Yup it is. Along with Scottish, Indian, Afro-American, and Hispanic folks populated by the railroad industry. Stopping short of a Texas history lesson of the town and region, let me just say this: we went, we enjoyed, we will go back…and the Bluebonnets are up!

Deb and I ventured to McGregor for a short weekend. Actually, one of Deb’s “Dinner Dames” friend and husband asked us to come visit them and the beautiful new home they are building outside of town. The true intent of our invitation was for Jayne/Rusty to get advice on how to landscape their home.

Note to others with similar intentions…I love to dole out landscape advice to friends and family, but please lets have a discussion not an argument if you don’t agree with the free opinion I offer. I’m too old and grouchy to argue with you about my expertise. I look forward to going back to McGregor with the landscape summary of my thunkin’ for Jayne and Rusty.

It was an interesting weekend to say the least. Here’s a abridged version:

Saturday mid-afternoon: arrived in McGregor and checked into a quaint B&B. We were the only weekend guests of the B&B and Jerry gave us our choice of 2 rooms in two different homes – they run a 3-house, 17 room B&B. Jerry tells us Jayne had been by earlier and wanted to pay for the room. Not gonna happen.

Saturday late-afternoon: we met Jayne and Rusty at their new, soon to be completed home. We talk, we walk, we drink a few Bud Lights. I measure the house, Rusty plants tomatoes and peppers over the septic leach field, and Deb and Jayne discuss the house interior. Their black lab, Boo, is a blast to play with. We drink another beer and then drive over to the family mobile home they are using for weekend stays until the new house is move-in-ready.

Saturday early evening: we arrive at Jayne and Rusty’s 25-year old manufactured home. Rusty cautions us before entering to watch our step – his hot water heater had recently fallen through the rotted-out floor. OK…no problem there unless I wanted to take a hot shower. We walk into the living room and Jayne stops me from sitting at one end of their couch. She tells me that apparently a mouse had gotten in between the seat cushions and died, and whenever someone sat on that end of the couch, the movement of the cushion fanned a dead-mouse smell upwards into the room. OK…so we stood until we could stand no more and then sat at the other end of the couch. Jayne and Rusty’s neighbor friend Kenny (the painter) makes a beer run for Rusty and then joins us for conversation and more beers upon his return. The conversation was a riot. Kenny talks “git ‘r done” southern and could do a stand-up routine; Jayne and Rusty tell us of their courtship many years ago – how they met in a bar and Rusty introduced himself to Jayne, in a classic bar pickup line way: “Hi, my name is Rusty. I like peanut butter. Do you want to go to bed”. Oh my, Deb and I tear-laughed so hard we didn’t even smell the dead-mouse odor our laughter body jerks caused at the other end of the couch – but Kenny did (he was sitting next to the dead end of the couch). “whoa bubba, no more stink please”. Ya know, when the conversation has a redneck accent, I find myself joining right in with them…I’m just a redneck at heart. Just as we’re catching our breath, Boo (the black lab) decides to see what all the laughing commotion is all about. He literally walks through the front screen door and joins us in the living room. Rusty just looks at Boo, Jayne says “you let that dog get away with everything”, Kenny hugs the hound and whispers in his ear “no body really understands you do they Boo”. I cannot stop laughing, nor can I keep up with Rusty and Kenny’s beer consumption; Rusty decides to retrieve a hated black label Shiner from the frig; Kenny says “if you wanted to help an alcoholic to the wagon, serve them black label Shiner…you will cure them”; Rusty tells us that last time Kenny got mad and left the house when he served him the black label Shiner.  A conversation that should have been recorded – it was simply too rich of an evening for sure.

Saturday late evening: Jayne and Rusty decide we need to eat dinner in Crawford, and they close at 9. We pile into the cars at 8 or a little after, and drive to Crawford. You also gotta love small towns…if you got no business, shut ‘r down and head to the house…don’t worry about the clock. The Coffee Station closed 40 minutes early on this Saturday night in Crawford Texas. Rusty rolls down his truck window (a diesel truck with duelly back tires I might add) and says in a slow twang “they lied, they’re closed. Let’s try the Coffee Shop Cafe in McGregor and if they’re closed, dinner is on me at the Sonic”. I like Sonic commercials – not the food, but the 2 guys sitting in the car with the one saying ever so softly “it’s so good!” are a hoot. Back to McGregor we go and find the Coffee Shop Cafe wide open. We had a nice buffet dinner and kept the staff well past closing time.

Saturday night: I typically don’t sleep well the first couple nights in a strange bed. So I lay there in the B&B – Deb’s well on her way to la-la land – and do some magazine reading, do email reading on my phone, and then do television. Realize the TV at the Lighthouse B&B in McGregor Texas is as old as my kids (and they’re adults mind you) and whenever a word is spoken by the actor, the color TV screen (that’s as big as a bread box) turns purple. But lousy televisions and poor reception will not keep me from watching Boston Legal reruns. Hadn’t seen this one before: Denny Crane shoots the homeless man on the street right between the eyes with a paintball gun that he pulled out from under his overcoat, and Allan decides to represent the homeless man in suing Denny…. And then the two upstart attorneys in the office over zealously pursue a child kidnapping by faking FBI credentials and being the “heavy” with the Catholic priest for perpetrator info…end up accidentally chopping off his fingers with an axe swung at the ancient chapel door. I love Boston Legal and sad to see it go, but I lay there in the B&B’S rock-hard bed thinking to myself how appropriate this bizarre episode was in capping off this day. 

Sunday early morning: A rather odd moment (or should I say several) at the breakfast table Sunday morning. The innkeeper Jerry would tolerate our consumption of chow only after he led a no-choice-but-hear-him-out prayer…a Baptist prayer at that…prayers given that reputably are known for duration, repeating the words “Father” and “just” countless times, and respectfully being quite sincere, in the prayer’s delivery. I’m always up for a nice “thank you Lord, let’s eat” kind of prayer, but a 5-7 minute mini-sermon at the 8:00 breakfast table may be a bit more than the parishioners ordered. Now picture this: 1) Deb and I are sitting facing each other at the end of a creaky old table on creaky old chairs, 2) Jerry walks into the room dressed for church with a Williams-Sonoma apron on, 3) breakfast is served, 4) Jerry stands at our end of the creaky old table – close enough to us that we know which notch on his Sunday-best belt he uses to hold up his Sunday-best britches – and says “we are gonna pray!”, and then 5) after the sermon prayer, I ask what time church starts and Jerry says they have to leave in 20 minutes…hey Jer! can you bring in that shovel I saw out back – it will help me eat faster than using this tiny silver 2-prong fork.  Now don’t get me wrong, Jerry and Jan were lovely people and very accommodating (except they wouldn’t let me drink or smoke on the premise…and you know how I am and all :) ).

Sunday mid-morning: we pack our bags and check out of the B&B, drive around town, stop for coffee at the donut shop, take a ton of pictures, drive into the neighboring town of Moody and stumble upon a historic cemetery overlooking the town, get a free drive-thru pass at Mother Neef State Park (cool place BTW) to discover the Texas National Guard is eerily scattered about the woods in their camos “practicing” search-and-rescue missions, do a drive-by of the dozens of old WWII bomb storage bunkers outside of McGregor (now a Texas A&M Ag Research Station), find one of those new I-gotta-get-me-one-of-these-motorcycles Spyder Can-Am parked in front of the Coffee Shop Cafe…all this before meeting up with Jayne and Rusty at their new house again to say our thank yous and goodbyes.

Sunday late morning: We decide back roads home are more fun than interstate. Our first stop is the Coffee Station in Crawford that didn’t stay open for us the night below. It was a good meal! Took a picture to email OFB Tony and headed north.

Sunday afternoon: the drive home via back roads are equally enriching – too much to say and this posting is already long enough.