Sunday, July 30, 2000
We spent a lazy morning, sleeping in, reading the paper and watching the weekly news magazines interview Dick Cheney who was just named as the VP nominee for George Bush Jr.'s run for president. When we finally did get on the road around 11:00 we were well rested and looking forward to our first real driving trip in two years. We didn't figure much would happen this first day, as we were only going as far as a Bakersfield KOA to get a head start on the long drive for Monday. However, not long after our departure, we came upon the best BBQ place we had arguably ever experienced.
On the road, we enjoyed our music that Andy so lovingly pirated off of Napster and dubbed to a CD for our enjoyment. (Make note of this, since Napster may not be long for this world). We also enjoyed the central valley scenery and some neat sites like the oil fields and emus. Arriving at the KOA pretty early and finding the pool temporarily not usable, we decided to stay in our air conditioned car and cruise into Bakersfield to capture some motels and find dinner. We ate at a nice little seafood restaurant called Hushpuppies with a neat tiki motif. Well, anyway, the restaurant was nice but the food left a lot to be desired.
Returning to the KOA, we hoped to take a nice dip in the pool to cool off but with the pool still out of commission, we spent the evening in the KOA store playing pool, eating ice cream and looking forward to the days ahead.
It is called the Central Texas BBQ in Castroville and we felt that it was a very fitting "warm-up" for our big Texas trip. Run by a native Texan who learned his skill from one of the best BBQers in Lockhart, Texas, this place had saw dust on the floor, real country western music in the air and the best dry BBQ pork ribs I have ever tasted. We were thrilled to start our vacation off on such a great foot. We will be visiting Central Texas BBQs and looking for Black's BBQ (owned by Edgar Black, mentor to our new favorite BBQ restaurant's owner). What a neat coincidence to find this place, today.
