Our first meal after leaving Crystal Lake for our Intermountain West vacation in June was the Happy Trails Roadside Diner.
This was the same place I found Illinois’ future.
It was a truck stop with a roomful of slot machines.
Any kid could walk into it.
Since “Happy Trails to You” was the theme song for Roy and Dale Rogers, I expected to see something relating to my favorite cowboy in the 1940’s and early 1950’s. Why it was one his first color movies that I took Barbara Newell to on my first date (17 cent entry fee, plus candy) in 4th or 5th grade. (She and I played Monopoly after school for weeks on end.)
When I asked, the waitress told me there was nothing about Roy Rogers in the restaurant.
Bummer.