Texas Adventures – Part 2

When last we met, our people had just left West, Texas, and were making their way through the deluge in two cars, one black and one white, down to Austin.

We pulled out of Slovacek’s parking lot and hit I-35 S for the remaining 2 hour drive. The weather vacillated between a good, heavy soak and, as some might say, “pouring pee out of a boot.” (That means it was raining really, really hard. And that’s not the precise saying, it’s more of the PG version. But you get the gist.) The white car and the black car became separated, but both drivers knew where they were going so we just planned to meet up at the restaurant.

As we were gliding through the water driving down the road, I got on Facebook and was assailed with messages from friends asking if we were okay and posting links to the Weather Channel and the National Weather Service and various other news outlets. Turns out there had been a tornado south of Austin and we were under a tornado watch with flash flood warnings all around. I pointed these things out to Terri and, for some unknown reason, it made us giggle. Maybe it was the hysterical laugh of those who are looking an unfortunate end in the eye. I don’t know. It was inappropriate, to say the least, but there we were, huddled together, looking at my phone and snickering quietly because we didn’t want the guys up front to know.

I really don’t know why we behaved so. There’s often no explanation as to why my family behaves the way we do.

Finally we made it to the restaurant.

If you ever find yourself in Austin I highly recommend you try the original Salt Lick in Driftwood.

As one who appreciates good food, I would say it was definitely worth the trip through Armageddon. One friend of mine suggested I order the brisket and ask for the end cut, which I did. Oh my, people. Here’s a picture of my plate. I ordered a combo which had pork ribs also.

But look at the brisket. See how charred and mouth watering it looks?

So here’s my take. The brisket was beyond delicious. It was both crispy and juicy, all at the same time, and melted in my mouth. (The taco soup I’m planning for dinner, which I love, is starting to sound a little bland.) I was much less enamored with the ribs and wish I would have just had a big ol’ plate of the briskety magnificence. Next time. Yes – I vow there will be a next time.

The barbecue sauce is very good as well. I’m just partial to a tomato based sauce and theirs is mustard based.

The rest of the fixin’s were good, too. I may or may not have licked my plate. And if I didn’t, I wanted to.

We all decided to complete the experience with dessert. I mean, right? So I had the boysenberry cobbler with ice cream and a cup of coffee. Mmmm…

Excuse me while I have a moment…

Okay. Sadly, I wasn’t even able to finish it. Oh, how I wish for a doggy bag right now.

The other offering was chocolate chip pecan pie and it looked pretty much droolworthy as well.

Dangit! I should have shared with someone. Why didn’t I think of that then? That’s what my greediness gets me.

Once the food was served conversation was a little sparse because we were all too busy making yummy sounds. When we did chat, the topic was pretty much the weather and the rain and the tornado farther south and the flooding and what a great blog post this was going to make.

When we left the restaurant we switched up the riding situation. Terri and I moved to Jarred’s car with mom and Michele moved to ride with Joe and David. Before we could leave Austin, however, the boys wanted to make a quick stop and see their tattoo guy. Unfortunately, the tattoo guy couldn’t make it into work because of flooding. But we were there long enough for me to get this picture:

I then posted it to Facebook with the comment that my mom, sisters and I were getting Mother/Daughter tattoos in Austin. People believed me and wanted to see a picture when it was done. So I found this picture on Google and posted it:

We laughed and laughed because, no. Even if we would get tattoos we wouldn’t get that tattoo. We’ll just have to put more thought into what we want before our next girls’ trip.

And just like that we were back on the road. Up I-35, headed back to West for a stop and then on to Fort Worth. Just out of Temple the interstate came to a near standstill. Jarred got off and found a way around to Bucc-ee’s and Joe eventually followed suit.

Bucc-ee’s alone was an experience. It’s an enormous gas station with a convenience store, deli, clothing and home decorating. Because you never know when you’re going to find just the right piece in a gas station. It really was a fabulous and magical place.

Anyway, long story just the teensiest less long, the interstate was flooded a few miles up the road and was shut down. A policeman at Bucc-ee’s was saying there was no way around it, but when Jarred and Joseph asked him about some roads they had mapped out he told them that should be fine. So we headed out again.

By this time it was dark and it was still raining, though not nearly as hard as it had been. Jarred was in front of Joe and all of a sudden this black sedan came whipping around us, over the double yellow line, and scooted in front of the vehicle ahead of us as a semi was coming the other way. Jarred said very unkind things about his brother for driving so recklessly and at the next opportunity he tried to catch up. But the little black car kept whipping around cars, trying to gain more ground. So Jarred kept whipping around cars, trying to catch up, questioning Joseph’s mental state the whole time.

Finally we came to a crossroads and there was the black car, waiting to turn right. We found out later from Michele that Joseph commented on Jarred’s idiot driving, wondering out loud why he kept going around all those cars and why he was in such a hurry. This, of course, caused us to dissolve into puddles of laughter.

You know – reading through this I realize that maybe we just think things are way funnier than they really are. Oh well. At least we have fun.

At one point Jarred said something about hoping he didn’t get pulled over. I told him I hoped not, either, but it would add considerably to the blog story. He did not oblige so I’m sorry. No story about getting pulled over by the police. Which is just as well. The rest of us in the car probably would have been laughing uncontrollably and Jarred could have been carted off to jail because of it. I have no idea what the charge would be, but I suppose it could happen.

One more stop at the Czech Stop in West for the much anticipated kolaches. As late as it was most of us just bought them to have for breakfast the next day. They made for a delicious morning repast!

We finally made it home unscathed and unticketed and saw this on-line:

That’s why we had to find an alternate route.

And to think, this is only Friday we’ve gotten through.