The Pulse of the Heartland - Time Out #233

One of life's greatest joys is spending time with close friends. My bride, Debbie, and I try to do this special exercise as often as possible.

Recently, we were asked by our dear buddies, Martha and Roger McMillian, to join them for supper, as he drove us to the eastern edge of our Payne County. Our foursome ate in a relatively new restaurant in Yale, Mugsy's Grubhouse. The food was excellent and plentiful, the service prompt, but the best thing about the entire evening, was our companionship with the McMillians. Your faithful scribe has known Roger (aka, "Rolo") for 66 years, and Ms. Martha for over 60 years. Ms. Debbie, has known the couple for almost 40 years.

Because Martha grew up as a true Yale Bulldog, she knew every inch of this classic, heartland community as a youth. Her mother was a teacher, and her father a long-time banker in Yale. Martha's only sibling, older sister, Betty, recently passed away after an extended illness. The Martin family was certainly prominent in the small Payne County town during Martha and sister, Betty's, growing-up years.

Since Yale is only 20 miles straight east of Our Town, via State Highway 51, Martha asked her driver husband to give all of us a pre-supper tour of her hometown, since it had literally been years since my bride and I had driven around Yale's city streets. As Roger slowly drove through the uncrowded surroundings, Martha informed us of where so-and-so use to live, previous locations of various town businesses, and many other stories only a long-term resident could know. I recalled my past visits to the quaint community over the many years, as we passed by the home famous, world-class athlete Jim Thorpe occupied from 1917-23 that has been a museum for many years now; the Dairy Hut, where I enjoyed tasty treats for what seems like forever, and the old school gymnasium, where I ran up and down for 30 years, officiating Yale High School girls' and boys' basketball games.

After about 20 minutes of the driving tour, we turned into the restaurant's large parking lot on the south side of the highway. This was the first occasion my bride and I had eaten at Mugsy's, but the 5th time for our dinner companions to enjoy the place. There were so many vehicles parked around the new structure, it reminded me of a crowded OSU sporting event. Before we walked inside the building, I had convinced myself our dinner party would have an extended wait to be seated, even though it still was relatively early on a Saturday evening.

Boy, I was certainly wrong about the "wait" issue, dear readers of Our Town and far beyond!

The restaurant owner, Darrell Mueggenborg, quickly met us inside, and we barely had time to take off our coats, until he had seated us in the main section of his lively establishment. His colorful place is HUGE, comfortably seating almost 200 patrons, spread out in 3 equal, distinct sections; main, back and east. Darrell is about as friendly as a person can be. Our restaurant booth was situated in a spot I could observe him throughout the time we dined, and he literally stopped to chat with every table that was occupied, assuring his patrons felt very welcome. That is certainly a rare characteristic in today's hustle/bustle world. After we had finished eating, he gave our foursome a complete tour of his spacious facility, and, carefully, explained many of the meaningful decor items that handsomely adorn his restaurant in every public location.

As we departed his parking lot and headed back to Our Town, we were positively affected by once again, visiting a typical small town in the heartland of America. Just as Our Town is special to us, everyone's town is special to them, in our great land of the free and the home of the brave!