Highway Exits: The New Centers of Commerce in Small-Town Middle America

     When we traveled through Montana and the Dakotas earlier in our trip, the towns we stopped in were too small (~1000 people) to attract chain hotels & motels. Over the past couple of weeks in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, & Ohio, we've generally been staying at chain hotels (Best Western, Comfort Inn, Microtel, Super 8, etc.) in larger towns of ~8000-20000 people. These are located not in the town centers, but 1-2 miles away at the nearest highway exit, together with chain stores (Walmart, KMart, ...) and chain restaurants (Macdonalds, Burger King, Arby's, Dairy Queen, ...). With the centers of commerce shifted to the highway exits, the downtowns are often shabby, with a lot of boarded up storefronts and no active hotels. Fortunately, most of the towns have at least one reasonable downtown restaurant, allowing us to avoid the unhealthy junk food found at the highway exits.
     Monday morning started at one highway exit hotel -- Microtel in Delphos, OH -- and ended in another -- Comfort Inn in Upper Sandusky, OH. The day began the way Sunday evening ended: with a power failure at our hotel, the result of a lightning strike right beside the hotel on Sunday evening. Once we left the hotel, however, the ride was a pleasant and fast one, helped by a friendly west wind.

Our starting point on Monday morning. The trucks outside were part of the effort to fix the power failure that began 12 hours earlier.

Ducking under a tree for protection from an early morning rain

Stuck at a railroad crossing when the train stopped moving

We went past the end of the train, crossed the tracks, walked our bikes through someone's back yard, and proceeded along our route

Arriving at our destination hotel, the Comfort Inn

Fortunately, there was a decent restaurant for lunch and dinner in Upper Sandusky, OH