'80s are still alive at Highway 51 Express, and I'm here for all of it

The more I travel twisty back roads looking for new places to eat, the more I love this part of the country I live in. This is a beautiful time of year to drive a country highway. The rain has been kind to us (sometimes too kind), and the trees are green and full of leafy glory. Late summer flowers such as cup plants, crown vetch and blazing star are painting the edges of the roads with color. Sometimes, it is healing to just drive, look and enjoy breathing. And that's exactly what I did on my way to Highway 51 Express this week.

Advertised online as a convenience store with home cooking, I noticed that their postal address is at 39573 State Highway 51 in Marble Hill, Missouri. But while the address may say Marble Hill, this little store is almost in Patton, Missouri. I'll admit that I didn't quite know what I was committing to when I started the drive, but I'm glad that I ended up there.

Highway 51 Express is a gas station/convenience store straight out of the '80s. This is no exaggeration. The gas pumps are square, squat and edged in chrome. They still have the rolling number bar that scrolls up as you fill your tank. I put in $20 just so I could watch it move, hear that distinctive clicking sound and remember what it was like to be young again.

Inside is no different. A little dark, a little cluttered, Highway 51 Express is half convenience store with some snacks and a little automotive section so you can top off the fluids in your car, and half diner with tables and chairs scattered across the floor. I loved it. The soda fountain machine was probably the newest addition to the place. Highway 51 Express has everything it needs to function, but this gas station goes above and beyond with the food.

There is a full breakfast and lunch menu, complete with omelets, burritos, burgers, wraps and a healthy handful of side dishes. Smoked pork steaks, wings, Fish Fridays, Salisbury steaks, homemade pies and desserts, sweet breads ... besides the menu items, you never know what kind of specials you may run into there (unless you check social media, the specials are posted there). But I was interested in what I had heard the most about: the burger.

A Mushroom Swiss Burger withe fried mushrooms on the side. You can never have enough mushrooms.Submitted by Rebecca LaClair

I saw a Mushroom Swiss burger on the menu, and I can never say no to those. A dying breed, I can't seem to find one very often, so along with some fried mushrooms, I was happy happy. I talked my husband into ordering the Big Daddy Express Burger, a monstrous burger consisting of three 1/3 pound patties, lettuce, pickle, tomato, onion, ketchup, mustard and mayo. I told him it would make an impressive picture, and he puffed out his cheeks and said he'd try to eat the whole thing, with some fried pickle slices on the side.

It didn't take long, and with the grill sizzling and the vegetables flying onto our sandwiches, we soon had food. I was already feeling deeply nostalgic, but that first bite just sunk me deeper into childhood. I comprehended just how much a modern fast food burger has changed from its roots. A modern fast food burger is paper thin, heavily salted and has had the perfect texture picked in a lab. A real beef patty is what you'll get at Highway 51 Express. Juicy without being messy, my burger was topped with a generous amount of mushrooms in thick brown gravy, and it was perfect. The bun was large and soft, and fit the burger's circumference like a glove. In spite of the size, my husband's burger didn't survive him long. A little tall and awkward to eat, he still chowed it down in good time. We were both hungry, evidently.

Interesting tidbit: Highway 51 Express is home to an eating challenge that was just beaten for the first time Aug. 4. The challenge is three Big Daddy Express Burgers and three orders of fries. That's three pounds of hamburger alone. Professional eater Brandon Clark downed the huge meal in 14 minutes and 49 seconds. I was kind of bummed that I missed it.

I enjoyed my drive out to almost-Patton, and I very much enjoyed my meal. Highway 51 Express is a little time capsule of 1980s everyday life, and I hope that it stays that way as long as it can.