Tipping into the Tip Top

Got a tip to go the Tip Top.

Mama Karen, our motel manager, said it was the best breakfast spot in Yates Center. As far as we could see, it was the only breakfast spot other than a convenience store, but it was worth doubling back 14 miles from our successful fossil expedition at Round Mound.

We knew it was going to be good when we pulled up and saw the 1950s blue and white rooftop sign and a police car, probably the town's only, parked in front. Inside, we got one of the four booths, across from the town cop drinking coffee and chatting with two residents. Coffee came in big, thick, white ceramic mugs, another promising sign. To get to the restrooms, you had to pass through the kitchen and say hello to the cheerful owner at the grill. When the boys returned from washing their hands, she handed each a strip of bacon.

More surprises came with the food. Ted's cinnamon roll was the size of a softball, and smiling faces made with extra batter decorated the boy's pancakes. Later, the owner told me she can make any kind of pancakes for kids -- cat, bear, monkey. A Iittle girl once challenged her to make fish. Can do at the Tip Top.

Just as memorable was our conversation with other diners. We heard from a farmer about the local restaurant a woman used to run out of a house, up a flight of stairs, the day's sole menu item just $1. He told us about the EF-4 tornado last year that almost hit Yates Center, overturned his semi and ripped out $10,000 worth of metal cattle fencing. That got a woman at another booth recalling how she almost drove into a twister near Iona, and watched Yates' narrow miss from her house. "You get used to them," she said.

We also learned that the hay season was just starting (Yates Center bills itself as the hay capital of the world), that circular bales stay local, and that the area needs rain badly to avoid a drought summer. Toward the end of breakfast, Dennis, a local man with a Vietnam veterans hat, asked us where we were headed and recommended sights in Durango and Pikes Peak, his favorite part of the country.

As we left, everyone wished us a happy trip. What a friendly, wonderful, delicious place. On the way over, we had checked out the small town of Toronto: cute, but everything was closed, including the town cafe. At the Tip Top, we were told that cafe was "fine dining. You need a reservation." At Yates Center, you just walk right in. Thanks Tip Tip for the memories.