Moonshine Grocery: Driving for Burgers
The other day Ernie was chatting with his physical therapist about our drive in the country last weekend. His therapist Greg told him that he was originally from Hume, one of the towns we stopped in, and that if you head south a ways there's a place out in the country that sells good burgers. It rang a bell for me and sure enough, when I looked it up I remembered reading about it and seeing the Bill Geist video.
We woke up on Saturday in somewhat grumpy moods. I had plans of making both boys come with us but that ended when Leo came downstairs with a rotten cold. Sigh. I was kinda pissed at Owen and I think he decided it might be best for us not to spend hours in the car together. In hindsight he was right, Ernie and I needed some time alone. The sky was incredibly heavy and gray and it felt like a good day for wondering so we took off. We stopped at an antique mall in Tuscola and realized that there were antique shows going on in town.....we just didn't feel up for it though, so we trundled on toward to our burgers.
We zigzagged along tiny county roads. The difference in the lanscape just since last weekend was striking. Almost all the harvest seems to be in except for a few fields here and there. Once again, we saw lines of trucks waiting in line to get into the grain elevators. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, was the Moonshine Store.
We walked into the crowded store and evidently looked puzzled enough that someone directed us to the counter for ordering in the back of the store. We went with two cheeseburgers because....you gotta go with the classics. We found a spot on the church pew to sit and wait. The older gentlemen next to me asked where we were from and we started chatting. He was one of the guys getting coffee in the Bill Geist video. He said he doesn't usually come on the weekend because of all the people but he felt like a burger yesterday. He lives about two miles up the road and he figures that the first time he came to the Moonshine was about 1940, or 1941. He told me when he first came there was chicken on the back counter. He paused and then said, "live chickens I mean," and chuckled. He was lovely. We chatted a bit until his name got called and he went and got his burger, then walked behind the counter to get his own to-go carton for its toppings. We told him it was good chatting with him and he took his burger and headed back home.
We got our burgers, dressed them up at the condiment table, and paid up, and then we headed out to the picnic tables outside. Was it the best burger in the world? I don't know but it tasted DAMNED good. And the whole trip was exactly what we needed. More pictures from the drive to follow....