Today we are at the equivalent of a UK service station on miracle grow!
Can I just say that in all our years of marriage - I never thought i would hear you say
"Oh look there's a smiling beaver face"
When was the last time you went into your local petrol station and visited the shop...
did it look anything like this?
It's actually overwhelming!
Welcome to the world's largest gas station!
We're Marianne and Chris in 2018 we quit the 9-5 and bought Trudy our camper van!
We are currently on an adventure to drive the circumference of the world!
Okay so today we're heading west towards San Antonio,
but on the way we have a couple of exciting places to show you!
We've got a bit of a grey day today,
They still got weather warnings today, but mostly in middle and northern Texas.
So we're all good we've escaped the crazy storms.
There's a name you'll all recognise Houston,
that is the Houston skyline here in Texas.
and on cue
that's the Houston traffic!
My first experience of America was actually Houston airport in transit!
Okay straight over this junction and then you can park up it should be on the left!
So this is our little detour from Houston just off the i-10 highway!
Welcome to the beer house this house!
It was actually created by a guy called John Milkovich and he used to drink a six pack of beer every day,
and he kept the cans!
In 1960 when he retired he made it a mission to use the cans to completely cover his house,
and to make a gate and fence and put them on the trees,
and when he passed in 1988
he had used a whopping 39,000 beer cans,
and had spent 18 years covering his house!
Isn't that just wonderful and you can hear them ringing out!
It's like the ultimate wind chime!
We saw this and thought it was just such an unusual place that we thought we had to stop.
Unfortunately we can't actually go in there look it's open Saturdays and Sundays,
and we've literally just parked on the residential street here you can see it from the road.
I've never seen anything like it !!
It's art in a new form isn't it?
He's even edged the edge of the sidewalk here of his house,
and the fence all the way along look,
even the gate going in!
He's dug cans into the into the sidewalk here,
absolutely fantastic!
Apparently John was not a massively keen gardener,
so he decided to concrete all these pathways,
he's put loads of little marbles and beads so around the floor it looks like there are jewels in the ground.
Also up on the walls as well here.
I suppose if you don't like gardening that's a great way to not have to cut the grass!
You can actually see where John cut the beer cans and flatten them out to cover the walls.
A bit like here as well on the top here to weatherproof the top of the wooden fence.
The majority of the cans seem to be a beer that's called Texas pride or Light beer look at those.
Okay on to the next stop!
As you drive around the interstates of Texas and Florida, Alabama even Georgia you see these huge signs with a smiling beaver!
This is actually the symbol for Buc-ees which is a big gas station / convenience store!
We first saw them actually on a video by Kara and Nate,
where they spent 24 hours sleeping at the world's largest gas station.
We're actually going to be driving past a very famous buc-ees
because it has a world record,
so we thought we'd take you in and go and see what it's all about!
Buc-ee's next exit!
Can i just say that in all our years of marriage,
I never thought i would hear you say ...
"Oh look there's a smiling beaver face"
Look at the size of this!
Look at the size of that beaver!
So welcome to our first ever Buc-ees
we've come down just outside of Houston to a place called Katty or katy?
I'm not sure how to pronounce it!
They claim to have the world's longest car wash!
It was built back in 2017!
It is a whopping 255 feet long!
It costs $3 million dollars to build!
It takes five minutes to go through the car wash,
and can fit up to 16 cars at a time!
Is that not nuts?
It's $10 for the basic, $13 for the deluxe, $16 for the works!
There is a constant stream of vehicles coming through!
No wonder they need the longest one!
Walking down the side of the car wash,
it smells lovely!
It's very fragrant and soapy!
It's interesting because the cars come in,
and then they load up onto this conveyor belt which takes them at exactly the right speed,
so nobody has any accidents - it's fantastic!
So what's really cool apart from the fact it started raining,
is that the side of the car wash is completely open,
they've got different coloured soaps, yeah this is the pre wash to get off the bugs!
so to get the bug removal off your windscreen before you go through!
But just to give you a perspective, look that's the start it goes all the way along here and that's the end.
Well we timed that right because the heavens have just opened!
They have indeed!
So we're going to head further west now to trying to somewhere to park up for tonight,
and i know so many of you going to say but you didn't film inside Buc-ee's?!
Well tomorrow we're going to go to the world's biggest Buccee's and have some lunch,
so we're saving that one for tomorrow!
We are Buccee fans.
Everyone loves a happy beaver!
You can't beat a smiling beaver
straight and turn right Marianne,
thank you Christopher because i know you get lost in a car park so getting a petrol station this size you got no chance!
I was literally hoping when is he gonna put the camera down and tell me which direction to go!
Good morning we had a fabulous night sleep here in this rest stop
and in fact we had the good news this morning that we hit 80 000 subscribers on our channel !
So thank you to each and every one of you who has taken the time to subscribe
You guys rock!
Anyway today we're going to be heading to another Buc-ees, one that's a little bit special,
and is just down the road!
Well they say everything in Texas is big!
Well they're not wrong!
Today we are at the equivalent of a UK service station on miracle grow!
Welcome to the world's largest gas station!
And with a thousand parking spaces it's pretty easy to find a parking spot!
It was built in 2012 and is indeed the world's largest gas station!
But how many pumps does it have?
One, two, three, four .....
119,
120!
Yes, they have a whopping 120 pumps here!
Crazy!
Yeah!
And if you need any ice they've got plenty here!
And they go around the corner!
64. ice freezers! That's nuts!
And amazingly it has the world's largest convenience store,
so we're going to go in and have a look.
i cannot believe how big this store is!
When was the last time you went into your local petrol station and saw a shop like this?!
Did it look anything like this?!
But you have to look at this t-shirt ....
Peace, Love and Buc-ees !
And the shop is filled with their own branded goods
what a fantastic place!
So if you're wondering what they have in this huge convenience store ...
this is the barbecue section - Texas of course is home of the barbecue!
it's actually overwhelming!
They've got so much stuff here!
But also they've got so many different drink stations, they've got snacks, they've got wine sections,
a lot of the stuff is their own branded stuff,
and it's like the coffee stations ..... and it's massive!
it's massively mind-blowing!
I've just spotted an iced coffee machine!
I think we should definitely have one of those in our van!
Apparently the restrooms here are the cleanest in the world!
They're supposed to be world famous!
so we're going to go to the loo and check them out!
So trying to film in a toilet is never an easy thing!
But we'll do our best to show you what it's like inside!
It already looks like a hotel look how clean the tiled walls are,
and also they've got like an art gallery all the way around there's some beautiful artwork.
And yes indeed they are very clean,
after that let's go see if we can buy some food!
So in the in the middle section here they've got all these food places,
they've got the famous
brisket here you can get pulled pork sandwiches already made here,
sausage on a stick!
Fried chicken sandwiches, brisket sandwiches, obviously a thing,
or if you fancy something sweet? Let's go nuts!
Let's go nuts!!
They got all these nuts here look in honey and toffee and caramel,
pecans, cashews and almonds!
Okay look at these!
Look at all these down here!!
Blueberry, cheesecake .... um goodness
Oh that's ice cream in balls? Yes and then it melts in your mouth,
it's so good! Oh wow
it's a big thing is that a Texas thing or just like Buc-ees thing?
it's a Buc-ee's thing! Dippin dots !
I got the bananas split and it is very banana flavoured! This is really lovely it's very unusual,
because it's like little ice chips that then melt in a lovely creamy way and fill your mouth with loveliness!
Is that a good way of saying it ? perfect!
it's delicious!!
Okay cotton candy
Just let it happen! Let it happen!
That is a really strange texture ....
Oh yeah! There you go!
When it melts, it turns into ice cream!
Yeah yeah but to begin with it feels really like unusual,
because you want to chew it - yeah!
Yeah i know - but you just have to let it happen,
and then look they've got all their homemade beef jerky here.
Look at that so many different flavours, teriyaki,
maple and cherry,
And if you're wondering they've got a whopping 31 cash registers!
So we just bought lunch.
I've got to say that the staff obviously are employed for their happy demeanor and their lovely personalities,
because absolutely everyone we asked a question to about buc-ees,
had the biggest smile and were the cutest people, weren't they? Absolutely!
and if you do drive through Texas, i definitely recommend coming here,
it is an experience you will not forget!
Home sweet home!
Lunch time, i have very high expectations on this sandwich
The chopped brisket sandwich, £7.49 - No! $7.49
and the bbq turkey sandwich was $6.49.
There you go so we've got two different ones we cut them in half and share.
My goodness, it does smell really good!
It smells good! Barbecue turkey, look there's a lot of meat in there!
Let me just have a look there,
yes there's a lot!
I will go first because I am really hungry!
Really smoky!
Good? Everything it says on the tin?
Everything it says on the tin!
After that delicious turkey sandwich,
it's time for the brisket!
It's time for the brisket and the the lady on the counter said her favorite was the chopped brisket rather than the sliced,
so we went with that recommendation, we did go with that recommendation
I get to go first this time Marianne!
Wow look at all that meat!
And it's looks really soft and smells delicious,
so let's give this a go!
Lovely chopped brisket, slightly sweet from the marinade,
it's got a bit of a sauce
but really really good,
moist and the bun is nice and soft - oh yeah!
I wish the service stations back home served burgers or food like this!
We hope you've enjoyed this episode,
finishing off here at Buc-ees, join us on the next episode as we head into the city of San Antonio