Lenten Travel and Dining Tip

Breitbach’s 2009

Breitbach’s Country Dining claims to be Iowa’s oldest dining establishment, in business since 1852. (Breitbach’s, unlike Breitbart, won’t give you indigestion.) As you travel the Great River Road, you’ll find Breitbach’s in Iowa, high above the Mississippi River, about halfway between Guttenberg and Dubuque.

Breitbach’s until 2007

Jacob Breitbach, who worked for the founding owner, purchased the business in 1862. It has been owned and operated by the family since then. The building itself is relatively new. The original structure burned in 2007. The restaurant has hosted luminaries such as Jesse James, George (Norm from “Cheers”) Wendt, Madonna and Brooke Shields.

Why report on this now? They are featuring a Friday-night seafood buffet during Lent. If you have a desire for deep-fried fresh catfish, here’s your place. They also promise their soup du jour will be meatless until Easter.

Goodyear Retires Its Blimp!

Goodyear deflated its last blimp the other day. It took about two minutes for the Spirit of Innovation’s helium-filled bag, called its envelope, to crumple to the ground after a hole was ripped in its topside. After ninety years, the blimp era has ended. Not to worry, though. The familiar shape will continue to be seen hovering above sporting events. Goodyear has replaced all its soft-sided “gas bag” blimps with semi-rigid dirigibles.

The new aircraft are the same shape. They have a frame, so maintain their shape after being drained of helium. They are also faster, quieter, larger, easier to fly and more maneuverable. The new dirigibles can cruise at seventy miles per hour. They are quiet enough to not cause disturbances at golf tournaments, where a whirring sound makes it impossible for a champion athlete to accurately hit a motionless ball. The new floating billboards are fifty feet longer than the old blimps, and can take off and land like a helicopter, making life easier for ground crews.

The thing that is not changing is the popular reference: they will continue to be known as Goodyear Blimps, because, “Goodyear Semi-rigid Dirigible doesn’t roll off the tongue.”

Phil Campbells Helping Phil Campbell

Phil Campbell Alabama began with a nineteenth-century railroad builder. A businessman in northwest Alabama persuaded Phil Campbell to build a depot nearby, promising, if he did, to name the town after him. He did. Although Phil Campbell never lived in Phil Campbell, the town still carries his name.

Phil Campbell of New York City, aka Brooklyn Phil, organized a Phil Campbell convention. The initial gathering in 1995, brought together twenty-two Phils – and one Phyllis – for a weekend of getting to know one another and their namesake town. Most all the Phils and the townspeople had fun, but it didn’t catch on as an annual event.

Some years later, Brooklyn Phil, while perusing Wikipedia’s Phil Campbell entry, decided that in the age of social media, he would try again to gather together the Phil Campbells of the world. The event was scheduled for June 2011. A devastating tornado hit the town on April 27, killing twenty-seven residents. Instead of cancelling the convention, it became a relief project, “Phil Campbells Helping Phil Campbell.”

Phil Campbells came from around the country, Australia, Scotland and England, too. They spent several days clearing and cleaning up the wreckage of the pavilion and swimming pool where the first convention took place in 1995. They also raised $42,000, enough money to fund construction of a Habitat for Humanity house

If your name is Phil Campbell, you might want to mark your calendar for 2021, when the next gathering is scheduled. In the meantime, you can watch the documentary film about the Phils, people and town, that was released in 2014.