We were driving back roads from Lake Tawakoni to Lake Whitney, Texas. I lost the back road driving through Waxahachie, and wound up on IH-35E. Normally, I avoid IH-35 in all forms like the plague. IH-35 has been “under destruction” since I moved to Austin in 1969.
This detour was fortuitous, however. We cruised past the city limits sign for Carl’s Corner, Texas. I remembered that Carl’s Corner, Texas is where the first Bio Willie (biodiesel) was sold in Texas. I told my husband Michael that we had to stop and see the Bio Willie pumps.
Michael started telling a story about Carl’s Truck Stop and huge frogs. Sometimes I wonder about Michael and his stories; but, sure enough, there were larger-than-human-sized dancing frogs in formal dress on the Carl’s Corner truckstop sign. Beneath the frogs, rested the custom tanks and pumping stations for Bio Wllie.
Carl Corner, Texas, is the outcome of trying to get a liquor license in a dry county. Carl’s Corner contains many things: truckstop with laundry and showers, hall of bathrooms (women’s to the right), souvenir shop, convenience store, and full-service restaurant. As I was walking around reading bumper stickers and looking at t-shirts, I wandered into a hallway of Willie. There were hundreds of pictures of Willie Nelson and other stars that have stopped at Carl’s Corner over the years.
Evidently, Willie and Carl have been friends for a long time. Willie built the auditorium on the back of the Carl’s Truckstop as a 350-seat live performance theatre where big names (like Willie) play on the weekends. The hall covers the largest indoor pool in this part of Texas. That was one of Carl’s idea that did not quite pan out. That’s okay. The StarBucks idea of Willie’s did not work out either.
The story I have told is not over nor is it complete. Stop at Carl’s Corner, Texas on IH-35E and get the full story. There is a world of wonder, friendship, personal struggle and triumph beneath the dancing frogs. Only in Texas …
