The West is Best

 

I like the town of West, population 2,860. It's the Czech capital of Texas and justifiably famous for its kolaches. Pull off I35 on the way to or from Waco and get some, worth the stop. But that's not all, there's plenty of bars, see LL's franchise, and restaurants, which gives the place a happy, small town country vibe.

Plenty of Hardware, no Bullets

But I wasn't there for that, I was after ammo at True Value, which is a hardware store that sells guns and ammunition. At least it did, and even in the days of the infamous Obama bullet shortage this store was always stocked with ammo at normal prices. Maybe history would repeat itself, I walked through the door to find out.

Looking West

No. A few rifles, mostly Henry levers, nice, but hardly any bullets and what there was wasn't affordable. A solitary 500 round "value pack" of .22 LR for $80? Sorry, guys, not gonna do it. The pleasant young Czechoslovakian woman behind the counter apologized, "I'm sorry, nothing is normal now." I agreed, and we looked each other in the eye, "Ain't that the truth." A meeting of minds, for sure, but no bullets.

West is Catholic And Has More Fun Than Other Towns

So I headed back down the speedway deathtrap that is I35, and in a few short minutes was back in the rural haven of the County Seat itself. At its Walmart, in fact. Maybe this evil Chinese incursion onto US sovereign land would have bullets.

A Typical West Street Scene

Sure enough, there they were! Boxes of 12 and 20 gauge, .22 LR, .22 Mini Mag, .22 WMR and .17 HMR, and all at normal price. Shocked and astounded, I bought three 50 round boxes of CCI .22 WMR to go through the Marlin I don't have, and looked at a Savage bull barrel .17. Nice looking gun for 212 bucks, then again, so were the levers at True Value. Hmmm.

Look at Those Bad Boys!

And that was that, a short excursion into ammoland in North Central Texas. Now it's time for Hamburgers, to celebrate the victory of it all.

Shoot straight,

LSP

LSP, What a Sell-Out!

God is in His heaven, my rig is in the shop and before you can say, "LSP, you should've done it yourself, what a sell-out!" I'll say it for you. I sold out, to The Man, and let the mechanics deal with the truck's broken coolant system.

There Was a House Here, Once

That meant a pleasant walk back into town along 22. There were more houses here at one time, and nature's fast reclaiming the empty spaces where they once stood.

Courthouse

The railway's still here, though it only runs freight these days, and so is the courthouse, standing tall in the town square. We can thank Willie Nelson for part of that because he helped with its renovation in the '90s, after a fire.

Huevos Rancheros

It's a short walk across the square to Montes Mexican diner and Huevos Rancheros (Rancher's Eggs). Montes has other food and I'm sure it's great, but I don't order it, I just get Rancher's Eggs because I like them and they taste good.

A Couple of Random Glocks

This time was no exception.

God bless,

LSP