Air Travel

Last Monday, I flew down to Texas to spend the holidays with my family.  Flying always feels a bit strange to me, as if I’ve been “beamed” somewhere – magically, like in Star Trek.  In the morning, I stepped into the high anxiety chamber that is LaGuardia Airport amongst so many long faces and frumpy winter coats, then was magically transported to San Antonio International, where people walk slow and easy, wearing t-shirts.  I didn’t feel the miles in between, and feel like I missed so much of America along the way.  But hey, at least I got there quicker.  Zoom.

Them rascals may have stolen the county seat, but they sure built a fancy courthouse.

The other day, my mom and I were driving back to Jourdanton - 35 miles south of San Antonio - where my mother lives.  Jourdanton has a population of around 4,000.  It is the county seat of Atascosa County in the heart of cowboy country.  The earth rises and falls in waves and is covered with brush and giant squirming live-oak trees.  A lot of cattle were driven through the area in the olden times.  Many people here still live like cowboys, even if they don’t ride horses anymore.  Some still do ride, however, and will until the day they die.

However, one can’t say Jourdanton is the birthplace of the cowboy.  Citizens of Pleasanton - Jourdanton’s sister city 5 miles away – will tell you that.  In fact, the town’s official motto is Birthplace of the Cowboy.  It’s impossible to find the exact location (probably Mexico) where the first man (probably Mexican) that could be called a cowboy (vaquero, in Spanish) stood, but citizens of Pleasanton hold to the belief that the Great Stork dropped the first cowboy off on their turf.  So much so that it is a part of their identity.  Or, their previous identity.

Yep.

Pleasanton was founded first, in the mid 1800′s, and was the county seat for many years.  Jourdanton wasn’t founded until 1909.  However, in 1910, the county seat was switched from Pleasanton to Jourdanton.  There are two different takes on the switch, according to who you speak to, and what wikipedia page you read.  But it’s basically like this:  Jourdantonians say a legal vote was held in favor to switch, and Pleasantonians claim the county seat was stolen from them, the county records being removed from their courthouse by a covert group of Jourdantonians in the dead of night.  As with the actual birthplace of the cowboy, it’s probably impossible to find out for sure which story is true.  But it’s probably like all Old West tales - both versions are false and both are true, the real answer being somewhere in the middle.In the century that has passed since the switch, the two towns have found a way to co-exist.  Jourdanton still has the county seat, along with the jail, and most of the feed stores.  Pleasanton has the newspaper, the movie theatre, and most of the churches.  They seem to serve each other well, while holding on to their individual identities.  Or, they used to.

Cattle used to graze here.

The two towns are connected by State Highway 97 and the distance in between the towns used to be noticeable.  However, Jourdanton and Pleasanton are situated smack dab in the heart of the oil and gas fracking boom in South Texas, and everybody’s cashing in.  The once 7 to 10 minute drive of silence amid the magestic live oak trees has been replaced with the noisy shine of capitalism.  Business after business has popped up along every inch of the highway.  Streetlights have been added, and a countless stream of cars and trucks motor down the way – pull in and out of the shopping centers and fast food joints.  Work-out gyms, money lending and title offices, pawnshops, oilfield supply companies, and a ridiculous number of hotels have been built, too.  And, of course, at the heart of all the industry is the gargantuan Castle Wal-Mart - open 24 hours because King Walton knows the peasants don’t sleep.

Peasants’ View.

The space between Jourdanton and Pleasanton has been obliterated.  But most people down don’t seem to mind.   In fact, most are excited.  The economy is going like gangbusters.  The oil and gas industry has breathed new life in the two communities, they say.  They say it’s progress and prosperity.  But if this is progress and prosperity, then my own understanding of the terms has been grossly off the mark.  But what do I know?  People down here have seen lean times, and it is a fact that, in America, that healthy life is a wealthy life.  If someone down here chooses to cash in on the oil and gas boom, they can get an insurance policy and go to the hospital that is situated in between the two towns and get treated for the cancer they got in return for living that good life.

The old gunslinging rivalry between Jourdanton and Pleasanton is mostly held only by the older folks of the towns – some still truly and royally pissed off about the theft of the county seat.  But those old folks are pleasantly out of the way of all the joint commerce, tucked away in one of the area’s many nursing homes that have sprung up in the last few years.  But there is no new rivalry – or new form of the old one - for the younger generations to pick up.  There seems to be no identity at all for each town anymore, just something more like the mild amnesia brought about by suburbia.  And how can anyone – or community – fight if they don’t know who their opponent is, or more so, if they don’t know who they are?

Texas Live Oak Tree.

Shrinkng Freedom

People are speculating that the current oil and gas boom will last 20 years.  It’s hard to think that far ahead, but I can easily think back, to when I was a boy growing up in Jim Wells County, 2 hours south of Jourdanton.  The county seat was Alice, and it was boom times back then.  One store after another shot up.  There was even a mall, and the two movie theatres usually had lines of people wrapped around them before showtime.  A Wal-Mart sprung up, and it was a high falutin time.  Then the boom busted, simple as that.  Alice whithered in no time.  The businesses went under, and the many empty buildings gave Alice the appearance of a ghost town.  The Fat Cats made their millions and left, but all the working men who took out loans and got mortgages, got married and had babies all went into debt and were left to wander about the emptiness like ghosts.I don’t know if Jourdanton, or Pleasanton – or the mutant creature they have morphed together to form - will face the same fate as Alice.  But people around here are acting like 20 years is gonna last forever, and that’s dangerous, for the Cosmos has no mercy for such folley.  But new ghost towns have always be on the horizon in America…each generation creating a newer Old West, as it gets harder to remember who we are, and easier to forget we’ve been here many, many times before.

Nameless child in an unknown land.

Be well….

In case you weren’t marking your calendars, we closed on the property next door so we could commence making it look like the beautiful park that it will one day become.  I honestly thought I would be outdoors with a chainsaw and a weedeater the entire weekend, attempting to tame the new area, but in reality, Eva did some wheeling and dealing and has contracted with a local (Devine) guy who will clear the property and trim the trees up for us for a good price.  Having the right equipment means everything.  This guy does and by next weekend, I’ll have some pictures to show what his work looks like.

 Of course, I did have to give Eva a ride around the property in the trailer connected to our Husqvarna.   She wanted nothing to do with walking out there until at least the 3 foot high wild flowers camouflaging the snakes and spiders had been mowed.  I loaded her up and set the mower on and started to make a path toward the rear of the property when I hit a downed tree or something and the wheels began to spin in the sand.  We rocked back and forth a bit and finally I just turned to her and said, “Get out.”  The mower is heavy, but not too heavy that I can’t lift the rear end and move it to solid ground.  We made our way back to the front gate and she had had enough of a tour.

I went back onto the property with the mower and a machete and was not surprised to see a big snake slithering its way away from the path of the mower.  In the end, I stayed long enough to take a few more pictures and then decided to wait for the guy with a real tractor.

Earlier, we had gone to Pleasonton to close on the property.   Both Jourdonton and Pleasonton have boomed with growth since our last visit a little over a year ago.  They even have a Chili’s!  We had come from Devine, taking SR173 all the way in.  It is a long drive of nothing but farms and ranches.  It is beautiful scenery for the first few minutes, but I guess once you have seen it and nothing changes, it gets old.  Maybe they should turn that stretch of road into an Old Route 66 with teepee motels and odd sightseeing attractions.

 On the way home, we decided to take a different route which took us through Poteet and back to Lytle.  A much more interesting drive.  And that was when we drove by Joe’s.  What caught my eye was a huge sign that read, Fatburger.  Eva insists that I inflicted whiplash upon her with my sudden  maneuver of going from 80 MPH down the road to somehow whipping the wheel around and into the gravel driveway of the tiny convenience store with the only warning being, “Fatburger!”

This place is 8 miles from Poteet and 8 miles from Somerset with nothing in between but apparently a lot of hungry people.  Joe’s is primarily a convenience store so there is no actual sit-down restaurant inside.  We couldn’t help but notice that the phone was ringing with non-stop orders for burgers and as we waited for ours, more than a few people came in to pick up a bag of burgers and perhaps grab a 12-pack of beer to go with it.

We did find a lone picnic table outside and enjoyed some great roadside food.  Places like Joe’s prove that you can take a frozen patty and some frozen fries and cook them just right to make for a good burger.  The fresh cut tomato, lettuce and grilled buns do it and we sat out on that picnic table staring into a field enjoying the simple, but well prepared burger.  Places like Joe’s are why I enjoy taking drives and trying little “hole-in-the-wall” eateries.

I’m not suggestion you need to drive all over creation trying to locate this place, but if you find yourself in the area, you sure are gonna want to stop in and grab one of these tasty burgers!

 Speaking of trying new places…  We had seen a place go up in Natalia hidden on a residential street with a small sign.  I had driven by more than once trying to get a feel for what was inside of J.R.’s Burgers.  I know, it seems pretty obvious, but what if it was actually just a front for some gambling operation or a drug house?  Our neighbor set us straight when she told us that she had been and that it was good.  She also told us that we would have to refrain from any foul language if we decided to go in.

 J.R.’s is actually just another hole-in-the-wall type place that makes me giddy when I get a chance to partake.  As promised, there were several signs reminding us not to use profanity.  When you walk in, you get the feeling you have stepped into someones living room.  There is a big TV, lots of pictures, posters and signs; old booths from who knows where and the smooth sounds of Christian music playing in the background.

J.R.’s is apparently home of the Sledge Hammer, a whole pound of beef between toasted buns with all the fixins.  Not enough?  Try the Jack Hammer at 1 1/2 pounds or the Buldozer which is 2 full pounds.

As inviting as all that beef sounds, I opted for the 1/2 pound Hammer and Eva went with the 1/4 pound Cowgirl.

 Eva’s Cowgirl burger came topped with bacon, cheese, onion rings and J.R’s BBQ sauce.  This is all fresh meat that has actual flavor, fresh fixins and the bacon is that really good kind, not some thin strip you might find at your burger in a fast food place.   The fries were great, not undercooked.

My Hammer didn’t come with cheese or bacon, so I added it and instead of fries, I opted to try the onion rings.  I asked the waitress if they were frozen and she told us that everything there is made fresh including the hand battered rings.  Both our burgers were outstanding.  In fact, Eva started making comparisons to KD’s, the place we used to love in Lytle that suddenly went out of business.  I agree to an extent, but KD’s had better buns.  The onion rings were okay.  I’d probably go with the fries on our next visit though.

J.R.’s is one of those places that we will probably frequent quite a bit given the proximity to our house.  You couldn’t ask for a nicer bunch of people serving up good, home made food.  Be prepared for a cash only Tasty Treat!

Lest you think all we do is drive around and eat burgers (I can understand how you might get that impression given the content of the blog), we did go out Saturday evening to try a place that just opened in Lytle called Your Momma’s Pizza & Grill.

The thing we liked about Eatza Pizza was not so much the pizza, but the salad bar.  Some of the folks who were involved with Eatza Pizza have now opened Your Momma’s, and frankly, without the salad bar, we probably won’t be going back.

 We ordered a side salad and had to laugh at what was basically a small head of lettuce with some tomato slices on top.  After Eva asked for some croutons, she doctored it up a bit, added some ranch and we were good.  It was a far cry from the salads we used to enjoy in the old days (of a year ago).

 The pizza was exactly the same as it was at Eatza Pizza.  It isn’t bad at all, but when you have had pizza at Constantino’s in Somerset or Rocky’s in Devine, well, Your Momma’s has a lot of work to do.

 We did like the interior.  The building, while very old, is actually a great space for a restaurant.  I liked the brick floors and the cool window designs. Maybe we’ll go one day and try the burgers, like the Slap Your Momma burger.

Finally, I’m not sure who told us to check out this movie, Forks Over Knives, but we decided to check it out and actually found it quite informative.  In short, it is a documentary that follows a few doctors who come to the conclusion that you should eliminate animal and processed foods from your diet in order to live much healthier.  I say it is very much worth watching and considering.  I can tell you, it won’t stop us from eating meat or becoming vegans, but it has inspired us to consider a lot more healthy options in our diets.  Something to consider.

Off to some healthy breakfast tacos!