August 24-26, 2008
Our blog on wheels broke an axle. Perhaps it was our lackluster impression of Columbus, Ohio, after Pittsburgh's bounty. Instead of culture on a slope, we got cruising on a strip. A mile long stretch of High Street is Ohio State University's main drag--which on a Saturday night hustles like a midwestern Sunset Boulevard. We navigated around local bobbysoxers in town for a Jonas Brothers concert and packs of drunken women in heels stumbling to Arena district bars. In the harsh sunlight of the following morning the neighborhood looked hungover. The revelers were replaced by homeless men shouting into payphones ("only 10 cents per minute for international calls!") and the occasional OSU graduate shopping for used CDs. The campus stood deserted, the Wexner Center in between exhibits, and the Thurber House shuttered to New Yorkers. But all was not lost, an excellent brunch at Goody's Drive In, followed by dessert of Cherry Lambic and Lime Cardamon ice cream at Jeni's Ice Cream in the North Market put us on our way west.

In the golden hour just before sunset we hit Lima, Ohio, and their chief delicacy: the Kewpee burger. A vintage fast food joint that once was part of a regional chain, they still serve up a stylish four-sided hamburger. A crew of white-aproned women patrolled behind the counter. That two out-of-towners were snapping photos and video recording the experience was greeted with a certain sangfroid. Over it all statues of kewpees presided in Christ pose. The interior is a tight but streamlined space of booths and red plastic seats. Two swinging doors labeled "employees" and "women" beg the question, where do men kew-pee? We were directed to a room at the rear of the building, accessible only by walking around cars in line for the drive through window.

But Lima held many other surprises and photo opportunities in far excess of the larger burgs of Wheeling and Pittsburgh. Satisfied, we rode straight on to Culver, pausing only to capture the the fields of corns and the vehicular advertisements en route.
--Michael Dashkin and Peter Miller