The allure of brown signs with white letters

You know those brown signs with white lettering that indicate a nearby attraction? I find them irresistible. Jesse and our kids seem to appreciate them, too. In the 19 years of being a parent, I can’t think of a single time anyone in my family has turned down the “opportunity” to follow a brown sign. I can confidently say we have checked out every scenic overlook, city park, museum, historic building, historic district, statue, sculpture, monument, memorial, bridge, what-have-you in the Rockford region.

Except one.

There is a brown sign indicating a train museum about 40 minutes from home in a town called Marengo. Jesse was the first to hear about this museum that’s a “repository of railroad history.”

“We should go,” he said in 2008, when we only had two kids.

“We should go,” he said in 2009, when we had three kids.

“We should go,” he said in 2010, when we had four kids.

“We should go,” he said in 2011. “It’s family friendly!”

We wanted to go, but the museum has limited hours. Every time we tried to plan a trip, the museum was closed.

“That’s too bad,” Jesse would say.

I didn’t think too much of it because I had only heard of the train museum through my husband. I had never seen a single ad — in print or online — about it. I had never seen a brown sign.

***

In 2014, the Des Plaines Oasis (a rest stop) permanently closed. This was bad news for the Kuntz family. We stopped there every time we went to Chicago. It was the last chance for us to use public restrooms without having to pay a toll or buy something. When the kids were little, this rest stop was essential to a successful trip.

When the Des Plaines Oasis was demolished, we were forced to use the truck stop in Marengo on our way to and fro Chicago. They have cheap gas, clean restrooms and you don’t have to pay a toll to exit or enter 90 but it’s somehow located too close and too far from home and our destinations. It wasn’t convenient but it is what we used. When we started going to this “pit stop,” I noticed the brown sign pointing the way to the train museum.

“Is that the train museum you’re always talking about?”

“Yes.”

***

I’ve lost count of how many times we stopped in Marengo to use the bathrooms. At least 100. And we’ve never once followed the brown sign. At some point, going to the train museum just seemed like work. And Marengo, I’m sure it’s a lovely town, but to us it’s where the toilets live. We don’t even call it Marengo. We call it “The Toilets.”

“Where are you right now?” I used to call Jesse when I knew he was on his way home from Chicago.

“Just passed The Toilets,” he’d answer. (Sometimes he called it “The Terlecks.”)

The Toilets = 40 minutes.

***

Now that the kids are older, we rarely stop at The Toilets in either direction but last week when I was driving Jesse to O’Hare, he said he needed to stop. As I drove toward the gas station, I saw the brown sign for the train museum.

“I can’t believe we never made it there,” I said.

“Maybe when we have grandkids,” he said.

***

Thanks for reading. Does your city have brown signs, too? -Connie