After waking up at the house in Sabula, IA, Lisa and Sue said their goodbyes and took off early. My mom, sister and I decided to hit the one restaurant on the island, the sandbar grill. Like much of Sabula, the building looked as though it had seen better days. We had been told however, that the food was great.

After ordering and enjoying French toast, hash browns, bacon and coffee we got talking with the only other patron in the place. The older fellow had grown up in Sabula and had a memory sharp as a tack, telling us the names of family's that's used to live in particular houses, and stories about his interactions with them as a kid. He also mentioned how buzzing Sabula used to be. 4 gas stations, 2 grocery stores and even a bakery. Today all of that was gone other than 1 gas station. I asked the fellow what caused the fall and he mentioned something I had never thought of before. Route 64 runs from Chicago right through Sabula. When interstate 80 was built folks from the city no longer passed through town. Traffic, and therefore business, now bypassed Sabula.

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