I wrote in a blog from yesterday that I walked from Lake Mineral Wells State Park to Garner Tx 4 miles on the Trailway.
The Trailway is basically a 12-foot wide driveway made of crushed limestone with information / interpretive signs every mile or so. It runs for 20 miles from Mineral Wells to Weatherford. It's a really neat concept and one that is destined to expand / merge to form another "transcontinental trail" much like the Continental Divide Trail.
I was walking to Garner to get a hot meal.... one that wasn't made by dumping a packet of dry ingredients into 2 cups of boiling water.
I had asked Ranger Dollins about where to get something to eat in Garner and he said there wasn't but one place - the Garner Store and Cafe'.... I always like it when there's only one answer to a question....
.... so I do the 4 miles and I hadn't eaten much that day.... yeah I know.... energy in vs energy out.... I just talked about that..... bottom line was I was in severe calorie deficit..... my left knee was hurting.... I don't know why.... I'd only been hiking over uneven rocky, muddy terrain for the last 5 hours and I forgot to take my Aleve....and that was before I started the 4 mile walk to Garner.
I get to the Garner Store and Cafe', go in and the Cafe' closed at 3.... Ranger Dollins forgot to mention that....
.... but Praise the Lord....they got a Hunt's Bros Pizza set-up there.... so I order a large everything on it with a double-up on the jalapenos..... cause I'm a "large everything on it with a double-up on the jalapenos" kind of guy..... I'm 'bout to slap that calorie deficit thing silly.
There's this rosy cheeked kid behind the counter - I say kid - he's 19 years old and his name was Ryan Butler and he's going to Weatherford College (I could tell this kid had his act together)..... I shoot the bull with Ryan and his dad (who owns the place).
It turns out Ryan's dad bought the store about 12 years ago and made a few changes and created a really neat place that's kinda like a meeting place / junction for the locals, the State Troopers and for 47-year old farts doing cross country bicycle rides in dire need of hot food.
I go grab a Diet Coke and sit down while this tall dark haired kid (didn't get his name) makes my pizza.
In walks this older fellow with a cowboy hat and boots and a big shiny buckle.... I'm guessing cowboy....
He sits down at the next table with his back to me and starts talking with Ryan and his dad about who flung the chunk....you know..... locals talk..... I ain't in the conversation.
Bout that time I get my pizza....and let me tell you what the tall dark haired kid didn't skimp on the fixings....it had everything on it.... twice!
I opened the box, stuck out my pinkies and delicately removed a piece from the round.... yeah right - I tore into that thing like a pack of hyenas!
Between jalapenos and Italian sausage flying out of my mouth like sawdust out of a chain saw, I'm telling Ryan and his dad about my little bike trip.
The Cowboy Gentleman eases around on his chair to face me and asks where I came from....I told him and introduced myself and that was when I met Jimmy Maddux.
Right away I knew this guy was a straight shooter - pardon the continuing cowboy metaphors - seriously though - you can just tell when you meet someone - this guy was as solid as the concrete floor I was standing on.
My introductory handshake with Jimmy Maddux began a narrated journey through the history of Garner Tx - of which 5 generations of Madduxes had been a part.
Jimmy Maddux was the one that told me of the rise and fall and rise and fall and rise of Garner Tx - a rich history of 1/2 mile long wagon trains hauling watermelons to the railroad junction, of the city's prominence in the region at the turn of the 20th century, of the tragic, devastating fire of a hundred years ago, of the origin of the Domino game of 42, of the importance of an Army Helicopter Training Base - Ft Walters - and the subsequent closing of that base in the 70's...... and of the rich tradition of breeding of the finest cutting horses in the world and of his own family history....
the Trailway I walked in on.... it parallels a road that runs from Highway 180 into Garner - the name of the road.....Maddux Road.
Mr. Maddux spoke with a non-assuming matter-of-factness of his own experience of 20 years ago. He went into the bank to get a loan to start a business..... the bank wouldn't loan him any money, but one of the guys that worked at the bank loaned Mr. Maddux $7000 from his own pocket..... 20 years later Mr. Maddux owns a Farm and Ranch Supply business, a successful cutting horse raising and racing enterprise.... and he owns part of the bank!
As he was leaving the store, Mr. Maddux turned to young Ryan Butler and tells him to be careful tonight.... New Year's Eve.... you could tell it was a heartfelt expression of concern.
After he left, Ryan says that Jimmy Maddux is one of their best customers.... his voice had that respectful tone to it.
I visited with Ryan a little while longer and he spoke with pride of how his dad had bought this store 12 years ago and remodeled it while still preserving many of the features of the original store..... I walked around and looked at the photos of the champion cutting horses and the cowboy murals and memorabilia.
I left the store full of pizza and in full realization that I had just experienced a piece of Texas history.... of cutting horses and cowboys where a handshake was as good as a contract and where family tradition, honor and respect was still alive and well....
Live Long and Prosper Jimmy Maddux, Ryan Butler and Garner Tx!
America needs more people and places like that......
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