I woke up yesterday morning all achy. My head, my stomach, nothing felt good. As we drove along, I realized I was suffering from dehydration. The Southwest, as we all know, is a dry place. I know how to keep adequately hydrated when at home in southern Arizona. I tend to forget how much dryer it is at higher elevations, especially when the weather is cool. Fellow travelers, when in the Southwest, be sure to keep that water bottle handy and keep nipping at it all day long. And of course, if you have children, make sure that they are doing the same. When in the mountains, drink way more water than you think you need.
So on we drove, me feeling not so good (and grumpy, to boot), with lots of stopping and starting and photographing. Lo and behold, we pulled into Salina, and on the corner of Main and State (US Route 89) sat Mom’s Cafe. I suggested (strongly) to Jim that stopping at Mom’s would be a good plan. After all, it was past lunch time. We had eaten at Mom’s before, and as you might imagine, it has lots of typical cafe food. What is very important to note is that the food is way above what you might expect in such an outpost. I noticed that chicken noodle soup was the soup of the day and ordered up a bowl. Believe me, it was some of the best I’ve ever had. The noodles were homemade, and there were lots of dumplings, too. It was heaven. Was it an instant cure for my headache? Alas, no. But it definitely impacted my mood in a good way.
Full disclosure: I ordered up a piece of home made coconut cream pie to top off the main course. It arrived in all its very large sized splendor slathered in whipped cream. A major indulgence, but Jim ate at least half of it, so I have no guilt whatsoever.
