Looks Askance

It's hard to believe that it's now been over a month since the Waco Texas adventure. My brother and I flew out there in late February to see UGA play Baylor and Duke in a three team round robin weekend to begin the baseball season. You spend so much time looking forward to a trip, then it comes and goes, and before you know it, it's getting small in the rear view mirror.

We each arrived in Dallas Friday mid-morning; me from Atlanta and him from Boston. Knowing that it was a good bet that the rental car would not have an iPod adapter, I made a CD for the trip. It's my 2010 Baseball CD, and each track has something to do, in some way, with Georgia baseball (for example - "Bleed it Out" by Linkin Park was used on a YouTube highlight video of the 2007 UGA v. tech football game. I watched that video numerous times in spring 2008 when that baseball season was underway, so I associate it with both). I only mention this because I want to be able to mention how awesome it is to drive around on the freeways in Dallas, past Texas Stadium and through their skyline, all while blaring the theme song to "Dallas" through the economy car. The "Dallas" theme song is track #2 on my CD. "The Yellow Rose of Texas" is track #1, you see, Texas is where this baseball season began.

The drive down to Waco was about two hours on I-35 and the ride went quickly. We arrived at the team hotel (that's right) around lunchtime. We wanted to eat some authentic Texas cuisine while we were visiting, so we tried to seek out small, local BBQ places as well as steakhouses. I think that's the best way to do it when you travel... Find the places with the local license plates in the parking lot. It's tough to go wrong there. And both being hungry on this Friday afternoon, we decided to head out to find some "real" Waco fare.

It didn't take long to find a place called "Vitek's BBQ". This particular place offered something called a "Gut Pak" as their main menu item. A "Gut Pak" is, remarkably, even less healthy than it sounds, you see it's a styrofoam box filled with Fritos, cheese, chopped beef, beans, sausage, pickles, onions, and jalapenos. You also get two slices of loaf bread for good measure. It comes in two sizes; regular and large. My brother had to have one. I decided to go a different route...

The line in Vitek's was long, a good sign. This was the kind of joint where you order your plate at the counter and then find a table to consume it, should such a table exist. Given that it was the lunch hour on Friday, such a table didn't really exist. Another good sign... People want to hang around Vitek's. I'm pretty hungry by this point. My alarm had gone off before 5:00a (Eastern) that morning and I hadn't had anything yet to eat (if you don't count the feast that was served on the flight, which I don't). Whenever I fly, I'm usually so focused on "getting there" that I don't eat before I go to the airport or when I'm there, a shame in itself that I deprive myself of delicious airport cuisine. Anyway, I'm eight hours into this day, nothing in my stomach except for six peanuts and I'm ready to eat a meal, a real Texas sized payday lunch. So, when it's my turn at the counter, I know what I want:

"Let me get a chopped beef sandwich and a hot link."

"You want the hot link sandwich?"

[Trouble. I didn't know the hot link came as a sandwich. This sounds interesting. I'll go with it.]

"Yeah, hot link sandwich."

"Peppers or onions?"

"Nothing on the chopped beef. Both on the hot link.... sandwich."

"Just to make sure, you want two sandwiches, right?"

"Correct."

"Chopped beef and a hot link?"

"Yes." I say this part emphatically, with the half nod, half thrust of my entire head.

The guy paused for a second and looked askance at me. He then proceeded to prepare my order.

I'll admit, every once in a while, something comes along that truly gives me pause. This was such a time. I mean, it's not up to this guy to piece together that since I was wearing a UGA shirt, I probably came from a long way, maybe had a long day already, maybe not, but obviously wasn't from around there (come on, even without the UGA shirt, even I don't believe that I'm great enough to appear to be from Texas) and thus, was either really hungry or wanted to try a couple of different things. But no, that's not what gave me pause. What irked me about that situation was that this guy looked at me like I had two heads (one head representing each sandwich that I'd ordered) when I gave my order. I wanted to scream "Eight out of every ten people come into this place and order something called a 'Large Gut Pak' and you're going to look funny at me for order two sandwiches?!"

Anyway, we get back to the hotel and pass a couple of Georgia people I'd met on the rental car bus at DFW. Proudly boasting our styrofoam treasures, we got a good laugh out of the perceived caloric content this meal, and I highly recommended Vitek's to these others, although I hadn't yet taken a bit out of either of my sandwiches. Even though I was (and still am) floored to receive that look for ordering for two sandwiches, that experience reinforced something that I love about Texas; it's just fine and well without me. I can really respect that.

The sandwiches of mine were awesome, no other way to describe them. About a half hour after we finished, my brother declared that he didn't "feel so hot" after consuming the vast majority of his large Gut Pak.

It was a good trip, all in all. It's hard to imagine going to school for four years in Waco, but I say that about every campus I visit, and that list is now becoming respectable. I guess that just means that I love UGA and our campus. Baylor Ballpark was nice too. It seats around 5,000 and is built on the Brazos River, such that the river is visible beyond the right field to center field wall. AND, in the top of the 7th, they play "Deep in the Heart of Texas" over the PA.

Baseball plays at UCLA next season and I'm already looking forward to making my first ever trip to Los Angeles. I'm thinking that track #1 on the 2011 Baseball CD will be "I love LA" by Randy Newman.