Casey’s (Chebanse)
160 E. First StreetI hate that we don’t get back to my parents house as much as we should. It’s the same old story. We’re busy. And the weekends we’re not busy, we just want to relax. I hate it..and my dad reminds me quite a bit we only get home about once a year anymore. It’s not that far…about 3 hours.
Two of the last three years, the only time we’ve gotten home was for funerals. My uncle passed away a couple of weeks ago and the service was on a Monday morning. L had skating in Ann Arbor then we made the trip from Ann Arbor to Kankakee, IL.
Once we got checked in to our hotel in Kankakee, we headed to my brother’s house in Clifton for dinner and to hang out with the cousins. That’s part of the reason we don’t get home. There’s not enough room at my parents house anymore and the closest hotel is about 25 minutes away. Again, it’s a bad excuse.
Monday morning, we got up and headed back to Clifton for the funeral. We still had to get back to Kalamazoo by 5:30 and it’s a four hour trip with the switch back to Eastern time. The service was at noon then we got in the car and headed back to get L back for a banquet that night.
We didn’t really have time to stop for lunch anywhere but on our first trip to Clifton on Sunday, I noticed the new Casey’s was open in Chebanse (the exit we get off of I-57 on). We needed to get drinks and use the bathroom before getting on the road and I I figured we could grab something to eat there.
Casey’s in Chebanse is right off the I-57 exit on First Street. This location was a gas station when I lived in the area there close to 25 years ago. It closed right around the time I was moving away due to the tanks leaking. The gas station was torn down and it stayed an empty lot until just recently when Casey’s put a gas station in the small village of Chebanse for the first time in over two decades.
I’ve blogged about Casey’s a few times in the past. Michigan got our first Casey’s a few years ago when one was built at the Watervliet exit. Since then, there’s also been one opened in Bridgman.
Casey’s are all over Illinois. Every small town has a Casey’s…not the one I grew up in…but a lot of them. In most small towns, directions always have at least one “turn (direction) at the Casey’s.”
When J and I worked in Creve Coeur, IL just outside of Peoria, there was a Casey’s just down the street from our office…and we ordered pizza from there all the time.
Casey’s used to be pretty unique. Not so much anymore. The store is still a little different from stores like Sheetz or Wawa. There are no order kiosks. They kind of have their own thing with ready made food is tall warming cabinets.
There are other options…not sure how you order than other them ordering online. I guess you could probably get someone’s attention in the kitchen and this is a small enough town, I’m sure the locals all know whomever is working at any given time.
Casey’s used to be just pizza. I’ve stopped at Casey’s for as long as I could remember and have always headed straight for the pizza cabinet to grab a slice or two.
There are more ready made options now including chicken and burgers. They’re in a warming cabinet right next to the pizza.
I grabbed two slices of pizza while J grabbed some chicken bites. The kids didn’t want anything other than the typical gas station junk food, so we let them grab what they wanted, got our drinks then went to check out so we could get back on the road.
I set both of my pizza slices on the dashboard then got back on the road. The thing about Casey’s pizza is it’s fairly easy to eat on the move. It’s delicious but it’s pretty solid. There’s a thick layer of cheese holding everything together and the crust is pretty firm. I got sausage because that was the only kind they had ready. The little balls of sausage are embedded in to the cheese so they don’t fall of in between bites.
There’s a nostalgia factor for me when it comes to Casey’s. I used to ride bikes to the Casey’s when visiting my grandma in Cullom, IL with my cousins and once I moved out on my own, Casey’s was near where I worked and prevalent in my travels around Central Illinois.
I know there was some pushback from nearby residents when plans for this Casey’s were revealed but that’s been hard for me to figure out. Not only do you get a gas station for the first time in years, but you get a Casey’s…with really good pizza.
SW Michigan Dining 