Hico Where Everybody is Somebody

See?  I didn't make that slogan up.  They should probably add "Where everybody knows everybody's business" too.

While at the Paranormal Expo my brother messaged me to see if we wanted to meet his family to shoot some photos and have some pie.  My sister-in-law and I have a pie history.  She traveled with me on a business trip once.  My customer recommended Darwell's Cafe  in Long Beach, MS for dinner.  They were featured on The The Food Network's show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  We went back several times, a couple of times just for pie.

David and I are way ahead of them to our destination so we decide to eat lunch to kill some time.  We leave Granbury and drive to Stephenville, Texas.  Stephenville is home to Tarleton State University and happens to be where my mother was born.  Stephenville is not much different from Granbury or Weatherford or any of the other towns in the area so the places to eat are pretty standard.

David really wants Dairy Queen.  He is obviously the photographer here.  I confused the cashier by ordering this hot dog without the chili or cheese.  After having mountain oysters a few days before, this seemed like a safe choice.

Once our companions catch up, we head to Hico to check out the Billy the Kid Museum.  It is based on the premise that Billy the Kid wasn't killed as originally reported and instead, moved to Hico under an assumed name and lived out his life in relative obscurity.

The museum is in the nearly deserted "downtown" and operates solely off of donations.

If they charged, people might mutiny.  It is a one room display with photos and newspaper clippings and TV running something I never looked at.  Here are the boys however, pretending to be riveted.  I wonder if they loaned their other chairs to the Paranormal Expo?

You can have your picture made with Billy.

Or even AS Billy.  This is me fixing my tie.

David, who had to be cropped because his mother reads this blog.

My niece, who at 17 isn't tall enough to be Billy.  We suggested she stand on that chair behind her.

My brother and "Billy's" new girlfriend.

This really is their only claim to fame in Hico.

Except for this:

I have serious questions about the business acumen of the person who decided they would locate branches of their business in New York, Los Angeles and Hico, Texas.

And if you were wondering, yes, I did make a donation to the museum.  Maybe it will help them pay for air conditioning some day because they either don't have it or it wasn't on.  

The rest of the day consisted of taking photos so I will close this post with some of my favorites from that day.  

I almost forgot about the pie!  If you are ever near Hico run by Koffee Kup for a slice.  I had fresh strawberry and it was really good.  Not Darwell's good but still, worth the stop.