In the second category is Buc-ees, the 21st-Century's answer to the Stuckey's of my childhood road trips. Buc-ees capitalizes on just about every perceived "need" of the traveler, beginning with so many gasoline pumps that they can hardly be counted. I wove through aisles and aisles of all sorts of merchandise for sale - tourist kitsch, snack items branded to the company, household goods, all kinds of souvenirs, actual groceries, and a lunch counter with live people building barbecue items that smell like heaven - to find humungous restroom facility, which was (as advertised) very clean. I suppose I must concede that these "convenience stores" are a must-see attraction.
Still, with an eye toward history, I spotted the newest Little Golden Books on a spinning wire rack, and it just so happened that these two gems confronted my eyeballs. On the left was Abraham Lincoln, but adjacent to the 16th president was none other than Lucille Ball. Yes, both are autobiographies, but did they really belong together? They each express a portion of history, but in very differing ways. One emancipated an entire race of people in our nation, and the other entertained on the radio and on television. What might make things more interesting? A mash-up of the two! |