As I exited the turnpike into Carlislie, Pennsylvania, I saw red spray painted scrawls heralding the opening of Asian Garden, an evidently Asian restaurant.
The restaurant sits adjacent to a still-abandonded gas station. It's not easy to distinguish which is open and which is not. Perhaps in an effort to clarify, a white plywood sign angled "ASIAN GARDEN OPEN" toward the exit ramp. Two walls at the rear of the building carried the same message.
It seems counterproductive to fix up what was, for some time, an abandoned building only to crudely paint the exterior as teenagers with no sense of style write grafitti, or in the way rescue crews would during post-Katrina clean-up efforts. It reads as an advertisement of desperation rather than one for the restaurant. Is business so bad?
Though I wanted to try a new restaurant, I had 4 more hours to drive. There are too few rest stops along 78 to risk it. I went for predictability, to Wendy's.