When General Douglas MacArthur crept out out of the Philippines in 1942 he vowed one day to return. No one, especially not a corn-cob-chewin American likes leaving their business unfinished. And so it is with me and Texas. Last year I had to mothball the rig and head back to Seattle on a red-eye out of Houston, leaving a lot of t-shirts on the proverbial table.  My grand plans of crossing the country in search of all the shirts fit-to-be-found came grinding to a halt at the Texas/Louisiana border. But not one to leave a good idea undone, I am reporting to you from the Lone Star State that, at last, I have returned. This I mostly say to myself and all my Texas friends that I made promises to last year.

A big “Thank You” goes out to the crack team at Allen Samuels Chevrolet in Houston, TX, (Mr. X, Wayne and Tracy), who resurrected the Suburban after its year exiled in a storage yard on the north side of Houston. She’s as good as she ever was and now sits contently outside the  The Mean Eyed Cat bar in Austin, Texas… scene to some more of my unfinished business. (t-shirt coming soon)

I’m here for just a few days, saying my hellos and preparing to launch the rest of the  Texas t-shirts . Then I’ll be pointing my canoe North and picking my way through Oklahoma and the Mountain West to hopefully make it home in time for Christmas in Seattle.  If anyone out there knows of a place in OK, CO, WY, MT or ID that would make a great addition to the Destee-Nation family drop a suggestion in our box here and I’ll do my best. Otherwise I’ll rely on my peripheral vision and awkward, truck stop, bathroom conversations.

From somewhere out there,

Gabe