In Texas, we love to love stuff. Like Buc-ee’s, the biggest gas station in the world. Like Whataburger, the burger joint with that good, good Texas toast. And like H-E-B, the grocery store that’s better than your grocery store.
Let’s face it, many of life’s treasures were made in Texas. And how do we know this? Because a Texan will tell you. We’ll tell you when we’re riding the ski lift on vacation in Colorado, we’ll tell you when we’re at Disney World with our kids, and we’ll tell you over a round of beers after work, even if you didn’t ask.
We made Dr Pepper in Texas. And we sipped that sweet soda long before anyone else could. We made Shiner Bock ... with help from a Bavarian-born beer maker. We churned Blue Bell ice cream in Texas. We created the Dallas Cowboys.
Alright, we’re not super proud of the Cowboys right now. But they’re still ours. And hey, we have world-famous cheerleaders.
So when a company like Buc-ee’s — the group that made shopping at a gas station cool — decides to build a bigger Buc-ee’s outside of its home state of Texas, this is not fine. It’s betrayal, to the years-long fans of Beaver Nuggets and squeaky-clean potties.
Out-of-towners wouldn’t understand. Why do we care if there’s a bigger Buc-ee’s near the Smoky Mountains? Why do we continue to rep Whataburger as the best goshdarn burger in the business, when we all know In-N-Out and Shake Shack make a good one, too?
This is a crisis of identity, love and betrayal.
Buc-ee’s was our weird, giant gas station with the cartoon character we don’t completely understand. We wrote news stories explaining why Buc-ee’s is big deal, and we laugh every time we pass a funny billboard on the highway.
Whataburger is our weird A-frame burger place, where, yeah, the breading on the chicken strips is too thick. But have you had a breakfast taquito after a long night of drinking?
My husband is an Aggie — another love-or-hate thing in Texas — and if we do something more than once in my house, it becomes a tradition. We’re not alone; it’s the Texas way: We love to love our state, our people and our history.
So this thing about Buc-ee’s, it isn’t over. Tennessee might get the biggest Buc-ee’s in the world when their new travel center opens later this year. But it isn’t too late for an even bigger one to be built in some small Texas town on the side of the highway. And we will love it.
