A Texan Taj Mahal

Last week, Kevin Williamson and I hit the road. We drove from Dallas to Rockdale, a town in Milam County. (Should I say Texas? Okay: Texas.) We went to see Mike Brown, the editor of the Rockdale Reporter, with whom we would do a podcast. I will do a story — a print story — about Mike and the Reporter later. In any case, Kevin and I recorded a podcast ourselves, on the way down.


That picture above? A Buc-ee’s. These things have to be seen to be believed. I had never seen one. They are a “convenience store” the way Texas is a state. Texas is a state, sure, but a big ol’ state. Buc-ee’s has acres and acres of stuff. It is no Rhode Island of a store, or even a Kansas. You can hardly see from one end of the place to the other. I had myself a sausage-and-cheese kolache. Brought by Czech immigrants. (I mean, not this particular one, but kolaches in general.) Kevin wrote about “Buc-eenomics” a few years ago, here.

On the road, we talked about Texas — its size, its songs, its stories, its personalities — and about America at large: its many problems and its many blessings. There’s some gravity and some lightness. (Porn comes up! Is that grave or light? Mostly grave.) It is, in a sense, car talk (but not like Tom and Ray). The hum of the road is pretty strong in this podcast, but I think a listener gets used to it. Think of it as white noise.


Hey, wouldn’t that be a good title for a certain kind of podcast? Anyway …

If you want to come along, our podcast, again, is here. Kevin is at his relaxed and lucid best. He is, in other words, his regular self. On the way back up to Dallas, we hit a Braum’s, but, alas, I snapped no picture.