- The "Daytripper" is made possible by Rudy's, real Texas barbecue.

Shipping nationwide at rudys.com.

Karbach Brewing Company from Houston, Texas, makers of Karbach Lager, a beer that is proudly partnered with Don't Mess with Texas, please dispose responsibly.

Visit Georgetown, where big ideas meet small town charm.

Georgetown, the most beautiful town square in Texas.

Texas Farm Bureau Insurance, protection and peace of mind for Texans since 1952.

Don Hewlett Chevrolet Buick in Georgetown.

Making Texas road trips possible for over 50 years.

Don Hewlett Chevrolet Buick, Texas True.

Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages, Texas' local bottler providing the Lone Star state with a variety of Coca-Cola products.

- At the center of our solar system is the sun.

At the center of a kolache is the fruit.

And at the center of yourself, you find the zen.

I think.

Now a point is the good stuff lies at the center.

Anyone who's eaten the Tootsie Pop knows that.

And Texas is no different.

Welcome to Ce- - No, no, no.

Chet you need to get more that way.

- Oh, stand over here.

Welcome to Ce- - No, no, no, no.

The other way.

- What?

Where do you want me to stand, Daniel?

- (exhales) I don't know.

Maybe in the... - Aha, Centerville!

(upbeat country music) Woohoo!

(upbeat country music) (upbeat country music) Centerville sits on Interstate 45, about 120 miles from both Dallas to the north and Houston to the south.

(upbeat country music) Now most folks think this town was named because it's the center point between Dallas and Houston and confession, I did too.

But that's not true because when this town was founded in 1850, Dallas was barely a blip on the Texas map.

No, it's Centerville because it's the center of Leon County.

However, in hindsight it seems the name was a bit providential because over a century later when Interstate 45 was built, guess what town sits at a near perfect halfway point between two of the biggest cities in the country?

Centerville.

Seems this town was destined to be the center of the Texas universe.

Now if you've driven Interstate 45, you've likely never stopped and might not have even noticed Centerville.

That is unless you were stopping into its most famous highway attraction.

I'm talking about Woody's Smokehouse.

It was a mega gas station before mega gas stations were cool.

And this is Woody's son, Brock Beamer.

All right, Brock so Woody's is a little more than a gas station.

- Yeah, just a little bit.

(Chet laughs) I know my mom always said that we were like six, seven businesses in one with meat counter, barbecue deli, convenience store, gift shop.

(Chet laughs) - Every day, thousands flood into Woody's for fuel, restrooms, home decor, even pickled quail eggs.

But let us not forget about their true claim to fame as the jerky capital of the world.

All right, so how many kinds of jerky?

- So we have about 11 in the case from the venison, spicy venison, buffalo, spicy buffalo.

- Can I try some of 'em?

- Yeah, so my favorite honestly- - Yeah.

- Is the sweet and spicy beef.

- Okay.

Oh, that's good man.

Get your bucket of that in the console all day.

Here we go.

(plastic rustling) It's the snack size.

Sometimes I think we go on road trips just for the snacks and that is totally okay.

Brock's sister actually runs the Woody's on the other side of the highway and it can be just as packed.

- Mr.

Wood had a a good vision.

(laughs) - No doubt.

- Catching everybody going both directions, he's got you.

- Yeah.

So you literally grew up running around this place?

- I'd come to work with them, during lunch I'd have a little apron that had my name on it, and I had white trays (Chet laughs) for tips.

- That's awesome.

Today Brock's running much more than cleaning crew.

He's smoking meat and there is a lot of it.

- I know on this one we have some of the ribs.

- Okay.

Ooh, there we go.

Now are y'all known more as like a rib house, chicken house, brisket house?

What are you?

- Back when I guess we first started it was mostly the ribs and brisket.

Now it's just grown.

They used to all sell so much.

- So like, okay.

Brock's also one of the few people that knows the family secrets.

Ooh, where'd the recipes come from with this?

- So that comes from Mr.

Wood himself.

It all came from his brain that he taught to me and a couple other guys to make.

Oh, is that like the secret formula for Coke like... - Yeah, I would say, yeah.

- You only know half of it and someone else only knows half of it, except for Mr.

Wood.

(Brock laughs) These pits run on a combination of charcoal and hickory.

I tell you, this is way different from many of the craft barbecue joints we usually visit.

At Woody's, like on the interstate the goal is speed.

Y'all don't want that two hour wait going out your door?

- No, it's all about efficiency.

- Yeah.

- Get 'em in, make 'em happy and then send 'em down the highway.

- Nice.

- It's our summer sausage right now that we have smoking.

- Oh, I like it.

So if I stand in this room, I get smoked.

- Nah, we got this safety knob you can get out.

- Oh dang.

I was like... - Wait, you want to get smoked?

- Yeah, I mean, you know, it's a good way to go.

Like if you were gonna go getting smoked next to a big wall of sausage, it's not bad.

I'd probably be a little chewy.

Besides, they've already got plenty of meat ready to serve up.

All right, you know man cannot live on jerky alone.

So barbecue, that's technically probably man could live on jerky alone.

Okay, I gotta get some Boudin.

Lemme get a sausage as well.

A couple poppers.

Yeah, let's do a couple pork ribs.

A slice of fatty brisket.

And then let's do a pork chop.

- Pork chop.

- That's not bad.

Call that the woody sampler platter.

(laughs) I think I've got like a sampling of the entire animal kingdom here.

We've got some beef, some pork, we've got some venison, some elk sausage and then inside the poppers we even have shrimp.

Since it's Woody Smokehouse, they'll smoke anything dead.

Little fancy gas station charcuterie, Oh, that's good.

I'm amazed at the number of people that have come in and gone through that line.

Like in hours I don't think that line behind me has stopped at all.

I gotta try this pork chop.

You come in here expecting to get yourself some jerky and a soda pop and you leave loaded up on real deal Tex barbecue.

Pretty good pit stop.

- Oh Chet, there's only one thing you're missing.

Some spicy pickled quail eggs.

- Oh my gosh.

- All right, you're doing it with me.

(upbeat rock music) Okay.

(Chet laughs) Everything I ever dreamed it would be.

It's like a boiled egg and a pickled jalapeno had a baby together.

- Hey.

- Aye, not bad?

- That's not too bad.

- I'll tell you, it's amazing the things you can find at a gas station in Centerville.

(upbeat rock music) All right, guys.

Got a little snack for the road.

- Oh boy.

- You know, I figure when you're in the jerky capital of the world, you gotta get a little jerky for the road, right?

- Oh.

- Have y'all ever stopped in Centerville?

- Are you saying Centerville?

- Centerville?

- I thought it was Centerville.

- It is.

It's Centerville.

- Like the Las Vegas of Texas.

(people laugh) - Oh.

- Centerville.

- I guess technically it's Centerville.

- Yeah.

- As a way to give yourself up that you ain't from around these parts.

We love stopping in Centerville for your- - Centerville.

- Quaint jerky selections.

(person laughs) You know, I knew we were going to a small place.

I didn't realize it was that small.

- Yeah, I mean that was pretty small.

- Yeah, but there's stuff to do.

- What?

- Well, stay tuned jerky.

- Okay.

- Eat jerky.

- Jerky out here.

- There's tons to do here.

- Yeah.

- It's all in this bag here.

- I can't, I can't.

(group laugh) - Centerville is likely even smaller than you think.

Its population is less than a thousand.

And it's only stoplight flashes.

But what Centerville has in spades is history and one of the oldest courthouses in Texas.

So let's trip back in time with the tour of the pride of Leon County.

Oh wow.

This is amazing.

So when was this built?

- It was completed in 1886.

- Wow.

- After the first one burned.

- This is Gary Bob Wood with the Leon County Historical Commission.

And much of the brick used was reclaimed from that original courthouse and has the scars to prove it.

And like most historic buildings, well this one endured years of hard use and neglect, but has now been restored and is better than ever.

Did the courtroom look just like this?

- Pretty much.

And when they redone this, they redone it in original state.

- This is incredible.

- Even down to the dual jury, pools- - Wait, okay.

- Back in days four, air conditioning, they were fine sitting over here in the eve, but they had to get out of the west in the afternoon and get out of the sun, coming outta the windows and stuff.

- Oh.

(laughs) - It was cooler on the east side of the building 'cause of the heat on the bricks.

- (laughs) See they were a lot smarter than we give 'em credit for, just- - Absolutely.

- Up to the other side of the building.

- Absolutely.

- Well, this is a first for me, two jury boxes and two witness stands depending on the time of day and the breeze that might be blowing.

Pretty genius actually.

You got two fireplaces in here for the winter.

- Correct.

And I do believe there's 13 fireplaces total in here in the whole courthouse.

- That's why they burned down so much.

- (laughs) That could be a good indicator.

- Yeah.

You get a good fire going, and this is the warmest potty in Texas.

Did I see the old jail next door?

- Correct, it was given the name, the hanging jail 'cause it has a hanging door on the second floor.

- Oh, creepy.

(Gary laughs) What kind of trials were held in courthouse like this?

- I've got records at home, you know, from in staged robberies, you know.

- Oh, okay.

- They used to call 'em road agents, you know, people would hang out out there and wait for a little payroll to come in.

Basically watch your old Western show.

- Yeah.

But Wild West crimes got Wild West justice.

This area went through some pretty tumultuous times.

Back during the Republic of Texas, it was so dangerous that the Texas Rangers built a fort to protect local pioneers.

It was called Fort Boggy.

And while it's wooden structures are long gone, Fort Boggy State Park still offers a way to experience its memory.

Man, this park is total hidden gem.

15 acre lake out there, hiking trails, cabins, and this pavilion, which you know, in a lot of other parks, you would look at something like this and go, oh, that got built in the 30s by the CCC, but not here at Fort Boggy.

This didn't become a park until the early 2000s and this pavilion was built by the inmates of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and construction evidently.

They did a pretty good job.

I guess in a hundred years we'll know how good they really were.

And this small park is like a little oasis for troopers like me looking for a quiet moment in nature.

Got a lot of options in a park like this.

You can go hiking, you can go kayaking, swimming, but I brought my fishing pole today and I am indeed feeling lucky.

Are y'all ready to watch me fish for the next three, four hours maybe?

- They're probably ready to watch you try.

- Hey now I don't like that attitude.

I'm gonna get my pole.

We're gonna catch some fish.

This lake is full of everything from perch to trout.

And based on our experience fishing with cameras rolling, well, I'll be lucky just to catch anything.

♪ Going fishing, going fishing, going fishing ♪ You gotta start off and just catch one.

Then you can slowly progress up and start going for the bigger ones.

(gentle guitar music) Take it.

There you go.

There we go folks.

That's the monster I've been looking for.

Now see, I told y'all I can catch a fish.

(Chet laughs) - Haven't I seen that one at the pet store?

- (laughs) Shut your mouth.

- (laughs) Whoa.

- Look how big.

- That's a big one.

- Oh.

All right guy.

(Chet speaks in foreign language) Now we need his big old brother.

Come on now.

You can do it.

Follow your destiny right to my hook.

You got it.

Green lots only.

Green lots at the bottom of that hook.

No.

(groans) Let's go deeper.

Let's go deeper.

Big fish are deeper, right?

I gotta get a kayak.

I'm gonna go in the middle, like the real deep sea fishing sorts.

And I think I can get away from all these little nibblers and get a real biter, you know what I mean?

All right, so this is a 15 acre lake.

All of this used to be private property.

This ranch was donated to the state in order to become a park.

And you know, with so much of Texas owned by private citizens, it takes extremely generous people to see down the road, the future generations and say, "I want my special land to be a park for all the residents of Texas to enjoy."

All right, I think I'm deep enough.

If I were a big giant bass, this is exactly where I'd be.

(Chet laughs) Yeah, baby.

I think the little ones are following me.

Find something bigger to eat.

All right, I got a secret weapon for these fish, jerky.

Oh yeah, they're going to love it.

(sniffing) (groans) It's been in my pocket for a few hours, so it's extra stinky.

But regardless of what's biting, I'm just happy to be fishing.

(laughs) We got a big bite.

Hey!

Catfish.

I believe that's a blue cat right there.

I have no intentions of eating this catfish, so we're gonna call this catch and release.

(Chet speaks in foreign language) So as they say, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

And it's hot out here.

It's amazing that less than half a mile away is one of the busiest interstates in the country.

And yet it feels like I'm on my own little island.

Aha, guys, guess what?

I got more jerky.

- Oh - I still got some stuck in my teeth from earlier, Chet.

(Chet laughs) - Yeah.

- It is an ultimate insult to a Texan to not accept his jerky offer.

All right, have you ever driven I-45 from Dallas to Houston?

- Yes, I actually have.

- I've only done it once in life, but I'm not a highway man.

I like going on the back roads.

- You're a country man.

- I'm a country boy.

(John Mark laughs) Slow down, cruise, you can count the cows in the pastures.

- You got a whole bunch of wildflowers.

I'm in the country, I'll started talking like that.

- You've done this before, Daniel.

- Man, lemme tell you.

- I think more of the country twang comes out like if you start heading East Texas.

We just crossed over into East Texas, so like... - Wait, that just that.

- Yeah, like I-45 I think is the delineator.

Welcome to East Texas.

You gotta slow down a little bit.

- Wait, so was that- - What's delineator?

- Delineator.

- Is that a McConaughey or is that a George W?

It's kind like... - I think it's a more McConaughey slow down.

Hey, hey, hey.

We don't have anywhere to be other than right here.

(John Mark laughs) - You bringing some jerky?

- That's right.

- Be a lot better if you did.

(group laugh) - We're gonna follow these country roads a little further up Boggy Creek to a place where we're not gonna have to catch our own food.

We are gonna pick it at Huebner Berry Farms.

Owned by these berry special people, Steve and Carol Huebner.

I've heard about y'all's berries far and wide.

- All right.

- Yeah, indeed.

So I guess I don't have to pick any, I'll just buy this right here.

- We want you to have the experience (people laugh) picking your berry.

- I remember picking blackberries in my grandma's bushes behind her house.

- Oh yes.

- Yeah.

- How old are these bushes?

- These bushes that had fruit on 'em are two years old.

We have one thorn variety such as this.

This is Kiowa.

And then we have four thornless varieties.

- Wait, hold up.

I just learned something.

Blackberry bushes can be thornless.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

- What?

I did not know this.

- Yes, yes.

- I figured that was part of the price of admission.

You just had to aw, aw.

- Yeah.

- And like, you know, pick the- - No.

- In fact we have six varieties.

- Six different varieties.

Do they taste different?

- They all have a slightly different flavor.

- Okay.

- Slightly different sugar content.

- Can I pick one?

- Sure - I wanna eat one.

- Of course.

- What's a good one right there.

- There you go.

- That's not as big as some.

- That's a good one.

- You wanna pick 'em black.

You want 'em all black.

You don't want 'em red.

They're not raspberries.

- Oh, yeah.

(group laugh) Yeah, yeah.

It turns out there are hundreds of blackberry varieties.

And these out here love this east Texas sandy soil and seem to love their farmers too.

- Okay, Chet, this is a different variety.

This is Osage.

- To me they have a richer- - Oh gosh.

- Flavor.

- They definitely taste different than those.

- Yeah.

- Some varieties are bright and sweet like jelly on the vine.

Others are rich and dark like a fine wine.

- You're welcome to try as many as you want.

- Okay.

That's good to know.

Man, I love this because you know, people need to know where food comes from.

That just makes you appreciate it all the more.

I got some work to do to fill my bucket and it's proven a little harder than I thought.

- Hey Chet, what you doing over here?

- I'm just picking berries, Daniel.

- Is your bucket even full?

What?

Are you eating 'em all?

- What?

No, I'm putting 'em in the bucket.

- Uh.

- Don't look at me.

(Daniel laughs) But after a few minutes and a wipe down, I'm ready for the weigh in.

What do you think, Carol?

- All right, you did good.

- I thought so too.

- You did pretty good.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

I even put a few in the bucket.

I might've eaten a few.

(Carol laughs) I might've eaten just a few out there.

- Yeah, now what you gonna do with your blackberries?

- Besides eat 'em?

I don't know.

- (laughs) We have lots of recipes.

- Okay.

- And I'll show you one of my favorites.

- Did you make this?

Get that over here.

Carol has made us some of her famous Blackberry coffee cake.

Ooh, look at that.

That's beautiful.

You're holding out on us.

You're more than just a farmer.

You're a full-on chef, baker as well.

Come on now.

Oh, that's such a good.

It's suck a good mix between like the sugary sweet crumble and the tart berries.

Oh, that's good.

- Enjoy.

(laughs) - Tell me this won the Blue Ribbon at the Centerville Leon County Fair, right?

- No.

- No?

It should.

Hey, thank you so much.

- Sure.

- This has been a blast.

Crew you get none of this.

We gotta load up and go, but I'll take a couple more pieces.

- Hey, excuse me.

- Yeah.

- I think you can have for everybody.

- Hey, there we go.

(Chet groans) (Carol laughs) - It's a very wonderful woman right here.

Thank you.

(Daniel laughs) We might've done this backwards eating dessert before dinner, but hey, that's day tripping.

And based on the line at the place we're headed to eat.

Well, we might be waiting a while.

- Who's first and how many?

- Three.

- Three?

This way.

- A line like this in these parts can only mean one thing.

It's steak night at the Leon General Store.

This little store originally opened in 1921 as a place for all your general needs.

And today it only meets one need, our need for meat.

This is owner Jerry House who with his wife Cynthia started this little part-time joint after retiring as a Methodist preacher.

So you were feeding souls, now you're feeding bellies.

- Exactly.

- And souls though, huh?

I mean.

- Exactly.

- Fellowship around the table.

- There's a lot of commonality in both really.

- How so?

- You have to be ready when people get there and you never know how many are gonna show up.

- (laughs) That's true.

- You know.

It can be... That was one of my nightmares.

- Well, even now- - You never know.

- You're still worried if people are gonna show up or not?

- Really am.

- No way.

- Yeah.

- There's not a stick big enough in Texas to keep these people away.

Each steak is cut to order and cooked over a live fire grill.

They keep their menu simple.

You can order the ribeye or the ribeye.

Everybody gets the same side and salad bar.

Your only choice is how big you want your beef.

Big and huge.

- Yeah.

- Like those are pretty much the portions.

- Yeah, we don't weigh 'em.

- (laughs) Okay.

- And we actually weighed one, one time (Chet laughs) our 10 ounce is actually 16 ounces.

- (laughs) The smallest is 10 ounces.

The biggest?

Just let your Texas dreams run wild.

- We have a board over on the wall.

- I saw this.

- Had one guy that ate a 96 ounce.

- No.

No he did not.

- It's like... - Is he still living?

Like he walked out of here.

- Well yeah.

- I'm gonna let that one stand.

Now this entire operation is a family affair.

Jerry and Cynthia's daughters work the pit and the dining room while his son-in-law, Don, works the butcher block.

So how many of these do y'all go through?

- About 40 of these a night.

That's a smaller cut.

That's gonna be about 12.

- Okay.

Oh, that's a beautiful steak.

- That's gonna be 14 if you weigh that.

It's gonna be probably 16, this 18.

- You're basically responsible for losing this place lots of lots of money.

- Lots of money, but- - But you're still around so they must like it.

- Well, I'm family.

So you can't help that.

- On a busy night, this store will serve 600 people.

That's four times the population of Leona.

But folks are willing to wait for greatness.

So how long y'all been waiting for a table?

Y'all don't look like y'all are doing too good though.

Can someone get these folks a table anywhere?

And while I'm waiting, Jerry offered to show me around.

Is this remnants from the old general store?

- Yes.

Yeah.

- The '05.

- We left this shelf- - '89?

- When was the last time you used magic shaving powder.

- Shaving powder.

Removes beard without a razor.

Basically chemically melts it off your face.

- Yeah it does.

Well, when we bought the store, a lot of this was here.

- Okay.

- It was like a little museum.

- I bet you've got just a lot of old timers who come in with stories.

- Yeah.

- Or stories that their parents, grandparents.

- Exactly.

- So y'all are like the continual living history of Leona- - Yep.

Yeah.

- Right?

Jerry has definitely found a new congregation and I'm ready for someone to pass me the plate.

(gasps) Yes.

- Here you go.

I got a 12 ounce medium rare.

- (laughs) Thank you.

- All right, you enjoy.

- Thank you.

Oh, I will.

So I got a 12 ounce medium rare rib eye but let's look at this thing that is not 12 ounces.

That's at least a pound.

And (imitates steak whooshing) there she is.

Oh yeah.

Man, what I love you can actually like you could smell the smoke and the charcoal, the fire.

(upbeat country music) Oh yeah.

Oh that's so good.

'Cause you get that sear on the outside but still so juicy on the inside.

Oh man.

(groans) Texas is a big state and I've seen a lot of it.

And I can say with certainty there is not another place like the Leona General Store anywhere.

Yes it is because of the steak 'cause the steak is amazing, but it's also 'cause of the people.

The people care about you, you know, they wanna make sure that you're happy and very, very, very well fed.

Let's say you like a good roadside stop.

You love history, but you also wanna spend some time outdoors.

You love people, steak, and the feeling of old fashioned Texas hospitality.

And these might all seem like different things, but there's one day trip that lies at the center of all of 'em.

Oh, I failed to mention that Jerry's cousin Donald House decided to renovate the old soda fountain next door.

And so I know exactly what we're doing for dessert.

Ooh, thank you so much.

- You're welcome.

- All right, so I'll see all y'all out on the road.

(Chet speaks in foreign language) (upbeat music) (groans) I love it.

- The "Daytripper" is made possible by Rudy's, real Texas barbecue.

Shipping nationwide at rudys.com.

Karbach Brewing Company from Houston, Texas, makers of Karbach Lager, a beer that is proudly partnered with Don't Mess with Texas, please dispose responsibly.

Visit Georgetown, where big ideas meet small town charm.

Georgetown, the most beautiful town square in Texas.

Texas Farm Bureau Insurance, protection and peace of mind for Texans since 1952.

Don Hewlett Chevrolet Buick in Georgetown.

Making Texas road trips possible for over 50 years.

Don Hewlett Chevrolet Buick, Texas True.

Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages, Texas' local bottler providing the Lone Star state with a variety of Coca-Cola products.