Beavers, Dinosaurs and Chicken Fried Steak

What a title for a blog entry. This past weekend I went to visit my parents in San Angelo, Texas where I grew up. Really, I don't think there is any other place on the planet quite like San Angelo. It's the only place that I know of where you can get an orange colored chicken fried steak with yellow cream gravy. Don't let the visual description fool you it's a GREAT tasting chicken fried steak.

Anyway, it had been about 6 months since I had made the trek up into West Texas. Having lived in San Antonio now for going on 15 years I am sometimes amazed by what I see and hear when I visit San Angelo. To start off with I have two gems for your consideration.

1. While enjoying my orange chicken fried steak at the original Henry's there was a large table perpendicular to ours where a large group was seated. Roughly 10 or so people. Some couples with their children and maybe the grandparents were there too. Seated at the end of the table directly across from me was a woman, probably in her mid 30's with her husband directly across from her. She had her purse hung on the back of her chair which didn't seem all that unusual until it was pointed out to me. There loud and proud on her purse was the Confederate Flag just as big as it could be. But wait it gets better. Across the flag written in rhinestones or some other exotic jewel was the word "Redneck". Wow! Maybe a Valentine's Day present from her husband? A little house warming gift from the last cross burning? I'm sure I lost IQ points just for being in the same room. Apparently the Klan is alive and well in West Texas.

2. While stopping to get gas I overheard the man in line in front of me utter this phrase to the cashier: "Thatn theres more gooder than da othern." (That one there is more gooder than the other one). I believe he was referring to one brand of chew or dip over another. Yes, he was serious. No, I'm not kidding. Clearly more IQ points were lost just for witnessing the event.

Yes indeed. What an interesting few days visiting the folks.

I did manage to get in a great ride while I was there with my buddy Kyle. I brought the single speed with me and we did about 25 miles at the State Park that surrounds what use to be O.C. Fisher Reservoir. In my 41 years I've never known this lake to ever really have any water in it. I think it's at around 10 percent of it's capacity right now so it's basically a puddle in the desert at this point. It's eerie as there are literally boat ramps that are MILES from the water.

Above: This would be a boat ramp...right down into the cactus patch.

While we were on our ride, Kyle pointed out a relatively new addition to the area. Beavers! Yes, beavers in the desert. While we didn't actually see the beavers first hand, there was plenty of beaver evidence to be seen. I had to snap a couple of pictures for proof. Pretty interesting stuff.

Above: Beaver evidence!

Lastly, on the ride back to the car we stopped off to check out the dinosaur tracks there in the park. It was kind of cool to think that we were riding our bikes in an area where dinosaurs used to roam.

Above: Dinosaur foot prints

I snapped a couple of quick pictures here too because...well...they were dinosaur tracks and that's just pretty freaking cool. That and beavers in the desert. I'm telling you, there's no other place on the planet quite like it.