Back Home Again in Etna Green, Indiana

Etna Green Cafe

Some places are worth revisiting–others not so much–but in the world of small town cafes, the Etna Green Cafe is a good one. I hold some eateries close for reasons not entirely related to food, although that is important in satisfying human desires. Positioned on the corner of Indiana old route #30 and Indiana State route #19, east of Bourbon and west of Atwood, on the sort-of-north side of the town, the parking lot is full of trucks. American trucks. Pickups. Trump Country.

I stop by Etna Green when I can, even though my relatives run a more up-scale espresso bar and cafe a few miles to the east, named The Crazy Egg. They have a great chicken-themed gift shop, make sixteen ounce lattes deliciously, and serve breakfast and lunch entrees from 7 am till 2 PM. But their yellow and grey metal chairs do not fit my body so comfortably as wooden ones.  So I happily support their espresso stand and take my breakfast hunger down the road, quietly. Some choices are made on ethereal and physical feelings of comfort.

The Etna Green Cafe is midst a revival–in decor, menu, and spirit. The son has succeeded his father in ownership and change is underway. Although change is difficult to some, I think happy days are ahead for this small town bastion of conversation and knowledge. The new paint on the east side of the building is a gorgeous shade of green. Of course it is!

Sneaking in for a bit of clandestine eavesdropping is difficult. Sam sits at a table just inside the door and notices who enters. On this day he is the conversational linchpin that holds the group of four on topic.  Before they noticed me, an almost stranger in their midst, the conversation is concerning Stormy Daniels’ interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN the night prior.

“Did you watch it?” Sam asks.

“Nah,” the man across and over replies. And they move right on to another topic. Apparently it is not worth the time to discuss. This surprises me.

But then Sam catches my eye, and says, “I know you. It’s been awhile. Can’t remember your name.”

I am found out, and give my name and he sharpens up. He is a large man in a while polo shirt, with a short beard and bulbous nose. I have walked into his domain and we both know it. Of course that’s  why I have come. I want to know what’s on the hearts and minds of those in small town northern Indiana– a deeply religious, farming community perched on the edge of dry, brown winter fields of cornstalks. A tough looking place, in cold not-yet-spring March. These retirees have not yet pulled up stakes for Florida.

Usually I come alone, hunker down in a corner table by the door, eat my food and scribble a few notes. But this time my husband is along, and he tolerates my banter with the men. I think they may have politened up a bit because he is along, but I’m not sure. His presence throws them off their game. They have that small-town respect for strangers.

I met Sam upon my first visit to the café, although he’s not the one I wrote the most about. That character died this winter, with his stories about riding horses as a little boy, and the later-told story about him and his quiet hit and run car accident. It didn’t take long for the café folks to figure that incident out, and an apology came eventually.

There are a few new-to-me men in the social circle this morning, so I plan to be guarded in my comments. No point in alienating them right off. Strategy is necessary if I am to measure the pulse.

The Café men seem to hunger for outside opinions and information—today’s group of four are arranged over a couple of tables. After my initial hello I get the first question: “Where are you from? Washington?” one asks.

“The other Washington.” I say. My hands begin to sweat.

“That other swamp is pretty deep,” someone says. I let that pass.

“Is Washington a Sanctuary State?” asks Sam.

“Seattle is I think,” I say. “But I’m from north of there an hour, in a big agricultural valley.”

“Do you agree with all that?” one asks.

I consider my answer carefully. I’m deep in Trump country, and yet I am often surprised by local, independent opinions.

“Where I’m from we see people’s lives disrupted by the INS— families broken up, farmers trying to figure out where they will find agricultural workers to take up the slack if they loose theirs. It’s not that simple,” I say. A few heads nod.

“Do you think the student protests again guns will change anything?” A guy I’ve not met before is asking. “Everybody ‘round here has guns. There’s a lady up the street that has an AR-15.”

“What’s she doing with it?” I ask.

“She just likes it I think,” he says. “She’s never fired it.”

I wait a full beat. “Not sure about the protests,” I say. “During the Viet Nam protest years things changed. Eventually. Was it because of the protests? I don’t know.”

“I’m a Viet Nam Vet, he says.”

“So was my brother-in–law,” I say. “Lots of lives were changed by that war.” He nods.

I get to ask the next question–something I’ve been hearing about from my relatives who own some long-haul trucks.

“What do you think about the new trucking bill, that restricts truckers from driving more than 11 hours?” I ask.

One guy, maybe Sam’s brother, starts telling me about his life in the trucking business, hauling— among other things—cattle from the mid-west to the east. Thirty-seven hours on the road, he tells me. “That business is gone, and the feed lots,” he says. “Now it’s all slaughtered on site, frozen and trucked to the point of sale.”

“But,” he says, “If you were still doing that, the new rules wouldn’t work. After eleven hours of running your truck, including loading and unloading time, the computer shuts your truck ignition off now. You can’t run for ten hours. Where are you when that all happens? Along the road somewhere maybe. The cattle would die if they had to sit those ten hours before resuming the journey. Who’s writing these rules?”

No one mentions the swamp. No one mentions which agency is responsible.

I shake my head, and recall several other conversations on this same issue I’ve heard during my stay in the Etna Green area. The  egg producers are complaining too. The traffic between here and Chicago, and unpredictable weather and traffic circumstances must be calculated into their eleven hour run, and it is complicated to make come out right.

“Watch for all those trucks pulled over in weird places,” they all say. “Engines shut down and they had to stop where they were.”

 

Tommy, the new Etna Green Cafe owner, shows me around the spruced up dining room with large, vintage photos printed on metal, newly painted golden yellow walls and decorative slat wood trim near each table. He points out new tables and chairs and lighting, too. The photos evoke previous decades in the life of the café, and point out an appreciation of continuity in some places. Especially in small town Indiana—towns that lost their highway through town decades ago to the northern bypass, saw their schools consolidated, and watch as their young people migrate away. A treasured, vintage matchbook collection has been donated by a previous cafe employee, and will be part of the new decor soon.

He is a proud owner, and I feel it. I noticed the new green paint on the exterior of the building the moment I drove up, and remark about it to the waitress as we enter. She bubbles with enthusiasm, and tells me about the menu changes too. I notice the full parking lot.  I notice the Amish cook working the grill, in her blue dress and white cap. She’s new too.

I can say my big pancake with sausages, and my husband’s french toast with powdered sugar and a slice of ham were perfect. Not trendy, not fancy, but solid. Reliable. Comfortable. Tasty.

I hear there’s a new menu coming, and a dinner menu some nights with specials and a salad bar listed on the outside reader board. There’s a new steak house a couple blocks east too, so maybe Etna Green is on the edge of a breakout as a place to go and be seen, a quiet place west of Warsaw with it’s orthopedic manufacturers including Zimmer.

When it’s time to go I say my goodbyes, but it takes three tries to get out the door. Sam and I still have things to talk about, but I’ve a plane to catch. He tells me, “You are the nicest, but I heard when you switched into your PC talk.”

I smile and blush. He’s got me there. “I’m just trying to get along,” I tell him. We both smile.

“See you in the summer,” I say.

“There’ll be a new floor by then and a patio out back,” Tommy tells me.

I believe there will be. I’ll search out Sam to tell me what’s new in the world from his perch in the Etna Green café. It’s worth the journey.

Etna Green Café, 112 W State Street, Etna Green, Indiana. 46524

574 858-9081

 

 

 

 

 

Ann Bodle-Nash

Ann Bodle-Nash: A free-lance traveler since the age of 11 months, little moss grows on her soles. With relatives and friends scattered across the globe, she finds frequent excuses to travel. But travel in the West is best--those quiet corners of weirdness are like light to a moth, burning with intensity, encouraging curiosity and discovery. She imagines the glory of 30 days of continuous floating and fly fishing on the Yellowstone River after watching a documentary on same. Currently living in Washington State with her husband.

At Indie It Press we use cookies to personalize content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyze our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. View more
Cookies settings
Accept
Privacy & Cookie policy
Privacy & Cookies policy
Cookie name Active
At Indie It Press, LLC., accessible from https://indieitpress.com/, one of our main priorities is the privacy of our visitors. This Privacy Policy document contains types of information that is collected and recorded by Indie It Press and how we use it. If you have additional questions or require more information about our Privacy Policy, do not hesitate to contact us. This Privacy Policy applies only to our online activities and is valid for visitors to our website with regards to the information that they shared and/or collect in Indie It Press. This policy is not applicable to any information collected offline or via channels other than this website.

Consent

By using our website/service, you hereby consent to our Privacy Policy and agree to its terms.

Information we collect.

The personal information that you are asked to provide, and the reasons why you are asked to provide it, will be made clear to you at the point we ask you to provide your personal information. If you contact us directly, we may receive additional information about you such as your name, email address, phone number, the contents of the message and/or attachments you may send us, and any other information you may choose to provide. When you register for an Account, we may ask for your contact information, including items such as name, company name, address, email address, and telephone number.

How we use your information.

We use the information we collect in various ways, including to:
  • Provide, operate, and maintain our website
  • Improve, personalize, and expand our website
  • Understand and analyze how you use our website
  • Develop new products, services, features, and functionality
  • Communicate with you, either directly or through one of our partners, including for customer service, to provide you with updates and other information relating to the website, and for marketing and promotional purposes
  • Send you emails
  • Find and prevent fraud
Log Files Indie It Press follows a standard procedure of using log files. These files log visitors when they visit websites. All hosting companies do this and a part of hosting services' analytics. The information collected by log files include internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), date and time stamp, referring/exit pages, and possibly the number of clicks. These are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable. The purpose of the information is for analyzing trends, administering the site, tracking users' movement on the website, and gathering demographic information.

Cookies 

Like any other website, Indie It Press, LLC.,  uses 'cookies'. These cookies are used to store information including visitors' preferences, and the pages on the website/service that the visitor accessed or visited. The information is used to optimize the users' experience by customizing our web page content based on visitors' browser type and/or other information.

ADVERTISING PARTNERS

Third-party ad servers or ad networks use technologies like cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons that are used in their respective advertisements and links that appear on Indie It Press, LLC., which are sent directly to users' browsers. They automatically receive your IP address when this occurs. These technologies are used to measure the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns and/or to personalize the advertising content that you see on websites that you visit. Note that Indie It Press. LLC., has no access to, or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers.

Third Party Privacy Policies

Indie It Press, LLC.,  Privacy Policy does not apply to other advertisers or websites. Thus, we are advising you to consult the respective Privacy Policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information. It may include their practices and instructions about how to opt-out of certain options. You can choose to disable cookies through your individual browser options. To know more detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers, it can be found at the browsers' respective websites. CCPA Privacy Rights (Do Not Sell My Personal Information)
  • Under the CCPA, among other rights, California consumers (only covers California) have the right to:
  • Request that a business that collects a consumer's personal data disclose the categories and specific pieces of personal data that a business has collected about consumers.
  • Request that a business delete any personal data about the consumer that a business has collected.
  • Request that a business that sells a consumer's personal data, not sell the consumer's personal data.
  • If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us.

GDPR Data Protection Rights

We would like to make sure you are fully aware of all of your data protection rights. Every user is entitled to the following:
  • The right to access – You have the right to request copies of your personal data. We may charge you a small fee for this service.
  • The right to rectification – You have the right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request that we complete the information you believe is incomplete.
  • The right to erasure – You have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to restrict processing – You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to object to processing – You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to data portability – You have the right to request that we transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.
If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us.

Children's Information

Another part of our priority is adding protection for children while using the internet. We encourage parents and guardians to observe, participate in, and/or monitor and guide their online activity. Indie It Press, LLC.,  does not knowingly collect any Personal Identifiable Information from children under the age of 16. If you think that your child provided this kind of information on our website/service, we strongly encourage you to contact us immediately and we will do our best efforts to promptly remove such information from our records.

Contact us

Indie It Press, LLC. welcomes your questions or comments regarding the Privacy Policy: Indie It Press, LLC. 230 S. Catlin St. #102 Missoula, Montana 59801 Email Address: Leisa@IndieItPress.com Last Updated: January, 22, 2021
Save settings
Cookies settings