Alice Kaufmann, Dee Sulenski and Pat Wiley Keeney, at Luck, Texas
Willie Nelson fan Dee Sulenski from Virginia shared about her adventures with Alice Kaufmann, from Georgia, on their recent trip to Texas. I think they hit most of the hot spots in their 812 mile drive around Texas. Thanks, Dee!
On 3/14/16 I flew from VA to Atlanta to meet up with my phenomenal Willie friend, Alice Kaufmann. On 3/15/16 we began our epic Willie Nelson centered trip to TX by flying from Atlanta to San Antonio, TX.
From San Antonio we drove to Helotes, TX, the home of Bee Spears, and visited John T. Floore Country Store. This is a famous dance hall and a long standing haunt of Willie’s. We then travelled onto Bandera, the Cowboy Capital of the World and ate lunch at the OST (Old Spanish Trail) Restaurant. After Bandera we drove to Luckenbach, TX, of “Willie, Waylon & the Boys” fame. We visited there for awhile then travelled on to Marble Falls, our home base for this trip.
The next morning we were off toward Abbott, TX, the town where Willie was born. On the way, we stopped at the cemetery in Vaughan, TX and paid our respects to Willie’s son, Billy, then continued on to Abbott. I think that visiting Abbott has been #1 on my bucket list, for over 30 years, and we had a lovely visit there. We visited the Abbott Methodist Church, Panther’s Pantry and visited with Doreen & Darrell who run this little shop. They pointed out the spot where Willie had carved his name in wet cement, on the sidewalk, when he was a child. For any of you skeptics, Willie confirmed to me that he did indeed do that when he was a child in Abbott.
After my dream-fulfilling visit in Abbott we travelled to West, TX to indulge in Kolaches from the Czech Stop–yummy. On our way back to Marble Falls we stopped by the cemetery in Waco to pay our respects to our friend and Willie’s long-time stage manager, Poodie Locke. We also ate a Poodie Burger at Poodie’s Hilltop in Spicewood, TX before ending up back in Marble Falls for the night.
Thursday morning found us heading into Austin where we hired a Pedicab and visited Willie’s statue, another item on my bucket list, and 2 beautiful murals of Willie. Then we were off to the main event! Chef’s Potluck in Luck, TX followed by an intimate Willie Nelson show! Willie was joined by his sons Lukas Autry Nelson and Micah Nelson as well as Mickey Raphael, Bobbie Nelson and Kevin Smith. It was a fabulous experience and Willie autographed my photo of his initials from Abbott!
Friday was supposed to be another late Willie show, but after spending 6 hrs waiting by the front of the stage we were sent back to our cars due to very strong thunderstorms. We waited in the car for a couple of hrs, but due to some miscommunication, that was the end of our day. We were disappointed, but still walking on cloud 9 from the show the previous night and the extremely wonderful opportunity to spend the day in Luck, TX. I was fortunate to finally meet several on-line friends IRL and that was wonderful!
On the way back to San Antonio we stopped in Gruene, to visit Gruene Hall, said to be the oldest dance hall in TX. We walked through the the hall, where live music was being played, looked at a very old pic of @Jimmie Dale Gilmore and saw the Willie window!
Our road trip in TX covered 812 miles in 4 days and we accomplished all of the Willie items on our list!