kwselke
Member
I went back to Cotulla, TX last week for my mother's burial. Cotulla, Texas - Wikipedia That town is an amazing and special place for me. Halfway between San Antonio and Laredo in brush country it's close to the middle of nowhere.
The folks that live there are friendly, honest, and hardworking. A few years ago fracking techniques were perfected that have allowed the tremendous oil and gas reserves stored in the surrounding Eagle-Ford Shale to be exploited, and Cotulla became a boom town. Now that the price of oil has plummeted drilling has slowed dramatically. A town with a stable 3,500 population base now has 27 hotels. I stayed Friday night in a beautiful Fairfield Marriott, and paid $57 with taxes for my room, and that included a full breakfast, and a light dinner with two adult beverages. I did a 40 minute workout in their exercise room Saturday morning.
I traveled down there with my brother and his family. I said if it's possible, I'd like to go to Ben's Westernwear and buy a hat. I have fond memories of my mother buying me a hat at Ben's when I was probably 16 or so, I have no idea what happened to the hat and I wanted a new one from the same store.
We had a meeting with the funeral director and my brother needed to meet with the new Methodist minister in town. So my sister-in-law, nephew, and I drop my brother off at the church and headed to Ben's.
At Ben's I'm greeted by a wonderful lady that asked if I needed help. I said that I was looking for a hat, probably straw, under $100, and preferably a Stetson. She said... I'll get my hat man. Hands me off to the hat guy and I start trying on hats. I find a hat that I like and the hat guy says its great. I turn around to ask my nephew and sister-in-law what they think and nobody is there. The hat guy says... let's go find your people, and we are off.
The owner of the store and my sister-in-law had started talking and they went to high school together here in Houston. Not only that, but the store owner grew up in the house across the street from my late uncle's home and a mile from my current home in Houston. It gets better, Ben's has a hat museum and one of my great uncle's hats is displayed in the museum. At this point I said I guess I found my new hat, and the hat guy took it to steam out any imperfections. Not only did I get a hat, but we got information on where to buy flowers and have a luncheon after the services the next day.
I learned to shoot a single shot .22 rifle in Cotulla. My avatar is the .45 Colt SAA that my grandfather carried as Deputy Sheriff then JP for La Salle County which Cotulla is the county seat. I really love Houston, but Cotulla is special too.
The folks that live there are friendly, honest, and hardworking. A few years ago fracking techniques were perfected that have allowed the tremendous oil and gas reserves stored in the surrounding Eagle-Ford Shale to be exploited, and Cotulla became a boom town. Now that the price of oil has plummeted drilling has slowed dramatically. A town with a stable 3,500 population base now has 27 hotels. I stayed Friday night in a beautiful Fairfield Marriott, and paid $57 with taxes for my room, and that included a full breakfast, and a light dinner with two adult beverages. I did a 40 minute workout in their exercise room Saturday morning.
I traveled down there with my brother and his family. I said if it's possible, I'd like to go to Ben's Westernwear and buy a hat. I have fond memories of my mother buying me a hat at Ben's when I was probably 16 or so, I have no idea what happened to the hat and I wanted a new one from the same store.
We had a meeting with the funeral director and my brother needed to meet with the new Methodist minister in town. So my sister-in-law, nephew, and I drop my brother off at the church and headed to Ben's.
At Ben's I'm greeted by a wonderful lady that asked if I needed help. I said that I was looking for a hat, probably straw, under $100, and preferably a Stetson. She said... I'll get my hat man. Hands me off to the hat guy and I start trying on hats. I find a hat that I like and the hat guy says its great. I turn around to ask my nephew and sister-in-law what they think and nobody is there. The hat guy says... let's go find your people, and we are off.
The owner of the store and my sister-in-law had started talking and they went to high school together here in Houston. Not only that, but the store owner grew up in the house across the street from my late uncle's home and a mile from my current home in Houston. It gets better, Ben's has a hat museum and one of my great uncle's hats is displayed in the museum. At this point I said I guess I found my new hat, and the hat guy took it to steam out any imperfections. Not only did I get a hat, but we got information on where to buy flowers and have a luncheon after the services the next day.
I learned to shoot a single shot .22 rifle in Cotulla. My avatar is the .45 Colt SAA that my grandfather carried as Deputy Sheriff then JP for La Salle County which Cotulla is the county seat. I really love Houston, but Cotulla is special too.
