Benton Lake: Remedy To The Baylor Heat

After the Ranger's walk-off home run against the Angels, we fizzled out in a cheap motel in Dallas for two days of catching up on sleep and posts. From what we saw, Dallas was a hot, miserable place with zero character and...actually no other opinions come to mind. However, the drive getting out of Dallas led to a lot of good. Our first stop was Waco, TX, to visit Baylor University and check out the football stadium (you know the drill by now). 

Unlike our Tuscaloosa troubles, there was a gate open for easy field access. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to do our best Robert Griffin III impressions.

A panoramic shot of Floyd Casey Stadium.

The outside temperature was 102 degrees. The on-field temperature felt like 115. Wolf was wearing shoes and the heat penetrated to his feet. Peter attempted to take off his sandals to have crisper cuts on his routes. That didn't last long.

After throwing several touchdowns and working up a nasty sweat, we settled down with some field goal practice. Wolf did his best Maldonado impression connecting on 1/3 while Peter went Shoeless Joe Jackson and hit 2/3. 

We left the stadium dripping sweat and in desperate need of a cold body of water. Wolf was driving so Peter scoured the map for a lake, river, creek, pond, stream, or puddle. 

Peter, with the help of the trusty atlas, found Benton Lake. After taking small city streets, we found an access point. We parked, high fived, and headed straight in.

The lake was enormous. Wolf's buddy from Bellevue, Washington, Kyle, provided some insight on Texas lakes. He said there are only two natural lakes in Texas and the rest are man-made. The man-made lakes are always situated next to an Army base and, sure enough, Fort Hood was a stones throw away.

We grabbed the football and dove in immediately.

The water temperature was a warm 78, but compared to the 100+ degree heat, it felt amazing. We threw around the football and decided to grab a couple beers. To determine who had to go to the car and get them, we played "first one to drop the ball had to go." We would throw wabblers and you could only use one hand. After a few throws, Peter had to make the long walk to Black Sally. This was the start of our newly invented game. Very similar to beersbee, each person must hold a beer in one hand and you accumulate points for your opponent dropping a pass. More to come from this game.

We left feeling refreshed and headed south to Austin. We passed this sign about three miles down the road. We were happy to find a much less popularized area of the lake.

We worked up quite an appetite from our hours in the lake. A family of three at the lake advised us to go to Schoeff's BBQ (pronounced "chef's" BBQ). 

When in Texas, you have to order sausage and fatty brisket. We both ordered similar meals, but Wolf mistakenly got the smoked turkey. All in all, it was an unreal meal. Credit to the meat carver who worked in that furnace of a room, which was over 110 degrees. Literally.

A shot of the cuisine. This was the first of a few great barbecue establishments we toured in our time through central Texas. With full stomachs, we headed a few hours down the highway to Austin, Texas.  

Tomorrow - "Claramount Lake"