6. Sammy’s Pizza, International Falls, Minnesota (Aug. 19); Brooklyn Pizza Co., Seymour, Indiana (Nov. 1)
One is from a small chain with all but two of its 15 locations in Minnesota; the other is a minor diner. The first was consumed in a hotel whose backyard abutted the Rainy River with Canada in sight, a walk away from one of the last three Kmarts in Minnesota — that will be closing this month.
For the latter, the hotel restaurant guide included one place that had gone out of business in 2017 and another whose ad misspelled not only the word “sandwiches” but the name of the city it was located in. Naturally, I had to veto the second out of principle, which led me to door (or pizza box) #3 and two suppers’ worth of food. I needed that cushion the next day after flopping into the hotel room at the stroke of midnight Eastern Daylight (for two hours more) Time.
Central Time Zone (mostly Minnesota) trip: 11 new counties, 4 US route state clinches (MN US 169, MN US 71, ND US 81, MN US 59), 1 entire US route clinched (US 169)
The beginning of US 53/71, International Falls.