A few months ago Austin came home from work with good news. The Turnpike Troubadours were back together and were going on tour! We started looking at tour dates and locations and thought maybe it was too expensive and we shouldn’t go. After a few days of thinking about it, I looked at tickets again and decided to just pull the trigger. I bought them and called Austin while he was at work to tell him that we were going. I do all of my best shopping when Austin is at work! We suckered some grandparents into taking all of our kids for a few days because we were going to Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth to see the Troubadours. After we bought the tickets we realized we needed to figure out what vehicle we would drive down for the show. We were leaving the van with whoever had the kids so they could haul them around.

Being the wonderful wife that I am, I told Austin to get his Trans Am running so we could take that. It hadn’t run for about 7 years. I know what you’re all thinking. “This isn’t going to end well. How many times did they get stranded? How many tires did they blow?” Austin started working on the car and had it running about two weeks before we left.

We don’t do anything around here without their help.
Ellie and Gran’s first ride in it!

We put new tires on it and with 36ish hours to spare, the car was totally ready for the trip! We dropped our kids off on Wednesday night and hit the road early Thursday morning.

Would it have even been a road trip if we hadn’t stopped at a car wash?

We stopped in Oklahoma City Thursday and met some friends for lunch. Then we got back on the road and drove the rest of the way. About 30 minutes before our hotel, we stopped to see some family for a quick visit. We decided showing up on their doorstep completely unannounced would be the best way to do it.

We made it to our hotel late Thursday night and crashed. Friday morning we woke up and went to the Fort Worth stockyards to see what that was all about. We watched their famous cattle drive and did some shopping.

Austin laughed about this for way too long.

In the afternoon we went back to the hotel to get ready for the show. We were told that we should get to the venue really early if we wanted a place to sit or a good place to stand. We paid for tickets in the pit and after seeing how big Billy Bob’s is, we decided we wanted to stand in the pit for the show. We got to Billy Bob’s around 6 and grabbed dinner there. At about 6:30 we got in line to get into the pit which opened at 8. Mike and the Moonpies played at 9 and the Troubadours came on at 10. I was reminded that I’m not as young as I once was when my feet started to hurt before the show even started. The Troubadours put on an awesome show and the atmosphere was quite the experience. When Austin said he wanted to go to the show at Billy Bob’s he acted like I should know what it was. Apparently, it’s the world’s largest honkey tonk. We will definitely be back there someday!

Saturday morning came quickly and we started heading home. Before we were even out of the hotel, grandma texted to ask us what time we’d be home. We stopped at a gas station that some friends recommended to us called Buc-ee’s. It was described to us as “sensory overload” and it absolutely was just that. If you’ve ever wanted to visit a gas station that has a mascot, then Buc-ee’s might be the place for you. Our next little pit stop was The Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park. You know…Joe Exotic’s zoo! It’s not at all secluded like the Netflix series makes it look.

We assumed these were the trailers that the employees lived in. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Austin decided he didn’t want to drive the whole way home so we stayed in Oklahoma City that night. We went to one of their local malls to walk around that evening and got stuck there in a tornado warning. The people watching there was almost as good as the concert! Austin says he 10/10 would recommend being stuck in a mall during a tornado warning. The mall cop sprung into action and started exercising her authority HARD. We eventually got to our hotel and ordered dinner before calling it a night.

Sunday morning we got back on the road and made it home by early afternoon. That’s it. That’s the whole story. No break downs. No blown tires. Just a quick trip to the world’s largest honkey tonk and back!