Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

It’s not Jefferson’s family estate; it’s the other Monticello. A small town in southern Wisconsin on a bicycle trail going from here to there to nowhere in particular and to everywhere Americana. Earl and I always feel pleased when we find spots like this.

We’d rented bikes and gotten on the trail in New Glarus, Wisconsin. Six miles down the path we rode into Monticello, knowing we’d never blend with the natives but hoping they’d welcome us anyway. They surely did. I bought well-needed bug spray at the local independent supermarket; we biked around the town’s beautiful gardens, pedaling around two men who were edging the grass. Then we dismounted, left our bikes unlocked in a corner bike rack, and entered the M&M Cafй.

The M&M goes back to the early nineteen hundreds when it was founded by Demetrius Giannekas. When he died in 1947, the Schuetts of Chicago bought the place and ran it until 1989. Then it was the Gemplers’ turn. Today it is run by Mary and Mike Davis, formerly of Freeport, IL. They are known for their homemade everything: soups, sandwiches, pies.

We sat at the counter and ordered a chicken salad sandwich to split; but, after I’d eaten my half, I was so enamored of the chicken that I ordered an extra scoop on my plate instead of sampling the famous pies. I guess this means we’ll have to consider a return trip.

There’s something about getting lost in the small towns of Wisconsin that appeals to Earl and me. Maybe it’s the tall corn, the checkered cows, the water towers, or other cyclists who seem equally charmed. Maybe it’s the distance between what’s happening in the world at large and what’s important in an obscure place. Today, for instance, while we were biking on the Sugar River Trail to Monticello, Great Britain was arresting suspects who wanted to blow up planes headed for America. Our nation’s alert level rose dramatically, but we were almost oblivious. And really . . . grateful for it. We will pick up the yoke of contemporary civilization soon enough. In the meantime, Monticello and the M&M were both worth sidestepping the world’s crises for.