In Search of the Perfect Grilled Cheese

You encounter a lot of strange things on the High Road in northern Montana. The vision above I witnessed on an azure-blue-skies summer’s afternoon between Glasgow and Wolf Point. I drove for about half a mile pondering this apparition: did I actually just see that?

I swung the car around and circled back. Sure enough, he was still there, plodding along the gravelly shoulder. I slowed down to about 40 mph, opened my driver’s side window, and stuck my hand out, iPhone locked and loaded. I snapped off several quick shots until he was once again in my rearview mirror. It’s only when I got to lunch an hour later that I checked to see if what I thought I had seen was really real. As you can see, it was. Really.

It’s lonely when you set off on these foodie expeditions. No joke, you can go 20 miles across the high plains of Montana – or Utah or West Texas – and not see another car. AM radio is frequently your only friend; religious talk, right wing indignation, or the crop reports out of North Dakota. I once pulled off in the middle of the night in Nebraska because I thought I was being followed by a space ship. It turned out to be the Northern lights. I figured it was time for a rest.

Sometimes the draw of a 500-mile day is simply a good plate of food and a little chat with a bored waitress. The first thing I usually hear is, “New York? You’re a long way from home.” Followed by, “What the heck are you doing out here?!”

Lately I’ve been asking myself that a lot. Purportedly, I am running a business and I like to keep my hands on the wheel. All the Internet, cable news and social media in the world can’t inform you of what’s really going on out there in the vast unfruited. My favorite news source is a shared story at a luncheonette counter; a passing smile, a “thanks for stopping by.” And then, more miles. More brain radio. Windows down, night breeze rustling your hair. Until the next vision appears in the distance and you slow your car down and wonder, “What the heck is that?”

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Weekend Cravings

A few select delectables from our amazing reviewers across the land. My eyes widen and my heart skips a beat every time one of these hand-hewn reviews pops into my mailbox.