The Bluebonnet Festival 4-14-2007

The Old Farts Sports Car Club was up for a special cruise and Phil had just the place…
The day was dim and gray, the clouds created a low ceiling that looked as if it could have been touched just by reaching up and stretching a little. The cold wind blew from the northwest as it followed the nor’easter that greeted us at Love’s Truck Stop on the corner of highways 290 and 2920. We sat, in the Arby’s, talked and waited for the other members that were coming from the Bryan area to meet us. We were a bit startled when someone tried to make a new drive-through-window. Poor ol’ feller, he didn’t know what happened to his brakes. He was very shook up, but no one was hurt and the building was intact. Shortly after this our leader called they were almost there, so we packed up our cars (yes one even had their top down), drove off to meet the others on 2920 where we merged into one group.
We drove up to the Chappell Hill Bluebonnet Festival where our grass-covered parking lot awaited us, we pulled in as lively festival-goers waived and smiled. What a beautiful little place it is. I could not believe the number of folks that were already there when we arrived. That just goes to show you that a few clouds, a little wind and cold weather cannot keep us down. In other words we were not going to stand for any thing to rain on our parade of cars. Smiling faces, good food, shinny jewelry and craft booths of all kinds beckoned us near. Old farts were everywhere but oddly enough I did not spot any at the nut house. If you have not been to the Bluebonnet Festival I recommend you go next year, or just drop in and visit Chappell Hill to see the historical side, the folks are friendly, the scenery is lovely and they make great sausage. Soon it was time to move on. We posed for a group photograph then off we went on the next leg of our journey.
Cruising through the gorgeous countryside there was little traffic and plenty to see. The bluebonnets were ready to have their pictures taken and the cars all in a row was a site to behold. We stopped near Brenham, at the site of one of the original buildings of Baylor University, columns are all that remain of the Female Academy. The wildflowers in the near by field are maintained by the keepers of the Texas Baptist Museum. A neat little place, there was this one really, really big oak tree, it was amazing and they had a restroom, (the coffee in Chappell Hill was good). I didn’t’ go into the actual museum but I’m sure it was fine as there were lots of folks in it, maybe next trip. By this time the clouds had caught our good vibes and stated breaking up, we could see bright blue patches here and there in the endless Texas sky. After a short bit we were off again.
We headed down on the way over to Lake Somerville. Again there was little traffic, even though we did see our token cyclist, and more amazing countryside. There were quaint little houses with yards of flowers, horses grazing out in the fields and some very large estates with private lakes out front on the lawn. We also seen plenty of Cow-Lots along the way, sleeping, grazing and running among the bluebonnets and other wild flowers. We drove up to the dam, parked and visited for a bit. The sun peaked out a little and smiled down onto the huge choppy, white capped lake. We were glad to be in our cars instead of water skiing or swimming. Driving though these places makes me light hearted and leaves me with the feeling of freedom. Ah, the freedom from the everyday ho-hum’ness of work, house cleaning and paying bills.
As good as the food was at the bluebonnet festival it wore off, amazing how many calories you burn while driving and having fun. Phil, our fearless leader, knew right were to go, to get our bellies full. The restaurant, a family steak house in Snook, (one of his favorites) Sodolak’s Original Country Inn. The steaks there are the mammoth kind, the “extra small” is the size of dinner plate a large is about the size of a platter and even spills over. I did say mammoth. Salads and steaks of various kinds were had. There was rib eye, T-bones, chicken fried, well, medium and almost rare. There were piles of fried taters and bakers. The waitress’ were nice, they shared in a few jokes and smiled. We were glad to have had great service and good food from this establishment. They may even let us come back again. Conversation was lively, as usual for the Old Farts. I tried to make myself the center of attention, but had a very hard time getting into any of the photographs. I think somebody was playing favorites. (I won’t mention any names or point any fingers though) I can’t tell you how proud of every one I was, not one single spill was made, that I know of, and I didn’t notice anyone with food dribbled down their chins or on their shirts. Yes, indeed a fine bunch of folks.
Did I mention several of us were twins as we wore our fancy “Texas” shirts from Cavender’s. The shirt is available in 3 styles, a polo type pull over, heavy cotton long sleeves or short. We hope to have the club patches in a few weeks. Hey no grumbling, these things take time, ya know.
What a pleasure to get to drive on clean Texas roads with a few gentle rolling hills and those oh so luscious curves that can’t be beat in a sports car. Vroom, vroom, nah there was no speeding. {wink}. We did have a little break down at one point, but it turned out to be a minor problem that took only a few minutes to correct and we were back on the road meandering here and there. You know over the rivers and through the woods to relaxation we go. I must confess these drives give me somewhat of a vacation frame of mind. Yelp, the daily cares and troubles are put in the trunk, and they are strictly told not to bother me on these club cruises

See y’all next time