Chicago, Illinois to Battle Creek, Michigan – 22 October 2023
A short stop overnight in Battle Creek, Michigan at the Country Inn and Suites. They wanted to put us in a “better room” on the first floor but there were no elevators and we had too much stuff to carry so we stayed in a room on the first floor. Very old and tired room and quite the dump compared with our nice suite in the Staybridge.
Battle Creek, Michigan is known as the breakfast cereal capital of the world. It was also the place where the Seventh Day Adventist church started in 1863. The leader of the church, Ellen White, was very pro good health and established the Western health reform institute focused on a sensible vegetarian diet and healthy living. A decade later newly graduated physician – Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, took over leadership of the Health Institute transforming it into a world renowned Sanatorium. A large emphasis of treatment was diet reform. Dr. Kellogg his brother, Will and his wife Ella Eaton, developed several new health foods, including peanut butter, grain based coffee substitutes, and Granola and Granose – the first flaked cereal.
Will went on to start the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company in 1906. The factory was a saving grace during the depression providing filling, inexpensive foods and thousands of jobs. Today the Kelloggs Company employs over 31,000 people in 180 countries and has grown its product line to 54 different products.
We would have loved to explore the cereal museum but we arrived to late to do that. Instead we went for a late afternoon walk along the Historic bridge park in Battle Creek which extends some 17 km along the Kalamazoo river. Beautiful fall colours and lots of birds and swans.
Knowing that we were crossing over the border again the following day we had gradually been getting rid of our food. So we ended up going to Cracker Barrel for dinner. The restaurant was very understaffed and it took a while to get served but at least the food was warm and the drinks cold.
