The Texas Barbeque Experience

Oh, one other fact about the Texas Senate rules for speaking: the person speaking cannot use notes, computer, or other memory aid of any kind. All speaking must be done extemporaneously. They just have to watch out for the two second pause exclusion rule I talked about yesterday.

Last night, Donna and I experienced authentic Texas Barbeque. This is an experience that is totally foreign to Californians like us. To start off, the Barbeque joint is usually combined with a gas station and a country store. The place we went to, Rudy's, came highly recommended. The place is enormous, with acres of lined-up tables with checkered vinyl cloths, and a gargantuan brick smoker with several compartments that looked to be about 20 feet long. You step up to the counter and place your order. In our case, the attendant yelled, "newbies", and proceeded to tempt us with samples of each of the barbequed meats they were cooking that night - lean brisket (very dry), moist brisket (lusciously juicy and smokey with lots of saturated fat!), and smoked turkey. We went with a shared order (1/2 pound) of the moist brisket, with sides of cole slaw, potato salad, beans, and chocolate pudding for dessert. The meat was served on coated butcher paper, along with 2 slices each of Wonder Bread. The idea is that you put the meat on the bread and then saturate the whole thing with barbeque sauce from a squeeze bottle. Tasty! I have to say that the meat was melt-in-your-mouth tender with a wonderful salty, smokey flavor and campfire aroma. The beans and cole slaw were also excellent. Very Texan!

We drove to San Antonio this morning and are set up in a park that is about 3 miles from the River Walk. It feels good to relax this afternoon. Donna is doing laundry and Cooper is sleeping. It will be good to get some reading time. It is very warm today, with highs in the mid 90's with high humidity. The trailer is a cool respite. Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler. We'll see.