Area X

Mesquite trees, cactus, and good food were things that I expected to find in Area X. The cold temperatures? Not so much. Crazy enough, though, we found ourselves in the midst of some chilly weather for our time down in South Texas. Not that we minded. It made it seem a little more like Christmas-time.

We started off our our journey in Falls City, Texas, at the home of Mr. Kody Kale himself. The next morning, Pettus told us all about their local hang out spot: the Fast Break (a local gas station that has some awesome chorizo and egg tacos). In Sinton, Mamma Mia shared a few laughs with us about her desire to "punch a baby seal". That was quite the story. Later that day, we got to taste some of Mr. Wrinkle's banana nut bread before we talked to his students. I've never been the biggest fan of bananas but that was some GOOD stuff! We finished off our day with a trip to the beach in Corpus Christi. Apparently, they had just had red tide...and the guys got a kick out of throwing dead fish at me. Yuck. It did, however, put us in the mood for some good seafood.

Lucky for us, our friend Jake Martini knew just the right place. I have been craving raw oysters for months and months and months. Thanks to Jake, I finally got some! Water Street sure had some good ones, too. The next morning, we headed off to Agua Dulce, Calallen, and Bishop. We enjoyed our lunch at Joe Cotton's barbeque in Robstown, where we made up job predictions for the rest of the team. That was an interesting conversation, to say the least. Needless to say, our day was filled with great conversations, great food, and great students. I particularly enjoyed talking to my little Freshman buddy, Cesar, from Bishop. He was the bomb diggity! Since we finished so close to Kingsville, we figured that it was absolutely necessary that we stop by the King Ranch Saddle Shop. We ended up spending at least an hour helping Kaleb decide on which belt to buy before grabbing a shake at Harrell's.

That night at dinner, the Calallen chapter officers beat Kaleb in several games of pool. Then, we wound up at Lone Star, where Kaleb ended up buying a pair of snakeskin boots. He wanted something that looked different and, well...he did a very good job of finding just that. He certainly looks spiffy in his new shoes. The next morning in Banquete, we watched as Kaleb got himself into a staring contest with Bryan...which he lost. Bryan must be the stare-down champion of the world; I don't know how anyone can keep a straight face for long. We also watched some of Charlie's dance moves. That was intense stuff! We got so carried away that we ended up leaving our box of supplies in Banquete...oops. Thankfully, they went to get it while we hung out with everyone at Orange Grove later that morning. Our last trip of the day was to George West. We got to visit with Wes, our friend that we met at La Muneca Ranch earlier in the year. Their leadership classes certainly have some intelligent kids in there. They did a great job during the presentation.

That night, we had the pleasure of hanging out with the Jourdanton FFA officers. I was not fully prepared for the intense game of Mafia that came about. Some how or another, I was almost always picked as the Mafia when I was just an innocent townsperson. I guess it goes without saying that I was terrible at that game. It sure was fun, though! Kody must have been really exhausted after the whole thing, because he woke up the Hunters with his loud snoring the next morning (they were on the opposite side of the house, and they could STILL hear him!) We were definitely awake by the time we got to breakfast, though. Those FFA members sure can cook some mean eggs and biscuits! Before long, we were with Kyla and Sam in Poteet. We got to meet all of the administrators before doing our final presentation in Pleasanton. After a great lunch from Cactus Garden and a room full of enthusiastic ag students, we were on our way to Boerne, Texas.

Tomorrow we have the pleasure of visiting with the executive officers of McCoys before a visit to James Madison's Agricultural Science Department. Then, it is off to the Spurs game in San Antonio, Texas. We have a busy weekend ahead and some great experiences to come. So, stay tuned on more stories from the road...