Live to Ride...Ride to Eat

[emptysea]

OK.. I broke down and set up an Imgur account. Not sure why I delayed, but you all are in trouble now because you're about to once again be inundated with lame stories and blurry photos related to my life on two wheels. That is, if this works.

Over the weekend, a friend of mine posted on a fairly well known social media site about a little diner in her old neighborhood in Melrose Park, IL and how it's still great, but that they may be closing or moving soon. She posted a picture of the place which has an old electric sign out in front that is probably bigger than the building itself. I'm a sucker for those old signs and the joints that serve up short orders that lurk in their shadows.

Since word was that Harlo Grill may not be long for this world and since the weather Monday was sunny and in the upper 70s, I decided to check it out. I calculated an hour for lunch. 20 minutes each way and 20 minutes to eat. I didn't account for the 30 mile long freight train that was heading westbound out of the yard in Franklin Park at a pace just slightly faster than my mother can travel with the aid of her walker. From my vantage point, I could see the line of cars for about 2 city blocks to the east before the tracks curved to the south. I watched car after car creep past me. Each one covered with graffiti; mostly gang symbols, swear words, and pictures of male body parts. Because it seemed so out of place among the other tags and because it doesn't seem like something a typical vandal would think about much less spray paint on a train car, the "Hillary Killed Seth Rich" tag scrawled on one car made me laugh out loud.

The curve had the effect of deceiving me into believing that the last car was only about 200 yards away. Eventually, I realized that this was the longest train ever coupled together and that if I was to ever get lunch and get back to work, I'd have to make a move. I followed an alley to the east and zigzagged my way along until I was on North Avenue about 2 miles east of the diner

I ordered the Harlo Burger which is a 1/2lb burger stuffed with cheddar cheese and bacon then topped with more cheese which is allowed to caramelize slight like on the fry top before being served on a Melamine plate with about 8 pickle slices. I passed on the fries since I'm trying to cut down ya know. The sandwich was really delicious. I should have had a malted, but again, cutting down.

Harlo Grill is open 24 hours every day. I do not believe there are tables, just a large semi-circular counter that raps around two cooking stations with the cash register at the apex of the curve. I think I may head out there for breakfast sometime, but I'll allow plenty of time for trains.