RIP Bob Evans Just found out today that Bob Evans died last week. Hoist a sausage sandwich in honor of Bob. I met him once when I was a kid and he was a larger-than-life figure in my home town.→[More:]

I was probably about 12 when I met him outside his horse stables. I was wearing a 1980 Detroit GOP Convention shirt (hey! my grandmother bought it for me!), which somehow gave him the idea that I was from out of town. Our conversation went something like this:

Bob: Oh, you're from Detroit eh?
Me: No, I'm from around here.
Bob: Oh, so you're a long way from home huh...
Me: *nods, shuts up and plays along*

The Bob Evans Farm Festival was a huge deal every year. When I was in grade school, we used to take a day off and walk over to the festival for the day. The thing I remember the most is the bean soup bubbling in huge cast iron pots suspended over open fires. I miss that soup.

When I was a teenager, my family lived about a mile or so from Bob Evan's house. Bored one summer day, my stepbrother and I had the stupid idea to try and walk up to the house and check it out. For what purpose? I don't recall, maybe to ask for a sandwich? A house tour? But after walking up the loooong driveway we heard what sounded like a very large pack of dogs suddenly start barking furiously. Before Mr. Evans could push the "Release the Hounds" button, we turned around and sprinted back down the driveway at top speed. I wonder if he would have remembered me as "the kid from Detroit."