Texas, prior to 2005 it was on my visited map because it met my standard rule of inclusion which is, you just can’t drive through, you have to stop and do something, and in summer of 2002 I was taking one of many cross-country trips on a Greyhound bus, when I met a nice travel-mate and we hit it off conversationally. Come morning of day two, we had a stop in Amarillo which was over an hour, we decided to take a walk in the park and spend that time exploring the area in the pre-dawn twilight and in our travels came across a diner that was open. We stopped in for breakfast, eggs, bacon, toast, coffee and juice for two people came to $6 with tip… Less than a pack of cigarettes in NYC at the time.
There Texas visited, by definition, and never to see again…. or so I thought.
In November 2004 I met a crazy bunch of people, some legally insane, and others well, just crazy enough to invite a bunch of people from ‘some website’ down for a BBQ the following spring. So it was in June 2005 that I trekked some 1,569 miles via airplane to San Antonio where I met Tom & Sue, two of the nicest people one could ever hope to meet. I met a bunch of other people too, and very quickly we formed our own kind of family, even with the occasional family drama. There have since been 2 more of the big BBQ’s on Father’s Day weekend and 2 of the smaller ones held on Labor Day weekend. I’ve also made a personal trip down once in winter just cause I needed to see my friends. In all 5 long weekends in Texas in the last two years (I missed the big Q last year).
This year’s BBQ was a little bittersweet, Tom & Sue will no longer be hosting the TFTXBBQBB (No, I won’t tell you what that means, you either know or you don’t), but as I said, this is bittersweet. Tom & Sue are moving to upstate NY which means I get to see them more often, and I have a feeling I’ve left Texas quite possibly for the last time. There are still a lot of wonderful people there, most of whom I’ll see at Tom & Sue’s new place in NY or at any number of parties our crazy ass group gets it in their minds to throw. But I think Texas may just be done for me.
But I’ll end this post with a little Romeo Void…. Never, Say Never’ Never, Say Never; NEVERRR SAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY NEVER!!!!!
Charles
Photos of the weekend to follow.
