Don’t count the days, make the days count.
Mohammad Ali
Day 74 of our journey; it is truly the beginning of our drive “north” to home. From Waco we are heading diagonally to the most northeast point in Texas. We decided to break up the 6 hours of driving with a few stops.
Do you pay attention to the bill boards on the side of the road that are advertising businesses? Well, for whatever reason today was the day we paid attention. There must have been at least 10 billboard signs telling us to stop at the historic Collin Street Bakery. Even though it was not on our direct route we did find ourselves taking the quick detour to Corsicana Texas, to check out the bakery.
Stop 1: What we learned along the way today is that Corsicana, Texas with a population of 25,000 is known as being one of the first oil discoveries west of the Mississippi. In 1894, while drilling for water, they struck oil. It then become Texas’s first oil boom town. It is also known for being home of the original Wolf Brand Chili. The recipe was developed in 1895 and sold in Corsicana during the oil boom. Till this date 128 years later they are still using the original recipe. No, I did not try the canned chili!
Now, to the reason for our stop; the bakery. Opened in 1896, this 127-year-old family-owned and operated bakery is home to the world famous, one of a kind, Deluxe Fruitcake. Really? Apparently, world famous, who knew? The company must be doing well as there is a news report about how one of their employees embezzled 17 million over 9 years. Imagine $17 million, selling fruit cakes. (That’s a lot of cakes) I am not a fan of fruitcake, however all their other baked goods looked amazing! 😊
So, to answer the question above, Oil, Chili and Fruitcake all started out in Corsicana Texas!
Stop 2: As we have mentioned before one of the biggest challenges, we have had on this trip is to find WIFI. Our campground for tonight Lake Tawakoni State Park (our last Texas state Park.). It did not have any, this meant we had to stop along the way for Steve’s meeting. A quick stop in a little town called Wills Point, served this purpose. A Very small town!
Stop 3 of this drive, we decided to stop in the town of Pittsburgh, Texas that is. What a quaint little town. We checked out the feed and seed shop which was actually had the Anvil Brewery in the back (of course it did 😊).
Final Stop, Wright Patman Lake. This Corps of Engineers campground was our home for the last two nights in Texas. ☹. This park was absolutely gorgeous; the flowers were in bloom and the sunset on the lake was lovely. Bonus – they had WIFI!