Texas Bucket List

Texas Bucket List

Simmons Bank

The Texas Bucket List – Champion Video in Katy

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Katy- Over in Katy at an apartment complex like any other, you can visit a rented residence that happens to have a really large amount of rentals.  All you have to do is contact the man who lives there and runs the place.

“I got about 6,000 VHS tapes,” said Jason Champion owner of Champion Video, a video store that literally at is house.  “They’re all for rent, and people come by and rent them just like a normal video store back in the day except it’s out of house. “

Jason  is the owner, caretaker, and resident of Champion Video. From awesome actions stars to the characters that carved out our Saturday mornings, each cassette has special place in Jason’s heart and his VCR.

“These are kind of handpicked,” Jason said. “It’s not just anything that was on VHS I’ll put in here. I try to be selective about it. So it’s a good selection for people. Everything’s set aside by genre. You got your cartoons over here. Comedy movies, these are some great great classic comedies in here, man. We have your weird terrible section. Yup. All things weird, terrible. Got some new releases over here too.”

Reliving the glory days of VHS connects Jason to his past. His master bedroom is modeled after a place he visited entirely too many times in the eighties.

“I remember going to our local video store,” Jason said. “We had a little video store called Aardvark Video. It was down the street, and so my brother and I would ride our bikes down and rent Rambo and ridiculous action and horror movies and stuff. Probably things we were too young to watch at the time. But those things just made such an impact on me that I’ve always been a big film fan. This is the format that I grew up watching movies on. This was the first time people could actually watch something at home. You didn’t have to wait for cable, or you didn’t have to go see it in the theater. Just the fact that you could watch a movie or a TV show on your own time was like a huge revolutionary thing.”

The few fleeting seconds it took to rewind a cassette is about how long it took for me to start geeking out about the memories that came flooding back like the rental store drop box at return time.

“It’s just cool evoking those emotions out of people and I wanted to kind of create like a time machine where people can come and relive those days,” Jason said. “So it’s a lot of fun, man, seeing people’s reaction like that. It’s just the nostalgia of it. You pop in the tape. You have the tracking that you have to adjust, kind of like the glitches that will come up on those parts that were rewound over and over again. You can tell something awesome is gonna happen because it will kind of fuzz out and come back in. There’ll be like a huge explosion, or some bikini girl, or something.”

Blockbuster movies aren’t exactly what you’ll find here.  More of the off-beat, off-kilter kind of flicks that maybe aren’t available in any other form or fashion.

“Some of them have never been out on DVD or Blu-ray, so they’re kind of lost in time and lost on VHS format,” Jason said. “There is a lot of junk that is out there still too, like dancing granny yoga videos and things like that. I still will buy those, don’t get me wrong.”

As for a membership card, oh yeah, you’ll need that too.

“You guys can’t walk out with a membership,” Jason said. “It’s a legit membership card. That’s right. It’ll be laminated too so it’s waterproof and durable.”

One day Jason hopes to open an actual brick and mortar store. For now his apartment will have to do, making Champion Video one of the most unique stops on The Texas Bucket List.

“It’s the thrill of the hunt is really a fun thing about this hobby,” Jason said. “[It’s] going out and looking for that stuff and then you come home with some really amazing movies.”

The Texas Bucket List – State Surplus Property Storefront in Austin

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Austin- Traveling across the Lone Star State is a great way to spend your free time, but going from Orange to El Paso  is a bit faster if you fly. We all know the rules and regulations that go into flying high: No knives, no liquids, and no weapons.  Seems simple, right? Well, turns out tons of items are turned over to T.S.A. each day, and where they end up is well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List.

In a huge warehouse next to Austin’s airport, you’ll find a frenzy of people looking to find a deal. We’re at the State Surplus Property Storefront in Austin.

“Well, it’s different everyday,” Jeffrey Neely said.

Kristy Fierro leads the charge on this large sale that’s put on by the state.

“This place is where all state assets go to be retired, so everything from a state agency that they no longer have a need for comes to us,” Kristy said. “We either transfer it to another state agency, or we sell it to the public.”

The large inventory of lamps, desks, chairs and even cars is only part of the reason people drive for miles to come to this place.  While the bigger items move quickly, it’s the smaller things that really fly off the shelves.

“We also dispose of the willfully surrendered airport property that is taken or surrendered at a T.S.A. checkpoint here in the state of Texas,” Kristy said. “That’s when things get really weird.”

If you’ve ever lost something in the airport, accidentally put your pocket knife in your carry on or had problematic paraphernalia while pushing your way through security, chances are it ended up here.

“Yes, we get a little bit of everything … from knives to machetes to golf clubs,” Kristy said. “You name it. Snakes in a bottle. Tools. Bats. All kinds of fun stuff.”

Wait…wait…wait…did she say snakes in a bottle? It seems cobra and scorpion infused liquor is looked down upon.  I mean who drinks this stuff?

“No rhyme or reason, man,” Kristy said.

While the snake known as Surplussss is not for sale, there’s plenty of other things that are.

“Our inventory changes all of the time,” Kristy said. “We don’t even know what it is half of the time.”

This large stockpile of peculiar items includes letter openers, bottle openers, and of course, knives.

“We sell thousands every year, and we receive thousands and thousands more,” Kristy said. “It’s Texas, man. Knives are very popular.”

You can find plenty of knives dedicated to Texas.

“Started digging,” Larry Mackey said. “Just start digging, and I guarantee you’re gonna find something that, if it’s unique or it’s something like, ‘You know, I could use this,’ it’s definitely worth it.”

All this stuff comes from each and every airport in Texas.  Houston and Dallas make monthly deliveries to the Surplus Store. New inventory comes in so fast and furious that the fine working folks here have a hard time with the workflow.

“So now we’re gonna take you into what we refer to as ‘The Cage,’” Kirsty said. “This is our primary sorting area for the property that comes from the airports. So it comes in huge containers full of random items, and they have to dump it out here, and we make this makeshift little table here to kind of catch it all … to try to figure out what it is. So they sort out the knives, the tools into that type, and then we do a little bit more research on some of the other items. “

What’s crazy is some of the items you’ll find that get surrender to security.

“Just for the kind of shock factor of everything that we get, Jeff said.  “Doing the mundane gets old for me, and I definitely like the unexpectability of what I do here. It’s very entertaining.”

While people who peruse the peculiar and purposeful can get the perfect deal, the folks that get a first hand look at these far out finds can’t.  

“Personally, we cannot purchase anything,” Kristy said. “There’s a specific ethics statute in law about us purchasing. You can get in a lot of trouble, so no.”  

The good news is that all of the stuff they sell pays the bills and even brings in a little extra cash that goes back to the state of Texas.

“So, what they don’t know about the place is that we are self-funded, and everything that we sell goes to support our operations or eventually goes back to the general revenue fund,” Kristy said. “It is re-appropriated back to the state agencies.”

If you’re looking for that perfect something for that special someone, you simply never know what you’ll find at the State Surplus Property Storefront making it well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List.

“Perfect place to come to before you kick the bucket,” Larry said.

The Texas Bucket List- We Slaughter BBQ in Bastrop

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Bastrop- There’s nothing like seeing the Lone Star State featured on film.  Texas has been a topic for a ton of major movies over the years, but there is one frightening horror flick that still strikes fear into the hearts of fans despite being over 40-years-old.  The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the most iconic movies ever shot here, and today you can experience a part of it first-hand at a little BBQ joint.

We’re at We Slaughter BBQ in Bastrop.

“It’s a landmark in a horror movie history,” Cory Young said. “It’s the original gas station from the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

Cory is the general manager who promises he’s nothing like the folks from the movie that served  up sliced members of society. He just works here and grew up right down the road.

“I grew up five minutes from here,” Cory said. “Born and raised in Smithville. Yeah, I don’t give off the vibe, really.”

Cory did what just about every kid who grows up in small town does.  He moved away, but not for long.

“I did cities for a while, and then really just got tired of traffic and stuff, so I made my way back out here after about ten years of moving around,” Corey said. “It’s actually very quiet and peaceful out here. You don’t hear sirens. You don’t hear gunshots. There’s no traffic. People leave you alone. It’s amazing. My parents and my family, they don’t recognize me, but it’s still the same old me. No one believes me, though, when I tell people I grew up on a farm, but yet I listen to death metal and watch a whole bunch of horror movies.”

Corey has the perfect qualifications to run this restored rest stop that has a relation to Texas horror movie history.

“Since I started working back here it’s kind of taken over my life,” Corey said.

Featured on the opening scene of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the building was meticulously restored over two and a half years.

“They took a lot of time and pride and effort into restoring everything they could as well as they could,” Corey said. “We got the ‘We slaughter barbecue’ sign completely recreated. We’ve got the little chair and the wash basket. We’ve got the red, white, and blue for the stools, for the chairs, and for the bench there. Right down to the red pole down there at the end. Very movie-specific. As I mentioned earlier, we have the Coke machine and the Indian oil pump that would go right out there. There’s a really iconic scene where Sally and her girlfriend are out here getting a soda and stuff, so it is very picture perfect to screen shots of the movie.”

Making sure the front facade is flawless took Cory a few days to figure out.

“My first day here, I was putting the stuff out front,” Corey said. “I was just kind of throwing it wherever. My second day here, I had seen the movie, and I recognized everything. I’m putting everything in its exact spot, I’ve got a screenshot of the movie. I’m getting everything aligned perfectly. It completely puts your perspective into a different light. People come here from all over the world. There’s nothing more annoying than if I go to a different country, and I go somewhere that’s like something that I love, and the person behind the counter doesn’t know what they’re talking about, that’s like the most disappointing thing in the world. There are die-hard fans out there, so you need to know what you’re talking about. I have enough respect for the job to at least give it that.”

We’re told they’ve got some of the best BBQ in Bastrop.

“A lot of the locals will come in here and completely forget this is a barbecue place,” Corey said. “They’ll just walk in and look around and they’ll be like, ‘Y’all sell barbecue?’ And it’s like, ‘Nah, the signs are a trap to get you lured in here.’”

If you’re really brave, you can even spend the night here.  Cabins come with a television and DVD player, so you can watch the movie while peering at the green van featured in the film right out your window.

“It’s really popular,” Corey said. “Our cabins are booked all the time through the whole month of October, obviously. It’s just a really neat, different sort of experience.”

There are people who ponder if the place will help them pull a practical joke.

“We get people all the time that ask me, ‘Hey, would you come up at 2:00 in the morning? Start a chainsaw and scare the heck out of my kids? I’ll pay you 50, 60, 70 bucks,’” Corey said. “I’m like, ‘I live five minutes away, I’ll totally set an alarm for 50 bucks.’ But unfortunately, due to our insurance and potential legal reasons, we’re not allowed to do that. Yeah. If you hear a chainsaw, run, because it isn’t us.”

This scary stop in the middle of central Texas can’t be missed and is well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List.

“There’s a lot of people under the impression that just because Hollywood slaps a ‘based on a true story’ onto something that it happened verbatim like the movie,” Corey said.  “‘Based on a true story’ is usually very loosely based, and it’s like one five-minute aspect of the movie is what it’s actually based on. ‘Based’ could be anything. You get a lot of people out here asking if it was real. So you tell them, ‘Yeah, of course. What do you think’s in the chili?’”

The Texas Bucket List – P-6 Farms in Montgomery

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Montgomery – Fall is always a fun time in Texas. As the temperature around Texas starts to dial back a bit, you’ll also find a few cornfields built for brave souls who don’t mind getting lost for a little while.

We decided to test our sense of direction down in Montgomery at P-6 Farms.

“It’s so cool, isn’t it?” Carey Poole said.

Carey Poole is the leading lady at P-6 Farms which is a far cry from her uprising in an urban setting.

“I’m a city girl,” Carey said. “I’m from Austin. Never in a million years would I have thought this was my job.”

She started this harvest festival with her husband Bo after he had one heck of an idea.  

“My husband is an old soul at heart,” Carey said. “Anything that brings back the past, that’s what he loves to do.”

Tired of tirelessly working on the road with construction and storm cleanup, Bo wanted to make the family farm a tourist attraction tied to agriculture.  So, in 2011 P-6 Farms formally let people flood their fields.

“It just seemed like it was the right thing for our family to do, bring him home and be all together as a network,” Carey said. “His mom works out in the grill. My mom works in the pumpkin patch. My dad works at the front gate. If it weren’t for our kids and our family, we wouldn’t be where we are.”

Over the course of eight weekends in the fall, thousands make their way to Montgomery to pick the perfect pumpkin, cozy up to cotton and let the kids blow off some steam.

“I love it,” Carey said.  “There’s nothing better than the giggles of kids. They come in clean as a whistle, smiling, happy, ready to have a grand time. They leave filthy dirty, crying because they don’t wanna leave. So, I know I’m doing my job.”

The biggest attraction at P-6 is an eight acre corn field that happens to be one big maze.

“Is it not crazy?” Carey said.

This laid out labyrinth isn’t just random rows and routes. There’s a method to the maze madness.  To get a good idea about what you’re dealing with, it’s better to have a sky-high view. It takes about a year to plan out what particular pattern the corn maze will have.  With a World Championship still fresh on the minds of fans, a huge field dedicated to the Houston Astros has been a home-run, except for the folks who can’t find their way out.

“All the time they get lost,” Carey said. “But, that’s why we have a 30-foot tower. So they can look up, signal how do I get out. They tell them right, left, straight, go this way, go that way, and it’s all in good fun.”

Getting caught up in this corn maze is only a small part of what Carey hopes families carry out of this experience.  

“They need to spend quality time outdoors,” Carey said. “They need to de-escalate and enjoy themselves.”

It’s also a learning experience for kids who might not get a chance to go to the farm frequently.

“It’s nice for the kids to know where the food comes from,” Carey said. “Majority of them have no idea where their food comes from. It comes from the grocery store. So, it’s nice to educate them about the importance of farmers.”

Eventually the field will be plowed, and the corn turned into feed, but for a few weeks in the fall you can get lost on a little piece of property known as P-6 Farms. Make sure to check out this fleeting fall experience that is well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List.

“We’re already planning for next year,” Carey said. “You plan before your current season is up.”

The Texas Bucket List- The Train Car Cigar Bar in Big Spring

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Big Spring, Texas- We have come across quite a few man caves over the years on The Texas Bucket List: the Hemi Hideaway in Brookeshire, the Trophy Barbershop in Baytown and  the TX Whiskey Distillery in Fort Worth just to name a few. When we pulled into Big Spring, we found another involving trains and cigars.

The Train Car Cigar Bar is a unique west Texas stop where the puffing isn’t coming from the locomotives.

Well, our slogan, I guess you’d call it is, “Casual interaction…,” Camilla Strande said. “Casual social interaction at its finest.”

Brent & Camilla Strande are the husband and wife duo who created this casual yet quirky stop known for cocktails, railcars and cigars.

“I like cigars and I enjoy cigars, but I was not [a heavy smoker],” Camilla said. “In fact, I would say that I probably only smoked about one cigar a month before we opened.”

Camilla is a local girl who fell in love with a man from North Dakota. That man had a really good idea for a unique business in Big Spring.  

“It had always been a joke idea. He’d been saying, ‘I’m going to run a cigar shop.’ He’d been saying that for years,” Camilla said. “Yeah, we thought it was like this pipe dream that we were just kind of play with.”

In the summer of 2016, things got serious. In a matter of months, they opened the Train Car Cigar Bar.

“Everything was lining up, and we made a really good team, working together, which is … it wouldn’t have happened otherwise,” Brent said.

With a population around 30,000, Big Spring is not a big city. Somehow, this sort of establishment has found its niche and people are puffing away at this peculiar place to passively pass the day.  Put that in your pipe….I mean cigar, and smoke it.

“It’s relaxing,” Brent said. “You can get time to collect your thoughts. We’ve got guys that will come in here and read a book. That’s one of the things I like, is that it’s kind of a throwback to a simpler time, or a simpler lifestyle.”

Over the years, several businesses tried to make the unique rail car location a success. From stores to sandwich shops, they all came close to succeeding but no cigar.  

“Everybody said Big Spring wasn’t a large enough community,” Brent said. “I think there was a lot of doubt. People had the same thing, they said, ‘That’s a really cool idea, I’m glad how ambitious you guys are, but be cautious.’ The whole don’t quit your day job thing.”

The husband and wife team stayed on track and have turned their sentiments for stooges into a strong business that has helped build their marriage.

“We shared a cigar on our honeymoon, and he had smoked cigars before that, but it wasn’t like a thing that he did, and he started hanging out with a bunch of guys that smoked cigars,” Camilla said. “No, I was very encouraging of the like, especially the getting together with the guys. They meet every Monday night and they call themselves The Man Box.”

While cigar smoking is not for everyone, the Train Car is still able to bring people together in some unusual ways.

“I’d say well over half our customers on many an evenings, aren’t cigar smokers,” Brent said.” Maybe one of their friends is, or they just like the atmosphere. Some of them, they like the smell outside, just that hint of cigar reminds them of their grandfather, or their dad, or maybe their grandma.”

The Train Car Cigar Bar is not about your final stop. It’s about the journey and taking time to relax and burn down a big one.

“You know the railroad was so important to west Texas, that’s what established Big Spring, and so I just love it,” Camilla said. “I love that we’re down here and that we’re in the box cars. I just, it’s a neat thing to be taking part in, I think.”

Whether you’re looking for a place to blow off some smoke or just to relax, The Train Cigar Box is a must on the Texas Bucket List.

“It turned out better than I could have thought,” Brent said. “I mean, if we didn’t own this, and I showed up here, that’s one of the things I’m proud of, is that this is a place that I’d want to be at.”

The Texas Bucket List – Galaxy B&G in Killeen

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KILLEEN, Texas — In the downtown quadrant of Killeen Texas, you’ll find a fine food establishment that does not attract a hive of scum and villainy, it brings in burger lovers.

Jaime Myers is one of the owners here and she works side by side with her fellow far away galaxy good friend Veictor. This is Galaxy’s second location, the first being in Harker Heights.

Well we’ll throw it into hyper drive for a hot hamburger with one heck of a name: The Outer Rim. A quarter pound patty of 90/10 beef gets seasoned and hits the cast iron cooker.  As it cooked, Veictor cleared his mind and told us the real inspiration behind his bold burgers.

“My mom always told me, you know, she said ‘Si sabes cocinar, nunca morirás de hambre,’” Veictor said. “If you know how to cook, you’ll never die of hunger. … So ever since then I’ve never ever doubted myself and I can go upon the limits every time. My expectations of my food.”

Four massive tortillas land on the grill and get filled with Colby jack cheese, while the burger is topped with swiss.  The queso filled quesadillas will bring balance to the burger, serving as the bun. Top those with the burger, lettuce, tomatoes, and a homemade spicy ranch aioli.

“It’s just cool and the burgers are so good,” Carola said.

So we will land on in, with the Outer Rim burger. A quesadilla with a burger inside of it. Quesadillas on both sides, a crazy looking concoction. It’s like the cross section of the Millennium Falcon. Well, it’s time to see if we can kick this into light speed. BITE.

“I just like a good burger,” Scooby said. I just like good burgers. They give you a good burger.”

Well, there’s no reason to go to a galaxy far, far away, Galaxy Burger is right here in Killeen and it’s well worth a stop on a Texas bucket list.

“May the fork be with you, I guess would be the only thing I have left to say,” Jamie said.

 

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The Texas Bucket List – Barney Smith’s Toilet Seat Art Museum in San Antonio

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Along the quiet streets of Alamo Heights, there’s a home that’s been sitting on Abiso Avenue for many years. Barney Smith has lived in that home for over 50 of those years but it’s his garage that gets all the attention. That’s because Barney is man with a big collection. A big collection of thrones that happen to be fit for a king.  Well, the king of the commode that is, and these special seats cover all kinds of topics from vacations and politicians to Willy Nelson’s hair.

Barney has been creating this curious art for years and it was first discovered in 1992 during a yard sale. He decided to throw in some of his latrine landscapes and that caught the attention of a shopper.

“I got the big head and I said ‘You want to see some more?’”

Once Barney opened the garage, the rest is history.

“We need to go in there and let the world know what you’re doing in your garage. I said, come on!”

A media blitz ensued, and Barney was the talk of the town. The first time he was featured on television, Barney was interviewed by Barbara Walters.

The new found fame didn’t stop this former plumber from plugging away at his lovely lavatory layouts and now his collection is colossal with 1,336 toilet seats. Barney has even made toilet seats for his birthdays for almost ten years now.

There are several seats dedicated to Barney’s story, including a key to the old college girl’s dormitory that Barney won’t come clean on how he obtained it.

“My wife and I might not have been married for 74 years had she known I had the key to the girl’s dormitory,” Barney said.

You’ll find just about every topic on a toilet here.  History, disasters, dimes or dollars, and doodads.

“I like to show the girls,” Barney said. “I said do you know Elvis and they said sure we do and I said I’ve got a toilet seat down there for you of Elvis Presley.”

Considering the king kicked the bucket on a commode, I guess that’s’ fitting.

Barney still spends time working on this unique art.

“I say it I’d rather do this than eat when I’m hungry or sleep while I’m sleepy,” Barney said.

Unfortunately, father time is taking its toll on the man who’s known for toilet seats, so his terrific and storied collection is looking for a new owner.

“This collection is up for sale,” Barney said. “I’m getting so old and feeble until I can’t come out here and open it up anymore. If somebody comes along that wants to keep it as a museum – I don’t want them buying it piece by piece selling it out because some of these things people would give them a pretty piece of money for just one of them. So I’m trying to sell the whole collection.”

Barney said he has been grateful for the life he’s lived and the many achievements he made.

“The Lord has been good to me, He’s given me 96 years here because I’ve seen a lot of changes in this whole world,” Barney said.

Barney lead us to a simple seat covered with a poem Rudyard Kipling.  A poem that he’s known by heart since he was 12.

The teacher gave me that poem 85 years ago and I’m still saying it today,” Barney said. “So I’ll hang to it. That’s my favorite.”

The days are numbered for Barney Smith’s Toilet Seat Museum. What happens to it, only time will tell.  While there is a book featuring his art work, Barney hopes his visions and love for life displayed on this large number of lids will live on elsewhere.

“I feel like The Lord has given me this many years to be a blessing to someone and I hope that I’ve got this museum here a collection to where someone could be blessed,” Barney said.

The Texas Bucket List – Wild Art in De Berry

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Whenever traveling around Texas, you never know what you’ll find, something we’ve experienced a lot of.  And during our frequent trips to east Texas, one interesting entry way on Highway 79 always kindled our curiosity, so we finally stopped to appreciate the art.

Out in the woods of east Texas, between Carthage and De Berry sits an interesting artist studio simply known as Wild….Donkey…..Art. Artist Rick Kuper is the creative and kooky sharp dress man behind this colorful depot dedicated to his craft, wood art.

Kuper and his collection of critters are sort of cooped up here, in a good way.  Despite not having a car or drivers license since the 80’s he’s lived all over the country.

“Like a little gypsy going Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, up into Pennsylvania freakin Montana up into South of Anchorage Alaska, Colorado,” Kuper said. “I’d never live in Kansas, oh my God. When I went through there I was like, ‘There ain’t a tree nowhere for a hundred miles! Oh lets hurry up and get out of here!’”

Since the early 2000’s, this roadside studio has been his home.  A place to create. Getting a chance to see Rick’s art is impressive, but his work with power tools is not something you see often.

“When I pick up the chain saw, I’ll take over the whole show,” Kuper said. “I always said that you can get about 10 sassy good looking hot mamas dancing in their bikinis over here and then you could get Rick getting down on a big six foot eagle, and with time I’m going to get most of that crowd over to me.”

Everyday he makes masterpieces.  Carving, cutting, and chain sawing his visions into realities.  Some of them more peculiar than others.

“Architecture, aeronautics, airplanes, helicopters,” Kuper said. “Here we got, this is all entirely done out of wood. A drag boat, old 70 model drag boat.”

Since he was a boy, this is what the older man from the Ozarks has wanted to do.  Use his hands to create the beauty of the world around us.

“They talk about road side artists as being outcasts, like the unaccepted or something and God have I been accepted by every walk, every kind of person,” Kuper said. “That’s wonderful.”

When he was a younger, a near death experience strangely enough, involving a falling tree, inspired him artistically and spiritually.

“I was 19 years old and I got smashed to death. I died for 31 minutes,” Kuper said. “I went out of body and it got dark all around my soul and I could see a torso, no legs no arms and I had a hand, a warm hand on the shoulder of my soul showing me what I just did. Then I came in coughing up blood and the paramedics 80 miles out of Saint Louis come out and got me. It was like three days in the hospital, little blood in my bladder, tiny fracture in my hip and then they were gonna put me on the news and I did a little Irish jig and said, ‘No, I’m going home and do some more art.’”

While wild animals, big chairs, and boots make up a hefty amount of his hodgepodge of hard work, he does dedicate his time to a higher power.

“I’m very Christian,” Kuper said. “I don’t get by a day when I’ll kiss the foot of one of my Jesus carvings. Right on, right on, you know.”

Passionate, peculiar, purposeful and positive are probably the perfect words to paint this preveyor of pine portrayals.

“Every day you wake up it’s a blessing, and life is like that,” Kuper said. “I mean the seventies feels to me like a couple weeks ago or you know a few years ago.”

If you happen to be heading to the piney woods of East Texas and have a wild hair to see some wild art, seeing Rick work his magic is well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List.

The Texas Bucket List – Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern in Houston

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HOUSTON, Texas — Downtown Houston has always sparkled and the hustle and bustle of downtown is apparent each and every day.  But underneath this big ol’ city is something a bit more serene then the city streets of H-Town that was almost forgotten.

Judy Nyquist with the Buffalo Bayou Partnership brought us to the banks of the bayou, which happens to be in the shadow of the space city. We’re not here for a walk in the park, we’re here for a subterranean hidden treasure.

“I’m a huge enthusiast of these green spaces in Houston, this being one of the premier and most visited one in the city,” Judy said.

Judy took us to the low key locked down doors that led the way to the Cistern.  A recently acquired acquisition that’s been filled with agua for ages.

“This is the entrance,” Judy said as we walked in. “It snakes along just about thirty feet. And you’ll notice here, this was built recently just two years ago. You’ll notice here a very interesting treatment of the concrete which is called board form concrete. You’ll see the grains of wood that was pressed against it in order to create that pattern. This is reminiscent, it’s the same technique that’s used inside of the cistern on the ceiling, so it was taken from that.”

Built in 1926 to supply the city with water, it was forgotten for decades in the dark until this grand space sprung a leak in the 2000’s. Initial plans called for constructing the cistern into a place to park.

“Obviously as soon as they saw this they knew that it was destined for much grander things than for parking, so it was decided early on with the city to find a way to repurpose it as an architectural relic and as a site for visitors to learn about water and the history of water in Houston,” Judy said. “And also most importantly, that the local bayou wish to program it for public art.”

For nearly 100 years this 87 thousand square foot cistern held onto 15 million gallons of water.

“It’s just like all of our other attractions, it’s a great thing to see,” Judy said. “I mean you have magnificent buildings and great things like the Astrodome and such things and the eighth wonder of the world, and still we have these kinds of much more industrial places that are equally interesting.”

221 25-foot tall concrete columns and about 6 inches of water make up this space that messes with your senses.

“It looks as if these columns are just continuous and it’s actually a reflection on the water,” Judy said.

The deception in the perception gets the biggest reception from visitors.

“The reflection is awesome,” Garrett said. “It looks like there is a whole other story underneath the water.”

Touring the cistern started in 2016 and despite the large space only about 30 folks are allowed in at a time.  But that’s enough to properly showcase the cistern’s 17 second echo.

“The cavernous space is fascinating from a light and sound perspective,” Martha said.

Some think it’s a bit spooky others side with the serene solitude.  Either way, getting see this sunken sight is well worth a stop on the Texas bucket list.

“It’s a key part in the history of Houston,” Garrett said. “It’s really cool and it has played a role in Houston’s development. Everyone should definitely come check it out.”

 

The Texas Bucket List – Prairie Dog Town in Lubbock

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LUBBOCK, Texas – Home to Texas Tech, windmills, and wineries, this part of the panhandle has a plethora of pleasant things to do. One of the most popular stops in this place involves a particular field full of prairie dogs.

Stewart Gerhart is the Park Operations Manager for the city of Lubbock.  He’s in charge of 80 outdoor areas around town but his favorite particular place of refuge involves these crazy little critters at MacKenzie Park known as Praire Dog Town.

“People always say, ‘Oh, you’re from that town that has the prairie dog town,’” Stewart says. “It’s not Texas Tech. It’s not Lubbock. It’s the town where the prairie dog town is.”

Today, hundreds of prairie dogs have planted roots in the park, but it all started with four of them in 1935. That’s when Kennedy N. Clapp established this refuge for rodents.

“We were seeing the prairie dogs becoming extinct because of governmental poisoning and wanted to come up with a way to keep the prairie dogs,” Stewart informed us.

Surprisingly, the prairie dog population is minuscule to what it was when pioneers crossed the plains.  According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas used to have prairie dog colonies that covered 25,000 square miles with around 400 million prairie dogs. Today, less than one percent of that prairie dog population remains.

“There’s just a joy in seeing new things, different things,” Janet, a park visitor, shared. “To some people it might be just an old whoopee, a little rat like animal wondering around. What’s the fun in that? But still, they’re God’s creatures and sometimes they cause havoc with farmers and ranchers. They handle that situation, but it’s just nice to see something that you don’t see at home.”

These little lovable looking little guys are actually pretty fierce fighters but if you have something for them to snack on, they’ll be happy to get a bit closer than normal.

“They like to eat corn, chips, anything people will feed them,” Jerry said.

Unfortunately for the prairie dogs, they’re the food source for big birds, hence the reason there aren’t any big trees near the borough.  The small wall surrounding the town usually keeps them safe and secure but not always.

“They don’t like to root where they can’t see,” Jerry explained. “They’ll stay, for the most part, in the prairie dog town behind that wall, but there are the Marco Polos of the world that get out and run. They get on the golf course. They get on the ball fields. They go everywhere.”

The best part of visiting this park is hearing them communicate with each other.

“When they start barking, the other ones stand up and look to see what’s he barking at,” Jerry says.

It’s been said that the prairie dog language is so complicated these creatures can tell each other about approaching danger, where it’s come from, and even what it looks like.

So come hear the whisper of these whiskered wild animals because getting a good laugh and a big smile are always well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List.

“It’s fun to see people coming in and wanting to be a part of Prairie Dog Town,” Jerry says.