On the Road Again!

The other day I decided to get out of camp and build my situational awareness of our area of operations. As I mentioned a few posts back it is a huge area, about 15,000,000 acres. So after the morning briefing I hit the road in my trusty rental car and headed north for the town of Lufkin. I had heard of Lufkin before. I think they make tape measures there, as that is a pretty famous brand.

Nice scenery, but the bugs were smearing
the windshield as you can see

The roads here in Texas are very nice. Lots of improvement work underway on the interstate, but even the "Farm to Market" roads are in fabulous shape. These roads are the main collector roads that feed the state highways and interstates. Anyway, it is a beautiful driving experience here. The terrain is very gentle (essentially flat) but the vegetation is mostly pine-hardwood forest. The road rights of way are wide and clear. They are vegetated with grass, and most seem manicured by frequent mowing. Basically its pretty cool!

I made it to Lufkin in a couple of hours and met with my Safety Officer stationed there to watch over the couple of firefighting task forces that are based there. It was a short meeting. Things were going well, and I dropped off a package of briefing materials for him to use. Then, it was off to Jasper.

Jasper Texas is kind of infamous as the place where a horrific murder took place several years ago. Two white guys chained a black man behind a pickup truck and dragged him to death. Coincidentally, the last of the two still alive (one died of cancer while waiting on death row) was put to death yesterday in Huntsville. Justice was served, but it still hurts me to think of all the pain these two morons have caused. Nothing can change that.

While I was in Jasper, I met with the Safety Officer assigned there, and we had lunch at "the best bar-b-que in Jasper". It was a fabulous experience. I never would have found "Billy's BBQ", and even if I had, I most likely would have kept on driving. The place was well off the beaten path, in a somewhat shabby looking residential neighborhood. It consisted of a small, very beat up, modified mobile home painted red. It was pretty ramshackle looking. Painted red, the aluminum skin was dented and pulling off in places. However, as I walked up the steps to enter the establishment, the most delicious smell of wood smoke and spicy barbecue nearly overwhelmed me. It triggered an instant reaction. Much like ringing the bell for Pavlov's dogs (look that up Lucy!).

You would never guess what great food was
waiting for us on the  inside!

The inside of the place lived up to it's exterior advertisement. It was well worn, and very cramped. There were three "booths" that probably were salvaged from an old restaurant renovation. In addition, a large glass trophy case squatted in the entry, taking up much of the already scarce space. It contained photos and memorabilia that appeared to be family oriented. Pro football players, soldiers, and sailors. A very old television was mounted on the wall and broadcasting the local public service channel.

Me and Rita.

Then the proprietor greeted us. Her name was Rita, and she had such a thick accent she was difficult to understand. But she had a friendly smile, and I quickly hit it off with her. We joked back and forth as figured out what to order. Choices choices! My friend Rich and I decided to order a plate of ribs, and a plate of sliced beef then share (that's right, Kim has me well trained).

Rich sitting in the booth,
waiting for BBQ!

We sat in the tattered old booths, visiting with Rita, and talking to a couple of other customers. Finally, Billy (Rita's brother in law) brought out the food. Wow! Besides large portions, the food was aesthetically arranged with pepper and onion garnish. Great presentation. I had the presence of mind to take a few pictures.

The trophy case and TV were almost antiques.

Sliced beef, white bread, and Potato salad garnished
with onion rings and a pepper.

Ribs, BBQ beans, potato salad, and onion pepper garnish.

OK, it not only looked good, but truly was delicious! It was certainly the best barbecue I have had on this trip to the barbecue capital of the country!

After lunch, and a short visit with the local forces standing by for fires, I headed for Woodville, another small town about 40 minutes away where we have forces staged. There I tied in with another Safety Officer at the Texas Forest Service (TFS) station. While we were visiting, and getting up to speed on the situation, the local TFS District Ranger came over to visit. He was new in the job (started in February) and came here from Chico where he worked for Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI). He knew several of the SPI foresters that I knew including Brian West (Lucy's basketball coach)! Small world. Turned out his wife went to Chatsworth High School (neighboring my alma mater Canoga Park HS). Weird.

A little later, I hit the road for Conroe and home. Finally got in about 6:00 PM. Just had time to develop my daily safety message for the next day's plan, and it was back to the motel. Another day in the can!

That's All!