Little Road Tour

Waco, Texas

Weather: low 57 degrees, high 84 degrees, mostly cloudy skies

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we made a trip up to Hillsboro and West today. We took I-35 north out of Waco, and the first place we stopped was in West, which is known for the Czech culture found in its bakeries, restaurants, and gift shops. Each Labor Day weekend, the West locals put together a Czech/Polka festival they call Westfest. Our primary reason for stopping, beyond the fact that it was there, was to sample the kolaches. West is supposed to have the best kolaches in Texas, so we had to try them for ourselves. We went to the Village Bakery, the oldest bakery in town, and which is supposed to have the best kolaches, open since 1952. After all, if you're going to try something, try the best, right?

We walked into the bakery, and it looked much the same as many of the other bakeries we have been to while in Texas. The baking aromas were great, and the displays made you want to buy 1 or 2 or 3 of each. We decided to buy a dozen of the mixed fruit kolaches, and some of the sausage kolaches. The first sample was of the sausage variety, and we were surprised that the bread had a slightly sweet aftertaste to it. That was not a problem, and overall, the bread was good. The sausage, in our opinion, left a lot to be desired. It was coarser than most link sausage we have eaten, and the flavor was almost non-existent. We thought that since this was a Czech dish that the sausage would have more taste and flavor. The wow factor was just not there. Would we drive up there again just for the sausage kolaches? Not hardly. We have had much better sausage kolaches at Shipley's Donuts in Bay City, Texas.

Once we got home from our trip, it was past lunch time so we tried the fruit kolaches. They were not bad, but we have had fruit kolaches just as good elsewhere in Texas.

The town is typical of many we have been through before, with old stores that are still being used. We didn't see many of the houses, but what we saw of older ones seemed to be well kept.

Something that the town uses to illustrate their history beyond the Czech heritage is a staged train crash that occurred at Crush, which was located about three miles outside town. This crash occurred in later summer of 1896. Two old locomotives being destroyed were retired, and the train company felt they could gain some favorable publicity for the railroad by staging the crash. About 50,000 people attended the crash, where the two locomotives were run into each at full speed, head on from a distance of about two miles. The problem was that they allowed people to get too close to where the collision took place. One of the boilers exploded. Two people were killed, and many more injured. Needless to say, the railroad didn't try that stunt again.

Here's a picture that is typical of the fruit kolaches. As I said, not bad, but we don't know what the fuss is about.







Here's a couple of pictures of the Crash at Crush.

Impressive, at least to me. This is the kind of quirky stuff that I get a kick out of.





















We continued on up the road to Hillsboro, but I think I'll save that adventure for tomorrow. After getting home and resting, we decided to go to Sam's Club for a few things we needed from there. It just so happens we like their pizza, so we had them bake a whole one for us (supreme, of course), and had supper at Sam's. Is that romantic, or what? I think Carolyn would say, or what! No, we didn't eat the whole thing. But we do have pizza for tomorrow for lunch and maybe supper, if we want it.

I'm going to go now. I'm wore out.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - West, Texas: Home Of The Official Kolache Of The Texas Legislature (those folks are easily pleased, I guess)

Not all who wander are lost.