Would you drive 15 minutes to wait in this breakfast line?

An enduring premise of Marathon Mouth is encouraging people to get off the highway and into the towns and cities that harbour the great independent eateries of western North America.

Yet I increasingly find myself not wanting to exit the highway and navigate to said eatery, especially if it’s upwards of a 10-minute drive to reach, and miles to go before I sleep. A second deterrent is busy roads leading to the destination café or bakery and lineups when I get there.

Often, it’s easier to grab a coffee and snack at a highway-side gas emporium or fast-food joint, despite all that’s wrong with such fare. To say nothing of travel companions unwilling to go a block out of their way to hit an In-N-Out Burger.

When I’m doing a long road trip west of Calgary to, say, the Okanagan or the coast, I never stop for sustenance in Canmore or Banff. It’s too close (about one hour) to the start of my journey and too much of a hassle to exit the Trans-Canada Highway and handle the tourist mobs.

Typically, I instead drive three hours to Golden, B.C. and take the 5-minute detour to pick up a coffee and warm muffin from Bacchus Cafe. Don’t know why, but I couldn’t be bothered on a recent trip.

Great muffins at Bacchus Cafe usually enough to get me off the highway in Golden, B.C.

But I did pull off where I always do, 90 minutes later in Revelstoke, to visit fabulous bakery La Baguette. But there was a line of about eight people just to buy baked goods. Not doing that.

Revelstoke’s La Baguette is generally well worth the wait

So, I headed over to nearby, farm-to-table Terravita Kitchen to meet a local friend for lunch. But by the time she cycled down, there was a line out the door.

A quiet moment at Terravita Kitchen, a welcome addition to the Revelstoke food scene

She confessed the summer tourist hordes are such that she rarely ventures downtown. So we ended up going to her house for a quiet, refreshing lunch.

After all the turmoil restaurants everywhere endured during the pandemic, I certainly don’t begrudge those who have done well in the ensuing tourism boom. But even residents are not all happy with the influx of visitors; see anti-tourism protests in Barcelona and elsewhere.

My typical response to beating restaurant crowds is to visit during off-peak hours. But that’s not always possible during longer road trips. Packing a lunch is an option but one that doesn’t help small, local cafes.

What’s your solution?

Bonus coverage on lineups

Here’s a highly entertaining New York Times story about how the “bazillion” options available when ordering a customized coffee at Starbucks is hurting business. To say nothing of creating long lines when the guy ahead of you is ordering six coffees, “each of which involves some combination of tall venti grande double-pump, one to four shots of espresso, half-caf, oat milk, nonfat milk, soy milk, milk milk, whipped cream, syrup, brown sugar, white sugar, no sugar and mocha drizzle.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/25/opinion/starbucks-order-app-third-place.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Fk4.Pi-j.NbrGk8lugKgZ&smid=url-share