Good find

You are in unfamiliar territory when you get up, break camp and head out looking for breakfast . You see a small " greasy spoon " down the road that's not on your NavIV , how do you know this is the place to stop.

For me it's does the building need paint, type of vehicles in front, is parking lot paved, etc...

Law enforcement vehicles are usually a good sign too.
Good people to ask for suggestions also.

Charlie

In the rural and small town great plains look for a bunch of non-decrepit pickup trucks. When you see a half dozen or dozen at 8:00 or 9:00 am you are probably at the right place.

Yep! My wife and I were traveling and looking for a cafe for lunch. We drove through this little one horse town and didn't see anything other than a Subway so I turned around and made a second pass. Down a side street I saw a bunch of parked work trucks, some pulling cattle trailers. I drove down then there was a cafe in a run down building. I told my wife that is where we were having lunch and she looked at me like I was crazy. I told her to look around, all the locals are here, it has to be good. We went in, the place was a dive. The food was awesome! Real home cooking and decent portions at a good price. Last time we went that way the place was closed.

I draw the line at places with police tape around the building and chalk outlines of a human in the parking lot.

I was in Wisconsin, about mid state, got up ,drove into a small town and saw this big neon teepee, with pick-ups everywhere, inside the entry was the pastry display with cinnamon buns the size of softballs, I knew it was going to be good. The #5 breakfast looked good ,and when it came it filled the plate from side to side.

Works in Baja too.