been a topic of that
conversation, I ate inside to verify they were still there. Of course they
are. Why wouldn't they be? It's essentially the same system as used for
ordering from a car with a wired telephone in place of the pushbutton
speaker. It's just different and quaint enough to be slightly cool.
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US-50 pretty much remains two-lane all the way to the suburbs of
Cincinnati. It passes through some small towns and there can be a little
traffic but much of it is just trees and guard-rails.
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I've done this before. I've had a beer at Jackie O's then driven US-50 to
have a beer at the brewery that took the name of the road for its own.
There seems a certain balance to it and today I was able to follow my
nitro driven O'Hooleys with a nitro driven Roam Pale Ale.
Had I completely left the routing up to the GPS, I'd have left US-50
several miles ago and headed more directly home. But has anyone not
guessed that I had this stop at Fifty West Brewing in mind from the moment I left
Jackie O's? A bit of manual intervention was clearly justified. But now
I'm done and heading home. Willie, it was worth every mile.
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