Heading for the Border to Chill (’N Grill)

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We crossed the U.S. Border at a quarter to 11. While not a harrowing experience, the Customs official was a lot nosier than the Canadian one had been. One official (I keep almost calling them “crossing guards”) had the fun job of opening car trunks, and he did the same for us. He looked through my correspondence box (which was full of postcards that I was waiting to post in the US) and commented in wonder on the typewriter.

“What’s the typewriter for?”

We stifled ourselves and didn’t say, “Um, typing.” Instead, Chris said, “It’s an antique that we found in a shop.”

“How much did you pay for it?”

“Forty dollars.” In my head, I was trying to think whether there was any stricture on typing devices.

“Oh, that’s not much.” And he closed the trunk. With no further ado, we were back in our country.



Saskatchewan's Highway 39 turned into US-52 as we crossed the border, and we pretty much followed US-52 all of the way back home to Indianapolis. A little less than an hour after crossing into North Dakota, we were in the small burg of Kenmare, ND, which is home to a 2-story Danish Mill. We got out and wandered through it before hurrying across the street to post our postcards.



We had planned on eating at Cindy’s Diner, but it was quite definitely closed and was also for sale. Our search for sustenance took us to the dual-named Chill ‘n Grill/Liver’s Drive-In, which offered window service. The boys ordered tacos, Katherine got a cheeseburger deluxe, and Chris ordered a patty melt with onion rings.



We had a goodish wait while all this was cooking; the local custom seemed to be to drive up, order, wait in the car, and then pick up one’s order and eat in the car. The girl at the counter, Jordan, seemed to know everyone, and the Chill ’N Grill seemed to be doing bang-up business.





We ate our lunch in the small picnic area next to the building. The boys’ tacos were huge!