Bob's depiction of his VW van, a prototype in the film "Cars" (Courtesy of Bob Waldmire)
ROCHESTER, ILL.--- Somewhere along the way in the mid-1990s I detoured from a Spring Training trip to visit deep gypsy Bob Waldmire at his Old Route 66 Visitor Center & Preservation Foundation in Hackberry, Az, just west of Flagstaff. Waldmire had purchased the Old Hackberry General Store (circa 1930) with money generated from his family's Cardinal Hill Farm in Rochester, Ill.
That was the first time Bob gave me his recipe for vegetarian chili.
I visited Bob earlier this week. He is dying from cancer. He is spending his final days in his converted 1966 Chevy bus/home on his family farm south of Springfield.
In the 1990s Bob concocted an Old Route 66 Chili Mix (cumin, Mexican chilies, onion, garlic, hot peppers, oregano, curry, coreander, paprika, salt, pepper, sugar and other spices). Variety is the spice of life.
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