1-2-3 Day Trip: OFD, Amish, Abe

The family was due to get out of town. My wife enjoyed a trip to Indiana Amish Country, and so we decided to try the Illinois Amish this time. I persuaded the clan to drive back through Springfield, since I had never seen any of the Lincoln sites.

A trip due south gave me the opportunity to hit an LTH favorite for the first time, Old Fashioned Donuts.

Breakfast of Champions, 112th and Michigan
(Nuts included to bolster driver stamina)

I devised a good strategy: eat half of the fritter at the start of the trip and save the rest for the end, when the driver is totally exhausted.

On to Arthur, Illinois. We hit two recommended spots, Country Cheese and More, and Dutch Valley Meats. Very nice selection at both places. Bringing along a couple of coolers with blue ice was a good idea.
Lunchtime meant a stop at Yoder's.

I need to learn to stop ordering fried Walleye whenever I see it on the menu. It was okay, but the Amish are better at chicken and ham. The wife and kid were wise enough to go for broasted chicken. The mashed potatoes were also good. (One heads-up: Yoder's does not set its air conditioning very high in the dining room, so it can be a bit warm there when it's hot outside.)

Can't miss drumstick


On to Springfield, although the very hot weather had the two in the back seat grumbling about the detour. On the way out of Arthur, we caught the Fourth of July weekend parade. Lots of fun floats with miniature horses. Some Amish do not like to be photographed, so I kept my camera stashed.

Arriving in Springfield, I found a new hero: the Maid Rite manager. We arrived at the door on Saturday afternoon at 3, just as the "Closed" sign was being put up in the door. I walked over to the drive-through window to plead to get one more order in. Not only did the boss oblige, he threw in a free treat when I told him I'd been promising my son a root beer float all the way down from Chicago. The only thing better than the root beer was the service.
We hit two Lincoln sites before I had to point back toward Chicago to avoid a mutiny. A trip to Lincoln's law offices was preceded by a visit to Abe's final resting place.

Lincoln Tomb, Oak Ridge Cemetery

My favorite moment of visiting this site was that of the ten cars in the parking lot, eight were from different states outside of Illinois: Arkansas, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas. A nice comment on patriotism on this holiday weekend.

We returned to Chicago 12 hours after departure. The second half of the fritter tasted just as good as the first.

Old Fashioned Donuts
11248 S Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60628
773-995-7420

Country Cheese & More
205 Vine St.
Arthur, IL 61911
217-543-3544

Dutch Valley Meats
376 E State Rt 133
Arthur, IL 61911
217-543-3354
http://www.dutchvalleymeatsinc.com

Yoder’s
376 E State Rt 133
Arthur, IL 61911
217-543-2714
http://www.yoderskitchen.net

Maid Rite
118 N Pasfield St
Springfield, IL 62702
217-523-0723

I notice that the Dutch Valley Meats website has a link to Old Time Meat & Deli Shoppe, which I recently stumbled upon, right near my office, on Neil Street in Champaign. I don't know the connection between the two, but I vaguely recall that a lot of the meats at OTMDS carried the label of a single supplier, so maybe this is their one retail outlet outside of the Arthur area. Anyway, just a tip for anyone passing through Champaign who might want to pick up some high-quality Amish meats and cheeses without detouring farther south to Arthur.