Camping

So over the weekend, I took seven college students to work at a camp near Tyler, TX. We worked in the kitchen at the Bluffs camp at Pine Cove and did meal set up and tear down. It was pretty cool.

I hadn't been to a camp since high school, and the camps I remember back then don't leave a good taste in my mouth today. What I grew up with were more fundamentalistic/legalistic type camps that I might even blame for my own legalism in the past.

But naturally, this camp was different. Or at least it was different working there rather than being run through the programs. There were various women's groups (usually middle-aged) that we served this weekend. I probably made one too many comments about feeling like I'm still at The Coffee Chain That Shall Remain Nameless when some of the older ladies had annoying or involved requests ('Do you have cranberry juice?'). But I enjoyed the weekend, in spite of this small, piddly stuff.

Something I never thought I'd do again is sit around a campfire and sing worship songs. We had some S'mores and then I made some kind of transitional comment to lead into how everyone should use this weekend to reflect a little bit. I asked someone to bring a guitar for the weekend, knowing that this would be part of the camping trip experience. And there I was singing three worship songs around a campfire.

No one threw any rededicational sticks in any recommitmental fires or had any shattering revelations of how sinful they were. We just sang a couple songs. And I think this was good for me. I can look at it and see it as perhaps how worships songs at a campfire can be good. No drama or tears, just a little time to remember why we were serving that weekend. Maybe I've matured past all my cynicism to see the good in all that I think is bad about evangelicalism.

A highlight was getting to ride some horses on Saturday. I did a trail ride on 'Goliad,' a slow and steady horse who was pretty obedient. Later on, we did some trotting practice in an arena. For this, I rode 'Pistol,' a spunky, stubborn horse who would stop moving altogether just to try to show me who's boss. I did a lot of kicking and squeezing to get Pistol to trot a few times and had to turn him in circles just to try to show him who's boss.

A Tour of Texas

I had a pretty extensive tour of Texas on Saturday.

It began when I met up with a buddy of mine at a farmer’s market in Coppell, TX (a NW suburb of Dallas) that morning. We met there to go to on our road trip to see where Dr. Pepper first began.

But while I was there, I chewed the cud with an organic coffee roaster, or more accurately, tasted the brew. After a great conversation that would surely amaze or bore someone not so into coffee, I bought about a pound and a half of some Peruvian coffee. It was great stuff: strong, natural cinnamon, chocolate and caramel flavors in the coffee. The variety of flavors blew away the beans from the Coffee Chain That Shall Remain Nameless because the beans I sell on a daily basis are roasted to fit one specific taste profile. The beans I bought at the market are roasted with the flavor profile left up in the air, like the sweet smells and smoke of roasted coffee. It’s a little more adventurous.

So anyway, two other guys and I drove a couple hours to Hico, TX (just next door to our final destination in Texas terms). Our destination: The Koffee Kup Family Restaurant. They had pies with mile-high meringue and tasty chicken fried steak, but the main reason we went there was the infamy this café used to have. The retired title of restaurant was: Koffee Kup Kafe. The infamy comes from the alliterated title and what the first letter of each of those words mean when lined up next to each other (KKK). No joke. This is Texas, mind you.

Then we set off to Dublin, TX, where Dr. Pepper was invented and is still bottled to this day. What makes this plant (more accurately a small building on a corner in a town of 3,000) unique is that the Dr. Pepper made here still uses the original recipe of Imperial cane sugar, rather than corn syrup. This gives the pop a much crisper taste and is just plain awesome. I took a tour of the ancient glass bottling machine that is only used once a month, due to the lack of bottles and the ancient nature of the parts in the machine.

In the soda fountain shop next door, I had an old fashioned Dr. Pepper, made by adding carbonated water to syrup. Ooooooohhhh yeeeeaaaahhhhh. Then I bought 8 six packs to savor for a while.

And a couple days later, back in Dallas, TX, I hit up a happy hour at a local microbrewery and tasted their ‘chili’ beer, made with jalapeños. Let me just say: jalapeno beer = awesomeness.