Luling

On Facebook, Laquette Manley went straight to the produce aisle.

Pecos cantaloupe, peaches, East Texas tomatoes, and Luling watermelon.

Jason Douglas nominated Daisy sour cream, praising its short ingredient list and saying it's tasty enough to eat right off the spoon.

And then there are the things Texans miss when they leave.

December 13th, 2020, a 21-year-old Texas State University student named Jason Landry left San Marcos to drive home to his family for winter break.

Just after midnight, his car was found crashed and then abandoned on a gravel road outside Luling, Texas.

Lights on, keys in the ignition, his phone still inside, his clothing and his belongings scattered along the roadway.

Investigators concluded it was a single-vehicle accident with no evidence anyone else was involved.

And he stayed with me.

I had an Airbnb in Luling, Texas.

And he came out there and stayed with me.

And he was writing his book, Texas Confidential.

And I'm like, I don't know.

You said, I'm going to Luling.

and Nixon Smiley, baby.

Let's go.

I

got

Luling City Market Barbecue.

I know that early yesterday morning we got some, but I think it was just a little spit, not even enough to get the sidewalk wet.

Got a text message that said, did you guys get some damage from that storm last night? Here in Luling, the power is out.

HEB shopping carts are all over the streets.

Signs and canopies blown over and trees have been knocked down as well.

Wow.

Right there

in Luling, Thumb Country.

I had no idea.

From 2003 to 2018, it becomes the Buc-ee's we recognize.

In 2003, Buc-ee's opened its first giant family travel center in Luling, Texas.

That was the turning point, huge store, tons of pumps, food, spotless bathrooms.

Then the enormous New Braunfels location opened in 2012, making Buc-ee's a genuine Texas tourist attraction rather than simply a gas station.

land? Where? It would have to be east, southeast.

It would have to be towards Luling and Lockhart, I believe, or out by the track.

Between Samsung and Elon Musk, I mean, it's all bought up where people and Apple out there... north of town towards Round Rock.

I mean, all the land that we've always thought might be golf someday, it's all been bought up for these high-tech companies.

of

dirt.

But what about those two golf courses in Luling that the gentleman built out there? Have you been out to those golf courses? Luling? No, I'm going to

go in a couple of weeks.

It's pretty cool the guy's in here.

Just leave him alone." My other ZZ Top story or Billy Gibbons story is, uh, I was in Buc-ee's in Luling, and who's walking across the parking lot but Billy Gibbons.

I go, "Well, kiss my ass." So I go over there and I tell him, uh, I said, "Man, if you're not Billy Gibbons, you're doing a damn good impression." And so I go to the cash register and the guy, I said, I said, "What are the odds of running into Billy Gibbons in, in, at Buc-ee's in Luling, Texas?" The kid gives me this blank stare.

I go, "You don't know who Billy Gibbons is?" He goes, "No." I go, "Do you know who ZZ Top is?" He goes, "No." At about that time, here comes Billy Gibbons, and he has a...

Some dude approaches him to take a selfie, and I turn around and look at him.