WACO 102
102 Miles to Waco. The halfway point between Austin and Dallas. It had been known as a laughing stock in Texas for years, filled with rundown homes, and stories of David Koresh and his Branch Davidian compound. The rise of the Baylor University athletics program, and the HGTV show Fixer Upper changed all of that.
The story of Joanna Gaines passion is an interesting one, one that I won’t get into here, but can be Googled if you feel so inclined. In a nutshell, she tried for many years to get her boutique shop off the ground, failing numerous times, before picking up steam and making it. Reminds me of I.N.K.’s poetry trajectory as well. We certainly haven’t “made it” by the Gaines’s standards…but we’re alright.
We had a chance to visit the “house that Chip and Joanna built” at Magnolia Market. If you’ve seen it on TV, you may be surprised to know that it is located right in the heart of town. I always thought it was out in the country, at least just a little bit. You may also be surprised to learn that it is packed out all the time. We got there 20 minutes after opening on a very rainy Monday morning and it was still packed. I wouldn’t bother visiting on a weekend if I were you, but definitely, definitely go.
We also got to drive around and see some of the homes that they renovated for the show. We stopped for gas, and a diet coke slushy and made our way to downtown Dallas. As soon as I pulled onto the interstate, a familiar car swung into my rearview. It was Courageous. Reunited by fate. Ready to take on our next poetry show at our next college.
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One of the perks of getting on the road is getting to stay in some pretty cool hotels. Tonight, we were slated to stay at The Adolphus Hotel in Downtown Dallas. Hotel Adolphus was built by the founder of the Anheuser-Busch company. It was once the tallest building in the state of Texas. It is every bit as big an ornate as I imagined it would be. It has been a stop for such famous people as Warren G. Harding, George H. W. Bush, Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and now I.N.K.
The show at UNT-Dallas wasn’t exactly well attended, but it was the best kind of show. Small very attentive crowd, who are there to take away some kind of motivation from you. Doing poetry at colleges isn’t the most glamorous thing in the world, but we didn’t get into this for the glamor. We got into it because at some point in our lives someone touched us in such a way that was so motivational, we wanted to share that love with a new group of people. From open mic nights, to poetry slams, to black history month poetry shows, to welcome week poetry shows, to parent’s weekend poetry shows, to homecoming weekend poetry shows, we’ve done them all and we’ve gotten the same satisfaction out of each one, glamorous or not.
We had a chance to chat up the wonderful Jennifer after our show. She’s truly a great person and one of the jewels we were looking forward to meeting in person on this trip. We learned that she was the force that brought the great stage, lighting, and, sound to UT-Tyler, the college we’d done a few days before.
The cheddar and bacon fry was allegedly invented in Dallas. We didn’t know if that was true, but we thought it would be appropriate if we tested out Snuffer’s cheddar fries, to see if they were the real deal. Best cheese fries ever. Period. Handout fries, two layers of toppings. We stuffed ourselves with the fries and burgers and headed back to the luxurious Adolphus for some much needed rest.