Texas Redneck Road Trips (Texas Pocket Guide)
''The man who loves all things Texas is sure to enjoy this mini guide to some of the Lone Star State's unique and intriguing attractions.'' --Fort Worth Star-Telegram''So you want to get out and see some parts of Texas beyond the Alamo, Six Flags, NASA, and the state Capitol? In his new, pocket-sized guidebook, Texas Redneck Road Trips, Wimberly author Allan C. Kimball invites you to wear your jeans and come along with him to visit the Cathedral of Junk in Austin, the Toilet Seat Art Museum in Alamo Heights, the Lefty Frizzell Country Music Museum in Corsicana, Col. Bubbie's Strand Surplus Senter in Galveston, the Watermelon Thump in Luling -- more than 50 places altogether.  ''At the Frontier Times Museum in Bandera, you can see the shrunken head of an 18-year-old Jivaro Indian woman, as well as a goat with two faces and a map of Texas made of rattlesnake rattles. There's Frank's Bait & Taco Café at Canyon Lake owned by not Frank, but Eddie. It's full of odd stuff, including a sign by the men's room commode saying, 'Santa Stops Here.' You can shoot feral hogs from a helicopter at Fort Stockton after a stop to visit the world's largest roadrunner, Paisano Pete, a fiberglass statue created in 1980. Of course, no redneck tour would be complete without visiting the dance hall, saloon and gift shop in Luckenbach, or the mystery lights outside of Marfa, or the Big Texan Steakhouse and the Cadillac Ranch and Slug Bug Ranch at Amarillo, or the Shiner brewery in Shiner. Fort Worth gets several pages as Kimball labels it the Redneck Capital of Texas. Really? The city with all the art museums and Bass Hall? I have to admit that I wouldn't mind having my picture taken in Paris (Texas, that is) in front of the town's 65-foot-tall Eiffel Tower topped with a red cowboy hat, but I think I'll skip the Snake Farm at New Braunfels. My mouth waters reading about barbecue in Lockhart or the meringue pie at the Blue Bonnet Café in Marble Falls, and I've actually eaten at Pig Stand No. 29 on Broadway in San Antonio, the last of what once was a thriving chain of 130 drive-in restaurants that featured the Pig Sandwich among other delights. There's much more, but you get the picture. 'Take a road trip or two,' the author advises, 'and you'll have more fun than a lost dog in a meat market.' '' --Glenn Dromgoole, Bryan/College Station Eagle