It has been raining, sometimes quite alarmingly, since yesterday afternoon and we would typically hunker down in the Barbarian Invader until the wetness passes. Today we broke with routine and got up early, had a large container of fortified coffee and then hopped in the truck to make the half hour drive over to Centralia to eat at a place called Berry Fields.
We had spotted this place on the internet but once we arrived, we realized it was in the same building as some antiques stores Peggy has visited before. The antiques stores are a half flight of stairs down in sort of a basement while the restaurant is a half flight up in the first-and-a-half floor. The flights are outside and today’s rain ensured we were damp before we got inside.
The breakfast menu was extensive and many possibly yummy meals were available to us but, for some reason, we were unable to put in our order for quite some time. One server gave us two glasses of water and Peggy’s coffee but then the service went south. There seemed to be ample staff and the joint had some open tables; I started to think we might be funny-looking because waitresses just kept passing us by. Just about time I was going to leave, a skinny gal showed up and finally took our order.
It is fortunate that we waited because my chicken fried steak and eggs were great and Peggy’s eggs, bacon and French toast were all very good. Peg generously let me have a bit of the French toast and it was luscious. Getting some syrup to put on it was problematic but we finally prevailed and got to eat it before it went cold. The prices were pretty good – we got out for less than $30. Berry Fields seems like a great place to eat if you can get by the atrocious service.
After a delay getting the staff to take my money, I wandered back out into the hard rain to play Solitaire in the truck while Peg went downstairs to do some antique shopping, a practice I find intolerable and without possible purpose. She emerged not much later with only some stuff, none of it usable or necessary for us but Peg defeated me by explaining the stuff was for the kids and I was welcome to dummy up. I complied.
Peggy had me take her to the local ScabMart where she picked up enough grub to last until we get to Seaside (next week) and enough self-destructing RV toilet paper to last until we get back to California. Leaving ScabMart, I turned the wrong way but, after only about 10 minutes of confusion, we were able to find the freeway and our way back to our cozy trailer. Well, actually, it was only cozy after we ran the heater for a while. It’s getting colder. Time to continue south.