Tea'd Off in Texas

Is that a flaming toilet in this picture?

Oops...second time I posted this photo.

Yesterday, Tax Day, we arrived in the central Texas town of Abilene, expecting to find a wonderfully delicious place depicting the old west. Instead, we found a bunch of locals claiming to be tea'd off over the Obama bailout plans. They were part of protests all over the U.S.

Almost a thousand people showed up downtown waving placards and flags. But here in this Christian right community, the tax protest took on as much of a religious as an anti-tax theme. "Tea'd" stands for "Taxed Enough Already".

Reiterating once again, as you travel across our great country, as we just did and if you don't have satellite radio--Sirius or XM--all you get is the constant anti-Obama diatribe from Limbaugh, Hannity and the like or Bible-thumping from religious right stations.

These people are good Americans but they will listen to only one side of the issue. Ask any one of them what the tax protest is about and they cannot give you an informed answer. And certainly like Limbaugh and Hannity and this so-called reconstituted Republican party, they can offer no viable option to the Obama plan. And Daisy and Paul believe that until America starts moving in the same direction the country will remain polarized and the current economic woes will drag on and on and on, doing no one no good. That's the message from Daisy Dog and Paul. I, Corita, am pretty much middle of the road about all this. Unlike my two radicalized traveling companions. How did Daisy lose her way?

We may be stuck here for awhile waiting for our stimulus check because this is all that's left of our trailer after pieces have flown off along the way, so if you can, please bail us out with lots o' cash. Send it to "Help Restore Our Rolling Home" and get us back on the highway.

While we camp here we'll be investing in this great little business opportunity along the road. A motel that needs a bit of a facelift but it's only $700,000. And the owner is willing to trade our Sedona home for this place with more bedrooms and baths.

But seriously, the reason I wanted to stop in Abilene was to revisit an old friend who has a steakhouse in the nearby historic village of Buffalo Gap. Tom Perini and his Perini Ranch Steakhouse are local legends. Almost ten years ago we produced a story with Tom on western chuckwagon cooking here in Texas. He serves up fabulous steaks in his Buffalo Gap restaurant. If you're a meateater, these steaks rival anything you'd find at Ruth's Chris or in Omaha.

Daisy and I had a filet you could cut with a fork and Paul, not being much of a red meat eater, had the child's plate--a corndog and fries. This, by the way, is another one of those dry Texas county situations where you have to join the private club in order to drink. Lot of club members here.

It's okay to smoke, but God forbid you should have a drink.

Today we're expecting more thunderstorms, some severe with possible tornadoes. Taking off in about an hour for Pecos, Texas. Then Las Cruces, then home.

Right now Daisy's having breakfast, eating the last of the leftovers from last night. And the vet chided us for feeding her red meat saying it would only make her mean. Actually, it only makes her poop. But if gives me plenty of exercise leaning over to scoop the poop. After all, it's all about the dog.