A commoner dines at 17th Street Barbecue, Murphysboro, Ill.

If you look at the bottom of this blog, you’ll see a list of my five favorite barbecue joints of all-time.  Third on that list in 17th Street Barbecue in Murphysboro, Ill.  But I have a confession to make.  

Sure, I used to frequent 17th Street’s O’Fallon, Ill., location (sadly, it’s officially closing Nov. 30) and I had an opportunity to make a detour whenever I was in the Saint Louis area.  I also make it a point to visit the 17th Street stand every year at the Illinois State Fair.  But as much as I love their barbecue, I had never been to “Mecca,” the original restaurant where the legend of Mike Mills and his amazing barbecue -- which won the World Championship four times -- all started.

Thankfully, that changed earlier this summer when The April and I committed to making a dinner stop in Murphysboro during her SIU road trip down memory lane.

As the name implies, you’ll find 17th Street Barbecue on 17th Street, one block north of Illinois Highway 149 which slices east-west through downtown Murphysboro.  Surprisingly, there isn’t a lot of signage to direct you to it, but as long as you can find 17th Street, you’re obviously going to be ok.  

Beating the heat at the Missouri Botanical Garden

I was hoping to have a new laptop computer I could take with me on the road by now, so I could catch up on my blog posts during the week when I have down time.  Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened yet, so I keep getting further behind on things I’ve been meaning to write about. 

That said, I’m pulling this post out of the way-back machine from this summer when The April, The Kiddo and I took a weekend trip to Saint Louis to take The Kiddo to Six Flags.  Fortunately for my few faithful followers, I will not be posting about Six Flags.  But, for a change of pace, I did think our stop at the Missouri Botanical Garden was noteworthy.