🍽️ The Jersey diner challenge | Inquirer South Jersey

Good morning, South Jersey.

With more than 11 years of dedication to their project and hundreds of meals under their belt, a married couple is steadfast in pursuing their goal to try every diner in New Jersey.

And Washington Lake Park has new safety equipment for its 100,000 visitors per year. It honors the lives of the brothers and hockey players, Johnny and Matty Gaudreau.

Plus, national Democrats added South Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District race to their “districts in play” list, and more news of the day.

— Taylor Allen (southjersey@inquirer.com)

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The task: Eat at every diner in N.J.

Karri and Jon Ricklin’s diner trips usually starts with a some variation of: “Will this be a Parkway day, a Turnpike day, or a Route 80 day?”

After choosing, they pick a diner on the route, and then they hit the road.

They recently hit their 331st spot at The Falcon Diner in Brooklawn. The majority of the 130 they haven’t visited will be in South Jersey.

Their requirements of what qualifies as a diner includes a menu offering “classic diner food” and a dessert display case.

Reporter Lacey Latch tags along on one of their latest stops and shares the differences between North and South Jersey diners.

Honoring the Gaudreau brothers

Washington Lake Park in Gloucester County has new life-saving equipment that also commemorates the lives of hockey players and brothers Matty and Johnny Gaudreau.

Thanks to the Aliver Foundation, a cardiac arrest prevention nonprofit, the park now has an outdoor automated external defibrillator equipment that analyzes the heart’s rhythm and if necessary helps recalibrate it.

It’s at the same park where the Gaudreau family hosts its annual memorial 5k run and near where the two siblings and athletes used to skate at Hollydell Ice Rink in Sewell. An AED helped save the life of Guy Gaudreau, their father, in 2018 after he collapsed while running Philly’s annual Love Run.

It was officially dedicated to the Gaudreau family during a community celebration on Sunday.

The Inquirer’s Sarah Nicell has the story.

What to know today

• National Democrats added U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s race against challenger Cape May Mayor Zack Mullock in South Jersey’s 2nd District to their list of target seats to flip.
• New Jersey state police identified the human remains of a man found off the Atlantic City coast 45 years ago as a retired U.S. Coast Guard officer who was last seen in March of 1981.
• Three animals in Gloucester County — a bat in Glassboro and two raccoons found in Pitman and Mantua — tested positive for rabies last week, according to local public health officials. The county health department is advising residents to ensure their pets are up-to-date with their rabies vaccinations and to avoid contact with wildlife or stray animals.
• State funding for school budgets will be the focus of a New Jersey Department of Education-sponsored public forum at Camden County College in Blackwood Monday evening, 70and73 reports.
• Although last month’s nor’easter flooded much of the Shore, preparation tactics implemented in the 14 years since Hurricane Sandy prevented worse outcomes.
• Free Will Coffee announced on Friday it will open its first brick-and-mortar shop in Marlton on Main Street.

Plus: N.J.’s potential penny guidance

🎤 Allow me to pass the mic to our Trenton reporter Susan K. Livio, who covers New Jersey’s government.

With the feds ending penny production, the state wants to make it clear when a merchant should round the cost at the register.

According to a bill that passed the Assembly in September, a balance ending in one or two cents would round down to the nearest 10 cents, three or four cents would round up to the nearest five, six or seven cents would round down to the nearest five, and eight or nine cents would round up to the nearest 10.

🧠 Trivia time

The Sixers’ mascot, Franklin the Dog, was introduced in what year?

A) 1985

B) 2000

C) 2015

D) 2020

Think you know? Check your answer.

What we’re …

🏡 Sharing: Homebuying tips.

☕ Becoming: At-home baristas.

🍎 Craving: Apple cider doughnuts from Duffield’s Farm in Sewell.

📬 Your South Jersey view

The view of the Camden Athletic Complex with the Ben Franklin Bridge in the background never gets old for me.

What does your community look like? What South Jersey memory would you like to share? Submit a photo and/or a brief description for a chance to be featured in the Monday edition of this newsletter.

🗞️ What other South Jersey residents are reading

• A Delco nurse has lived legally in the U.S. since childhood. ICE arrested her as she took her 3-year-old son to Disneyland.
• A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades
• Trea Turner is the Phillies’ biggest problem. He knows it: “A lot of that is on me.”

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