We pass them everyday along the paths of our lives. Faces we try to pinpoint where we know them from or have seen them before. Shadows in our memories of someone they remind us of. Individuals we don’t even notice. And sometimes, if we’re lucky enough, they speak to us. Here are some of the people whose character and charm have introduced themselves into my existence, in some shape or form. Those that have made me who I am just by knowing who they are. I often pray that God will open my eyes that I may see those whom he has placed before me. Here you will find a few of them. Strange, odd, unique, genuine and sometimes, well, they are “us.”
Larry’s Better Burger
I asked, “Are you the owner?” With a quick look over his shoulder he smiled and said, “I am when my wife’s not around.” This is it, one in a million. Among all the chain fast food restaurants, hip pop up joints and those tucked away in trendy corners, here it was, is, Larry’s Better Burger in Abilene, Tx. This is Somewheretexas. Your original mom and pop hamburger joint, family owned and operated. Each burger, fry, soft drink…Wildcat Special, served with pride. Just as it was served from day one. I sat in the car watching car after car drive up. People walking up to the window, making their order then returning to their cars, trucks and SUVs and cracking their windows slightly not to miss their food order number being called over the speakers. “Ninety, order number ninety” I heard scratching through the rumble of traffic behind me. Ninety, that was me!
A while back on a trip to Abilene, I passed this place. It had some buzz to it and caught my 
attention. I dig places like this. Old and nostalgic with promise of that burger I had as a kid. Plans to stop on another trip maybe was the plan. That day came, but Larry’s was closed for the weekend. I stopped, snapped a few pictures to post. The pictures were posted on Instagram and Facebook, and that’s where the real magic began. You see, I love to write and share. I love the people I come across and to write about them and who they are. I love to write and share the experiences of food meeting mind. I love to try and recreate through images of the who’s and what’s if only to tickle someone’s curiosity to go experience them for themselves. But this time, it was different. Before I got to go back, before I ordered my Larry’s hamburger, fries and Pepsi, before I bit into the wonderfully, butter crusted textured bun of this crazy good mustard burger, all the way, before I reached for the hand cut fry, they were hand cut? right?, or sipped on my cold, iced soda, the story unfolded and this real magic began.
On August 14, 2018, I posted on my Facebook page the picture of Larry’s as I had found it closed for the weekend. The 
next day my email notifications was going haywire in reference to the post. I decided to take a look and see what was going on. To my wonder and over 72,000 views, 968 likes, 699 shares and 260 comments (and counting), later, I was introduced to Larry’s Better Burger and a community of love. THIS, was and is what Somewheretexas.com is all about. The perfect example. It’s about people, places, food, it’s about a community. There on that post, I watched it unravel before my eyes, comment after comment. I could write about who Larry is. Who his family is. I could write about the history. But I could never do the job that all those comments were. Memory after memory after memory. This my friends, is what life is all about. This, I can’t make up. As Paul Harvey would say, “And this, is the rest of the story…” I would like to encourage you to read through the comments of the Facebook post to get the story. In these times and days we’re are going through, these are the type of things we need to experience. CLICK HERE FOR THE FACEBOOK LINK! Enjoy!
