Wake Up and Drive -- Coffee Drive-Thru Coming to Madison

Another sign that Madison is becoming, as gravel magnate Lee Yager so eloquently put it, a "metropolitan madhouse": drive-thru coffee! According to KJAM, the Madison City Commission last night approved "a review of an appeal to the board of adjustment regarding dust free surfaces." A look at the city commission's September 10 agenda (pp. 23-26) reveals that Deidra Rydberg plans to open something tentatively titled "Joe 2 Go," a 17'x8'6" coffee shack at the corner of Washington Avenue and NE 1st Street.

That's not a bad location -- close to the courthouse and DSU Foundation, right on the highway. It's too bad the coffee shop will cater only to the motoring classes zooming by rather than the sit-and-chat crowd -- we can always use more businesses that bring people together and provide an opportunity for conversation and community-building. But we can always use more business, period. And this cyclist can take some small comfort in knowing that Madison's motorists will have one more opportunity to heighten their alertness behind the wheel... although it would seem preferable that drivers jolt themselves awake with a stiff joe or two before they toodle down the road a ways.

Good luck, Deidra! We look forward to your expansion plans (maybe a nice downtown location with Wi-Fi for us lingering conversationalists and bloggers!).