HOT PITS

OK, I admit it. Maybe I was a little disgruntled about the 6 different airport runs we had to make this Thanksgiving - four to Austin and two to San Antonio. But now I'm ever so grateful to Mikey for booking their flight into San Antonio. If he hadn't, then I never would have done that double-take as we were zooming past New Braunfels, on our way to pick them up - the one that caused me to say "Uh, John? Was it my imagination, or did I just see a sign advertising Cooper's Old Time Pit Barbecue back there?"

Cooper's, in Llano, was a regular stop for both John and big brother Mike, in the years when they were traveling back and forth between Odessa and UT. I always figured they were exaggerating when they bragged that it was the best barbecue in the world, but they eventually converted both me and the kids to their way of thinking. Many times since buying this place in the Hill Country, we have thought about driving over there for dinner, but though Llano is considered to be in the Hill Country, it's still a couple hours drive from here (No, I'm not kidding - Texas really is so large that it takes about three hours just to traverse the small central portion known as the Hill Country). And, since Cooper's is pretty much Llano's only claim to fame, we just never have got around to making the visit.

However, discovering that there is now a Cooper's in New Braunfels, just 45 minutes away? Why, that's worth any number of extra airport runs! So thanks a million, Mike. We owe you one.