A Trip to Mr. Tire

[Bob Boze Bell]

January 2, 2013

Home from snowy Baltimore where we visited my son, Thomas, his new wife and her family. Last Sunday we took a car trip in the snow, north of Baltimore to visit Joan and LeRoy Verdier who live in a little town called Havre de Grace. It was snowing when we got up and quite cold, so I opted for my Russian buffalo cap:

 

Took off in the snow storm and motored up the freeway, before getting off at the Loch Raven Reservoir. Lots of amazing farms along the roadway north of there. In fact I saw some of the most spectacular Norman Rockwell Christmas type scenes I've ever witnessed:

 

I've always had the prejudice that Iowa had the most classic farmsteads in the land, but I have to admit this area north of Loch Raven Reservoir is just amazing. Here's another scene along the roadway:

 

Unfortunately, when we got about a mile beyond this scene, my son, who was driving, noticed a funny feeling in the steering. Turns out we had a flat on the Lincoln, right front passenger side. Fortunately, we have AAA so while we ate Chinese soup at a little hole-in-the-wall cafe in Jarretsville, Jeff from Triple A showed up to put on the doughnut.

 

Great guy. Saved us a miserable slosh-fest in the snow. Of course the doughnut was low so he followed us to a gas station so we could air up the spare:

 

We ended up driving on the doughnut to the nearest tire shop open on a Sunday and that was a Mr. Tire in Belair:

 

They, of course were backed up and the manager said cryptically, "I hope you have a bunch of time to spend with us" We didn't have a choice, really. So, we all went next door to a Greek restaurant and had a long lunch:

 

We spent $202 on lunch (six Irish coffees), then went back and waited for another three hours. Spent a total of five hours at Mr. Tire in Belair, so I stole one of their magazines (Fast Company which had a feature on Pinterest I wanted to bring back to the office and talk about) and we missed our train connection (we were on our way to see a Lionel Train setup in a firehouse in Havre de Grace).

 

Got back to Baltimore at about eight in the evening and landed at a Thai Wives Club party. That was fun.

 

"Every war is ironic because every war is worse than expected."

—Paul Fussell

[Neil Waring]

Never have been very patient myself, the day you described would have had me fit to be tied. Thought there might be some kind of law against having Chinese soup, Greek food and Irish coffee all in the same day—maybe not in Maryland.

[Wolfgang]

Sounds like a great "snowy" trip . . . .   :)

 

ps.   In Wall Mart in Yucky Valley on Monday . . . . a issue of True West on the rack that I HAVE NOT RECEIVED YET !   How come Wall Mart rates ahead of me ? !   

 

But I took all the issues of True West and relocated them to FRONT AND CENTER on the magazine rack !   I figured you'd appreciate that.   :)

[Bob Boze Bell]

You've both made my day (and so far, my year). Ha. Thanks Gents.

[Michael]

Havre de Grave is a nice little town with good restaurants and a developing waterfront. It was under serious consideration to be named our nation's capital. Bel Air is the location of Tudor Hall, the ancesteral home of John Wilkes Booth. When you visit Baltimore you are surrounded by numerous historical sites within a short drive.

P.S. My best friend to this day is a Greek who owned a diner on US Rte 1 in Rahway, NJ. I was there just about everyday. To this day, if you go into a diner and there is not a Greek in the kitchen, leave, go down the road and the next one will have a Greek. Nobody runs a diner like a Greek.

[Steven Wright]

Bel Air, MD is the boyhood home of John Wilkes Booth. The Booth family home, "Tudor Hall," built by Junius Brutus Booth, Sr. (JWB's father) is now owned by the Historical Society of Harford County.

Havre de Grace is a fantastic little town where the Susquehanna River joins the Chesapeake Bay. It is filled with quaint little shops (mostly specializing antiques), and a couple of pretty decent used bookstores. My wife and I make the drive from Philadelphia to HdG several times a year because there are a couple of restaurants that make crab cakes that are the best you will ever taste!! Better than anything you will find in Baltimore... Hope you can make it up there next time you get to the East Coast - it's worth the effort!

[Margaret-Anne Moore]

I noticed the farmsteads in your photos.  If you can, try to find U. S. 40 by George R. Stewart and the update, U. S. 40 Today, by Thomas Vale.  Stewart's book was published in the early 1950s and the update was published about thirty years later.