It was about 5:30 Saturday
evening when I turned off I-74 at the Dry Ridge exit. The directions said right
and then left at Carolina Trace. I got lost and had to stop, but Edith looked at
our Cincinnati map, found where we were and got us back on track. (I should have
turned left on West St. by Harrison High School and then right on Carolina
Trace.) It took us about 15 minutes to get to the church as we traveled through
farm land and areas that were being turned into new developments. There’s a lot
of space to grow out here.
We came to a four-way
intersection and there was the church right across from a cornfield. The parking
lot was newly paved and it was a very nice evening with almost a touch of fall
in the air. There is a pleasant view from the church grounds to the north where
wooded hills could be seen for quite a distance. The church steeple told us that
it was dedicated in 1898. We waited only 10 minutes until we were in the hall
and paid $16 for the two of us. We filed past the dessert table and made our
choice (slices of cherry and lemon pie.)
While we waited for our
table to be prepared, I did a quick count of the tables; it looks like about 250
people can be seated and just about every table was filled. Each table seats
eight people and the place was nicely organized and was pleasant and clean,
with fans doing a nice job of circulating the air. Edith and I were seated first
and sat across from each other against an outside wall.
We had been here once
before a few years ago. This is the only dinner we have been to where the food
is served from trays and the food is passed around the table and then is taken
away. We passed potatoes, gravy, green beans and chicken. Slaw, applesauce and
rolls stayed on the table. I thought that the slaw was especially good, just way
I like it. Seated next to me was a young man getting his graduate degree in
Architecture from Miami (it seems the Oxford campus is about 20 minutes away.)
He grew up on the west side of Cincinnati and received his undergraduate degree
from Hiram.
He was blond and had a little three-year old girl who was really a blondie (I’m a little impartial towards blonds although it looks like our first grandson will not carry on the tradition.) His family joined this church about a year ago since this was the denomination that his wife studied in divinity school. He asked me how I found out about the dinner and I spilled the beans about my ThinkingChicken web site (he seemed somewhat amused but in a friendly way.)
When we finished our plates, the servers appeared again with the trays of food. Everyone had a second helping. I thought that the chicken was especially good, nice and moist. Edith was sitting next to a couple that had the mother with them. The mom’s wheelchair fit nicely at our table and she seemed to enjoy her dinner. The lady overheard the web site discussion and offered information on their church dinner. Edith pulled out her netepad and listed the details. McGonnigle-Millville United Methodist Church located in Millville Ohio has a (one-trip) ham and turkey dinner on the fourth Saturday in October, this year on October 25. They also have a bean soup and cornbread dinner in February (now that sounds really good.)
We retraced our way back to I-74 and saw the mistake we made with our directions. We got off at North Bend Rd. and went to Sam’s Club, which is close to the exit, and got some school stuff. We like to go there but it’s a pretty good drive from our house. Edith has been busy with her new computer teacher job at St. Dominic and is working on one of her many projects in the family room, as I am finishing up these notes. We now each have our own laptop computer; man-o-man, this is real togetherness.