Return to Buc-ee's (Part 2)

One year earlier, I had made my first-ever trip to the wildly popular convenient store/gas station, Buc-ee's. This Lake Jackson,TX-based franchise has gained a massive popularity due to its enormous size and various range of snacks and novelty items...plus, they make their own food, including pizza, bakery, beef jerky, and especially their own mouth-watering brisket sandwiches. They take a HUGE piece of brisket and chop it up AS YOU WATCH them prepare a bunch of brisket burgers, brisket burritos, and sliced BBQ pork sandwiches as big as a softball, or your fist. 

I wanted to get one SO bad, however my friends went to eat a "free" breakfast at a Holiday Inn Express as we drove into Texas last year. The usual crap. I should also mention about how we drove from Milwaukee/Rockford 17 hours just to get there on that Sunday morning. During the night, I was driving through Oklahoma on the way to the Buc-ee's in Melissa,TX when I was passing a semi-truck and head a loud THUD on the windshield. It wasn't until morning when I noticed a 1.5 foot long crack on the lower right of that windshield. My colleague, who rented the minivan, was seething. I knew it too. She made me cough up $300 for the insurance! When we arrived at Buc-ee's, whatever I ate from that Holiday Inn Express went through me, and I high-tailed it to the bathrooms, which they're well known for having THE CLEANEST ones in the country. They were exactly that, and the hallways toward them had beautiful artwork for sale. We unfortunately left not long afterwards toward Dallas. 

(By the way, prior to preparing my trip to BTAC, I had gotten word that there will be a Buc-ee's location...in suburban Milwaukee!!! Yes, Oak Creek,WI, in southern Milwaukee County, will be getting a location that will include up to 120 pumps! There were those who opposed the expansion, but the 'yay's' won it over. Get ready for a showdown between Buc-ee's and Kwik Trip starting in 2027! There's also supposed to be a location north of Madison, but politics always get in the way.)

This time around, I was NOT going to be cheated! After I checked out of the Motel 6, I hopped in my Hyundai Venue and made the 40-minute trek back to Melissa & the place I had been yearning about for the last 365 days. I think I paid too much attention toward the road and ACTUALLY MISSED THE EXIT, but I recovered and came back to the promised land. And there I was, parking right in front of the massive store. Welcome BACK to Buc-ee's!!

One thing fans of Buc-ee's have said is to not go crazy when it comes to spending on goodies. I could've easily done exactly that, too. But I knew my limits coming in, and when I went through the doors, oh, the shit I could've wanted to get inside. It was Easter the day before, so I got me a Buc-ee's Easter Bunny (though really a beaver in disguise), a couple of t-shirts, 6 HUGE brisket sandwiches, a 40oz Thermos mug, and of course, a bag of the ever-famous beaver nuggets (cinnamon candy-flavored corn pops).  Add a large ICEE, a key chain and two pints of Blue Bell Ice Cream and my grand total was...$167 and change, which was around the range of my budget. Oh, but you should've SEEN what I DIDN'T get. One of those items was this nice cowboy hat (see above photo) that cost $70. Damn, it looked GOOD on me!! I just didn't want this getting damaged in the suitcase. Could've bought a Buc-ee's hoodie for only $25, too. Oh well. Good thing I found out they can be ordered online. 

I passed by the wall of different flavors of beef jerky, but I had to pass on it this time. Don't get me wrong, I love jerky. Gotta make sure my teeth can handle the stiffness. There was more than enough stuff there. Just have to save that until I return to Texas next year. Had to put my ICEE down to unlock my Venue to get inside. My mission to Buc-ee's was a complete success. Enjoying the air conditioning. Time to head to the Hilton Garden Inn, the host hotel-again- for the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition national conference in Duncanville. 

I had all the time in the world to get there, and I missed the turn off to make the quick way to Duncanville, but what the hell. I allowed myself to get my ass close to being lost on the Dallas-area highways in order to find that sucker. But that was the fun part. This was getting to know these roads in order to eventually find my way back to DFW Airport a week from now to go home. 

With all the shit that Pumpkin Head has proclaimed against the trans community, I had wondered how would those actions, along with the anti-trans ongoings in the Lone Star State affect the attendance at this year's BTAC. The answer to that would be answered might quickly.