Riding West on I-80!

Well gang, here we go again! Headed out to Denver for a Certified Pool Operator Instructor School, which is being held this weekend. And, of course, why fly when you can drive? Loaded the Blue Cuda up and got on the road at 5 am on Wednesday, and managed to get off Long Island and over the bridges before traffic got too nasty, which resulted in a good days drive of about 650 miles. Landed just about 8 miles from South Bend IN, nice clean spot right off the Interstate. Settled in, took a little power nap (didn't want to miss the Yankee game!), and then it was time to get dinner and gas up the car. Much to my delight, there was a "Culver's" just a mile or so from the hotel. I've stopped in these places before, and reviewed them, so you may want to skip down to the Thursday report.
Culver's is a family owned chain, mainly in the mid-west that features fresh beef hamburgers served on rolls slathered with butter and toasted (thus, butterburger), pork tenderloin sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, salads, and killer custard. I chose a "Butterburger Deluxe", which had a double patty burger, a side, and a drink:

Ahh, I hear you now, what is that odd looking side item? Certainly not fries? Nope, those are 'curds', Wisconsin cheddar cheese curds that have been battered and deep fried.

The curds are served hot, crispy on the outside, and melty-stretchy on the inside. A little bit of chew, sort of like a stick of Mozzarella string cheese, and OH, so tasty! Good solid mild cheddar flavor, tasty, crispy coating, a nice combination. They didn't need ketchup, but they were crying for salt, which really improved the taste of the coating. And they're really into curds at this place; they're running a contest to name the biggest 'curd nerd'! You have to send them a pic of you pulling a curd apart, showing the stretchy goodness. Grand prize? Well, among other items, free curds for a year!

On to the burger, which in the past has always been very good. And this one didn't disappoint. Culver's cooks to order, you never get an item that's been sitting under a heat lamp for hours on end, so the food is very fresh and hot. And as I always say, the food actually looks like the photos on the menu, it's never served all squashed down. The folks who work here take pride in what they do, and it shows.

I took this photo of the bottom of the burger for a change to show you how good the beef patty is. Perfectly seared with a barely crispy outside, it's a very tasty burger - one of the better fast food burgers you can get. I think because Culver's is a family operation, they have very high standards, much like Chick-Fil-A. The restaurants are always extremely clean, the help friendly, and it's enjoyable going in there for a meal. They've recently expanded a little further into the South and Southeast, but no signs (yet) of them getting into the Mid-Atlantic or Northeast. Shame.
And then it was Thursday. Left South Bend at 6 am, for what was the long day of the trip. Aiming for a stop at North Platte NE for the night, I had about 850 miles ahead of me. Fortunately, the speed limit in most of Indiana and Illinois was 70, and entering Nebraska, it went up to 75! At those speeds, the Blue Cuda just eats up the miles, averaging a very nice 26-27 mpg on the cruise control, with the engine barely working at 1,800 rpm!
Crossed into the Central time zone, and landed at the hotel at 5 pm local time. On the way, I'd seen a lot of signs for "Runza's" Restaurants, and of course, that made me curious. How nice to find one just a couple of blocks from the hotel! Before I went, I checked out their website, and found that they serve a slightly different version of a 'Mid-west loose meat sandwich', which you find in Ilinois, Indiana, Michigan, and a few other locations. If you're curious, do a search for "Maid Rite", which seems to be the most popular of the loose meat joints. Basically, it's ground beef that's simmered with chopped onions and spices, served on a hamburger roll with yellow mustard. Runza's, puts a bit of a twist on this dish, by adding chopped cabbage to the meat, and serving it on a store baked club type roll.

Ooooh, the delicious mystery meal all wrapped in waxed paper! I chose the "Runza Cheeseburger", which is their simmered meat topped with cheese, pickles, ketchup and yellow mustard.

Looks innocent enough, doesn't it? Well, the photo doesn't tell the story; this thing was packed with meat, and was quite heavy for it's size. The roll had a nice crust to it, was dense without being heavy, and had a good flavor. Well worth trying this place just for the roll! As for the fillling....

Kinda hard to tell from the photo, but there was a LOT of meat on that thing! Plenty of toppings, too, they didn't skimp on anything here! As for the taste...not bad. The onions and cabbage weren't overcooked, and added a nice little crunch to the whole thing. The meat, tender, juicy, nicely seasoned with what seemed like a good amount of white pepper, salt, and maybe a touch of paprika. With the pickles and cheese, a pretty rich, heavy meal. While I liked it, I didn't finish it - just too much for one sitting!

As my side, I got 'frings', a combination of onion rings and fries. The fries, as in a lot of these mid-west places, were crinkle cut. Frozen, for sure, but nicely cooked, and with a little salt and ketchup, pretty good. The onion rings were pretty good, nice full onion rings, not those chopped things, with a crunchy corn meal coating. Good choice.
Overall, an interesting place. They also serve 'regular' hamburgers, and were voted 'best hamburger' here in North Platte over this past summer; not sure who voted, but what the hell. If I do stop again, I'll probably try a more traditional burger.
That's it for the first two days, tomorrow it's a 'short day' of about 240 miles to Denver, where I'll be until Monday or Tuesday of next week. I'll do my best to get out and about while I'm there and keep you up to date.
Oh, yeah, one more thing - GO YANKS!