Kissin' Cousins and Texas BBQ

Saturday December 6 2008

The Woodlands Texas to Uvalde, Texas

We depart around noon after a wonderful visit with my brother, his wife Lien, and their kids Brooke and Sammy. Lien fixed a great breakfast of pancakes, we packed the car and away we went. First down I-45 to Houston, then I-10 west to San Antonio. Not too far from Eric’s, we had to hit a gas station for a pit stop. Everything goes smoothly, until…..Debbie locks Mathew in the car. In his car seat. You see, Mathew got back to the car leapt into the front seat instead of his car seat and locked the doors with the keys on the front dash. Debbie grabbed Mathew, put him in his seat, then proceeded to close the only open door (with the lock on) to go around to the driver side. She tried to compel Mathew to get OUT of his car seat to open the door (that’ll never happen twice), but alas he couldn’t undo the bottom buckle and so we flagged down a good Samaritan who got us in. Nothing else to report from this stretch (how much excitement do we need?), except that we detoured to Lockhart Texas to eat at Black’s BBQ…another Roadfood.com rec. In case you don’t know, Texas BBQ is all beef, whereas other, like Sweatman’s, is all pork. It is a long held debate of whose is better, not by me, but by others. Personally, I like both, but prefer pork BBQ by a pig’s tail. But Black’s was excellent. So juicy and slow cooked with intense BBQ flavors and great sauce. The chicken fell off the bone and was some of the best I’ve ever had. Unfortunately, the side dishes left a LOT to be desired, but that’s not what we came there for. So, we finish lunch. Hop back on the road, and head for Uvalde. We lumber into Uvalde around 730ish and look for a hotel. We’re not on an interstate and so discounts are not to be found. Debbie picks the Best Western. Except for the water being exceptional compared to the Days Inn, this is the worst hotel we stay in.