Buying A Used Car Should Not Feel Scary

Welcome And Texas Heat Banter

Don Armstrong 0:06

And welcome. From our Dual City Studios in Texas, USA, it is the In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show. Just ahead, Jerry Emmons with the Emmons Autoplex in Webster, Texas, U.S.A. Plus, Jeff has a police car beauty content. And you'll never guess what state owns it. Mr. Morris has the Houston Heat Beat in this week's driving destinations. Howdy, along with Mike out of this world, Mars, there he is. We always need more Jeff Seeking. There I am. I'm not Don Armstrong. You just thought I was. Glad you could join us on this Saturday. Uh it's hot down here in Texas. Yep. Supposed to be up close to 100 degrees this coming week. Uh, and uh, we're just gonna be hydrating. We'll be hydrating. I'm gonna be sitting on the porch making some moonshine.

Mike Marrs 0:57

Yeah.

Don Armstrong 0:58

Really? No.

Mike Marrs 0:59

And I'll be your quality control.

Don Armstrong 1:01

There you go. I wouldn't even know how to begin to make moonshine. I've seen I've seen the show. You need a bathtub. And you need some of that Bucky's deer corn. Oh, yeah.

Mike Marrs 1:10

See, over in here, we've kind of upgraded. We go to the liquor store and buy the bottle that says moonshine on it.

Don Armstrong 1:16

That's right there now, I guess. Don't deal with the middleman, Mike.

Mike Marrs 1:20

Yeah, we just cut all that out.

Don Armstrong 1:22

What would happen if you actually use deer corn?

Jeff Dziekan 1:25

I don't know, but I do know people that make moonshine. They can make it. It's it's yeah, you can't uh there's rules and regulations, I'm sure, but I know a couple of guys that make it, and I don't drink it. I've tasted it out.

Mike Marrs 1:37

You make too much the revenuers, be after you've revenues.

Don Armstrong 1:41

Yeah, there's that. Do we have our guest, Mike?

Meet Jerry Emmons Of Emmons Autoplex

Don Armstrong 1:44

Absolutely, ladies and gentlemen. From Webster, Texas, there he is, Mr. GQ himself. He kind of looks like a revenue. Yeah, a revenuer.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

It's Jerry Evans. Look at you, bud. Hey guys, how are you? Happy Saturday, man. What's up, yeah?

Don Armstrong 2:00

Happy, yeah, happy Saturday to you.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Hot things in the cob business. It's it's actually pretty good. I mean, we're the last probably month has been a little slower, but from like the first quarter, the first and second quarter compared to last year, uh, we're up four percent. So we wish that number was a little bit little bit better, but we're gonna we're gonna is always good.

Mike Marrs 2:23

Yeah.

Don Armstrong 2:23

Uh it's always good, right? Well, I have to I have to say to you that you know, there are lots of used car lots uh across America and in Houston, Texas. But I have to say you have probably one of the prettiest used car dealerships. It's a nice place. Yeah, it's a nice place, first-class operation all the way. Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from you, sir. But uh, it's it is a first-class operation. And uh David Ainsley is a huge fan. I think he's bought a half a dozen cars from you. And you know, I I guess that one of the things is is that once you once you go to the Emmons brothers, yeah, you're gonna you'll never go anywhere else. Well, my granddaughter bought one, too.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

I sure hope so. I don't know, but we try to make every experience the only one you want to have from you know from that point moving forward. Yeah, and it's a challenge every day, right? I mean, you uh you're in the the car business, right? So you don't necessarily have uh the industry as a whole, and there are a lot of good car dealers, and there are some bad ones. So we try to try to change the industry.

Mike Marrs 3:26

Well, you know, retail customers are another thing, though.

Don Armstrong 3:29

Well, that that's

How The Family Lot Started

Don Armstrong 3:30

true. And but this is a business that your dad started.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Absolutely. 1972, him and a very good friend of ours, Mike Trumbull. Um that's a great story. I'll have to tell you guys uh the next time I'm on.

Don Armstrong 3:43

Well, you can you make it short, make it short and tell us?

SPEAKER_02 3:45

Yeah, so okay, so Mike Trumbull uh was so it was called Teeny Used Cars back in the day, right? So it was Trumbull and Emmons. So Mike Trumbull and my father worked at a company called Brown and Root. So Mike Trumbull was the boss, right? The foreman. So he would clock my dad in at Brown and Root, and then my dad would go run the car lot during the week. True story.

SPEAKER_05 4:07

He worked, yeah, true story, man.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

It's really good success. So we really enjoyed, and this is all we've ever done. Uh, when I was a little kid, we started washing cars, and uh, I mean, you know, we were making 25 cents a day and free hamburgers, and then we thought we were rolling. So and and actually, so uh it's kind of a funny story. So, you know, as the years went on, and my brothers and I graduated school, uh, my dad and Mr. Trumbull uh you know went their separate ways. They were both you know still in the car business. And uh and I remember I won the U.S. Nationals, which is the is for the NHA drag racing world, that's like the NFL 500. So I won that race when I was 21 years old. I was washing cars, selling cars, uh, you know, light mechanic work, whatever. We we still had people that would do mechanic work, but I was doing Jack Vault trades everything at my dad's car. And when I won, it's gonna sound so bad. This I don't want this to sound as bad as it's gonna sound. When I won, I told my my dad and I we were all going home from the U.S. Nationals and I'd won that day or that weekend. And I put my arm around my dad as I'm driving the truck, and I said, uh my days of washing cars are over. I'm the U.S. Nationals champion. And I we laugh about that, right? Like that was the last time. I mean, I've washed the car every now and then, but that's when we kind of like change, right? We start, okay, we're gonna race the lot, we're gonna, we're gonna we're gonna really uh make ourselves known in the car business. So every year we just try to make make good strides. You know, you want to do good business. So if you do good business, you guys know if you do good business, um it should take care of itself.

Don Armstrong 5:38

Well, you know, people come back. If they have a great experience, they're gonna come back to you. And they don't have a great experience, they ain't coming back. The fact that you know you guys have been in business as long as you have speaks volumes about the way that you conduct business there. And you obviously are very competitive on the used car lot uh across lots, across the uh uh Houston and across the United States. You can't compete unless you compete price-wise as well.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Absolutely.

Pricing Fast And Selling Fair

SPEAKER_02 6:10

So I I was just doing a little bit of research uh before I went on. So our uh average car to market, so the average length of time a car is online before it sells is is 39 days. So when it's online with photos, on the average, it takes 39 days for us to sell it. So that I hope that that can kind of give you some insight on how aggressive our pricing structure is. Because we want to all like it doesn't matter, like for example, we had a very nice young lady come in. I said young lady, she was 59 years old. It was the first time she had purchased a car since she was 18 years old, and she is she's going through a change of life, unfortunately. And man, I really I really felt for her. So she was referred to us by a friend of ours, and it felt really good to know because I could tell the the the man, it gets me choked up thinking about it. I can tell the worried look she had on her face about not, you know, are we gonna push her into something? She didn't know who we were. Are are we gonna push her into something? Are we that car guy that's gonna push her into something that she may not want, but as long as it fits the bill, you know, fits her monthly payment, what she was trying to do. And we're not like that. We want to make sure that she's happy. And you know, and when I told her, I said, look, I don't want you to feel like you have to purchase today. I want you to go home and think about it. And but I think this is the best option for you. She drove it, she loved it. We talked about the numbers, and and she she ended up buying the car yesterday. So that's awesome.

Don Armstrong 7:37

Well, I mean, it speaks volumes for you and your family. You know, I'm I'm I'm I met Jerry and and the boys uh on the drag racing circuit back when I was doing uh uh David Powers marketing in PR. And that's where I met Dale Hulk and of course Stan Holt. And so there's this yeah, there's this there's the this circle of people that you know you know, you trust, and they become your extended family. Um I I know that I could come to you and say, Jerry, you know, I I only have this much money to spend, but I need a car that I can depend on. You're gonna say, Don, spend the extra five dollars and get that one, as opposed to that one over there. They're both on the same lot, they're both being sold by you. They got the same, you know, Emmons guarantee, if you will, behind it. But uh, you tell me that I can go and buy this car and it's gonna be a better buy for me. I'm gonna trust you to do that. And I think that that speaks volumes for you uh and the boys.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

Well, thank you so much for saying that. We I mean, we're here every day unless we're off racing, and I'm and but we very we always try to improve the experience. And the most important thing is like when you go home, I don't want that that person to go home and and when they lay in bed at night, put that on the pillow, and they're thinking about man, did I did I really get a good deal?

SPEAKER_05 8:57

Yeah, buyers remorse.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

And you're you're buying quality that I feel like is unmatched. I may be a little biased, but I feel like our quality is at a top tier. I know our pricing structure is exactly what it needs to be. We're we're we're the lowest price within 300 miles. And we really try to make sure that when you leave and you're having a conversation with Billy Bob or you know, you're having a beer with someone, or you're sitting down having lunch or dinner and you're talking about the purchase you just made. I want that conversation to turn into maybe a possible, hey, you know what? When I need a car, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go check out Emma. That's what we hope to

What Sells Now Toyota Leads

SPEAKER_02 9:32

do.

Don Armstrong 9:32

I have let's change gears here for just a second and talk about what's selling on the car lot these days. What's your number one seller?

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Right now, like the last 30, probably 45 days, anything, of course, Toyota, but anything Toyota. We sold a lot of Toyota Camries and a lot of Toyota Tacoma pickup trucks. Now they always sell, but for some reason, it seems like everything that keeps going through is a Toyota, yeah, Toyota Tacoma, uh, Toyota Sequoia is a very hot seller.

Don Armstrong 9:59

That's interesting. That thing is huge and gets terrible gas mileage, but you're gonna buy it anyway. But they drive great. Well, they do, and they're got a great interior.

Jeff Dziekan 10:09

Here's

Corvette Vs Cadillac Trade Talk

Jeff Dziekan 10:10

here's something we've been bantering back on the show. I don't know if you've been watching, but Don is actually considering another vehicle besides the Corvette. So he might be interested.

Don Armstrong 10:18

Don't don't yeah. Do you want to go there, Mike? Is that true? He's been talking about it. I have so uh it's a 2001 black-on-black Corvette, the 36,000 miles on. It's a six-speed manual transmission. Uh, actually, I bought the car from Greg Enders, who I'm sure that you know very well. Oh, absolutely, yeah. And you so you probably have seen the car at one point in your life.

Mike Marrs 10:39

Yeah, he knows where it came from.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

Yeah, like you're the one who saw it. You're the one that bought it out from under me. Uh, did I really? You wanted back, I did not. Him and I were talking. How long have you owned that car? Three years.

Don Armstrong 10:52

Uh, how many? Uh no, I bought that car in 2017.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Oh, okay. It's been a little bit longer. Okay, good.

Don Armstrong 10:59

So you want it back, Jerry? You want the car back?

SPEAKER_02 11:01

Uh yeah. Well, he was showing me a Corvette one time. I can't remember. This has been three or five years ago. Yeah, that you've only had one since 17.

SPEAKER_05 11:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

I'll say I think it's time for you to trade it in. That's what I've said. I do too.

Don Armstrong 11:11

And I I have to I have to confess to you on the air in front of the millions of people that are watching right now. That I've at yeah, that I've actually kind of been leaning toward looking at a Cadillac four-door sedan.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

Great choice. I think you need a V series. So that way you don't miss the performance. No, Jerry. No, no, no.

Jeff Dziekan 11:34

No, not only a V, but a Blackwing.

Don Armstrong 11:36

No, I know. Yeah, and I know that if you don't have one on the lot, you can find one. He'll come up with it. He'll make it absolutely. Yeah. Because you do that, don't you? I mean, if somebody comes in and you don't have something on the lot that they want, yeah, you you'll you'll find it. Absolutely. How long does it usually take you to find something like that? A week?

SPEAKER_02 11:54

Uh maybe two weeks max, I think, because we're, you know, there's four brothers total, so we're spread out from buying, you know, we uh we buy a little bit in Florida, but mainly it's you know from the Texas all the way to the West Coast, right? So rust-free kind of thing. But generally it takes no more than two weeks to find what you're looking for.

Jeff Dziekan 12:11

Okay, so today's the 18th, so we'll hear from you back in a couple of weeks.

Don Armstrong 12:15

I'm not ready quite yet. But you know, I every once in a while, every once in a while that left clutch knee says, you know, you need to start looking at something else, brother.

SPEAKER_02 12:27

Don, don't let the don't let the old man in, right? Well, good point.

Don Armstrong 12:32

But you know what? Dale Hullquist has taught me these things, and so I'm just kind of passing it along. There's a lot. You take our advice from Dale. So so uh as far as SUV, of course, SUVs, it's it's the it's the big big thing. That's the big seller. Everybody wants an SUV. And and I am driving currently a new uh 2026 Lexus IS 350 F Sport. And let me tell you something. That is one sweet ride. And I am very critical of use uh new cars as pardon me? Two-seater? It's not a two-seater, it's a four, it's a four-seater, it's a four-door. But boy, is that thing sweet. It just if I could afford it, it's 60 grand. If I could afford it, I'd buy it. But uh it's a little bit out of my price range.

SPEAKER_02 13:25

You only live once. I knew you would see

Financing Options Inventory And Carfax

SPEAKER_02 13:30

something.

Don Armstrong 13:30

Easy terms. Easy terms. That's it. And speaking of that, so do you guys have you can you get me financed?

SPEAKER_02 13:40

We have we're set up with lenders uh that you know, obviously, people with good credit can easily can get financed here at the credit union. We're offering, you know, we have very competitive rates, and yeah, we can do, we even are able, uh, we're we just hooked up with another company uh that can do a little bit of a little bit of subprime financing. So, but yeah, we we have a good a good set of finance crew. We have good guys that are always in touch with the banks, and we have a good pulse on on what we can do with people, and we're buying the right inventory to get those finances as well.

Don Armstrong 14:12

Right. And what what is the main year models of cars that you have on the lot, the ones that sell the most?

SPEAKER_02 14:19

Well, uh, I think it's for us it's just not price point, right? But we like to have you know five anything five years older, it's like for 2020, I think it's good, but we don't let that keep us from buying a low mileage 2010, 2008 Camry or a pickup truck, something like that. So we like to have you know a good selection of 2020 and above.

Don Armstrong 14:43

How many, how many cars do you have on the lot right now?

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Uh currently we're at 770. Uh we're you know, it's just always a trouble. It's uh we're trying to get them online, right? So uh we have I think 770, so 601 is what we have online.

Don Armstrong 14:58

So what what what what you're telling me is is that you're buying acreage all around the Emmons dealership. I need some in real time money. We can we can keep it standing.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

How about that?

Jeff Dziekan 15:09

Yeah, okay. Well, we don't want to go down that rabbit hole. Out of those, out of those 660, how many are Cadillacs?

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Oh gosh, that's the ugly. I bet there's at least 20.

Jeff Dziekan 15:20

I'm still poking the bear.

Don Armstrong 15:21

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, because I mean, uh I think that my next car is probably gonna be an Emmons car. Oh, I and my my vision is something about five years old or so, fairly low mileage, but not crazy low mileage, because I don't want to pay the upcharge for some car that's only got 20,000 miles, you know, and Aunt Mary drove it for five years going back and forth to church. That that'd be great, but I don't have to have that. I want something that's reliable, that's clean, um, that's been treated right, hasn't been wrecked. Speaking of wrecked, you know, we had a long conversation with our buddy uh Patrick up there at uh uh Carfax, and uh I assume that uh your cars come with a Carfax.

Mike Marrs 16:05

Every car comes with a Carfax. That's correct. I think that's a great thing.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

Yeah, it is absolutely yeah, back in the day, like when I was a kid washing cars from my dad at the at the car lot, so you know the our our go-to find would be you would run to the glove box and open it, and you'd have a stack of receipts, right? Where they have oil change receipts. Yeah, but you know, and in today's world, you don't see much of that. You mainly see you have to rely on the Carfax, and it's really good to see how you know the intervals or the oil changes.

Don Armstrong 16:34

Absolutely. It's really a nice, clean uh when you guys go out and buy those cars. Do they do they look at that? Do they know that?

SPEAKER_01 16:42

We're the only buyers, we don't have outside buyers, it's just uh my brothers and I. And we run a Carfax on every car before we purchase it.

Don Armstrong 16:49

Got it. Yeah. Well, you know, as always, it's great to talk to you, and uh we thank you and we love our relationship with you guys down there. And how's the racing doing?

Drag Racing Update And Goodbye

SPEAKER_01 17:00

It's really good. So we've only been to actually before the races, but NHRA's been doing a thing called double event. So you're like two events in one weekend. So we've been to four events, four races. Companies are doing really good. We started up very heavily uh the week before the U.S. nationals. I'm gonna go to a uh Lucasville division, and then also it's called the Sports Nationals. And that's what that is. That's a that's a national event, but without the pros, but without the the runforce. Yeah, the big boys, right?

Don Armstrong 17:31

Yeah, big team. Your audio has gone to hell, I have to tell you that.

Mike Marrs 17:35

Yeah, we need to, but we do need to get back with you and talk drag racing because there's a lot more stuff. I got lots of questions.

Don Armstrong 17:41

Yeah, and so so let's schedule that. Uh are you gonna be available in the next month?

Mike Marrs 17:47

Absolutely.

Don Armstrong 17:49

Mike's gonna get a hold of you and guide you in audio technology.

unknown 17:53

Okay.

Mike Marrs 17:53

You know, something is just fading out here. So okay.

Don Armstrong 17:58

Probably that high dollar microphone you got there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

I spent all night testing it, so I'm sorry. It started out good.

Don Armstrong 18:06

That's it. Don't worry, Jerry. We love you, Jerry Emmons. You take care, brother. Thank you. It's always fun to talk to them. Yeah, my my drag racing friends, I'll tell you what. There's that. Hey, just ahead in Jeff's Car Culture Police Car Beauty Contest, and Martez driving the Houston Heat beat. When the in-real-time car talk show continues after this, stay with us. The Texas Max dining experience is defined by Lupi Tortilla, your destination for Texas's best beef, the heatest, and frozen margaritas. Since 1983, Lupi Tortillas has served authentic and time-tested recipes made with the freshest ingredients. All developed in a little house near Highway Sticks and I can have used before. Visit any of the Lupi Tortillas, and you'll see the staying attention to detail at each and every location. Start your Loopy experience with Questo Flaviato and Guacamole, along with a classic frozen margarita, dine on famous loopy beef and chicken tomatoes, four pepper strip process, or a fashion vegetarian entree, and finish with a scrumptious flan for dessert. Find Loopy Tortilla in Houston, College Station, Beaumont, Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas, Fort Worth. There's a Texas location near you. The recipes are authentic and time-tested. The ingredients are always fresh. Loopy Tortilla. It's pretty good. Apple or Android In Wheel Time Podcasts can be found everywhere, on the stream and through downloads. Whether you're on the road or at home and searching for a fun car talk show, give In Wheel Time a try. Honest new car reviews, fun, informative interviews with real car people, weekly automotive news, features like Jeff's car culture, Mike's driving destinations, all on In Wheel Time. Check us out on Sirius XM Podcasts, iHeartRadio, or while you're shopping on Amazon through Amazon Music. Inwheel Time.com has a list, so check us out.

Police Car Beauty Contest Results

Don Armstrong 20:13

Time now for Jeff's Car Culture, American Police Car Beauty.

Jeff Dziekan 20:17

Okay, here we go, Michael. So each year, state troopers from across the nation compete to see which has the prettiest police car. Well, the American Association of State Troopers, which is called the AAST, announced the results of the 13th annual best-looking cruiser contest after more than 360,000 votes poured in from supporters around the country. Go, Mike. So that right there, uh I don't have any specifics on the cars or because there's a lot of them, obviously, there's a whole bunch, but I'm going to give you the history and the way they brought it up. It looks like like Mississippi because it's got a Mississippi uh map. State. Yeah, there you go. So over the past three years, Florida's become the top cat or the top car uh for the past oh I don't know, three years. Uh this year it appeared though as a streak would end. But the late in the game, the Sunshine State stormed back to a fourth consecutive. Well, we I just know we're gonna go through showing you what the other cars look like. Uh we don't get down to the nitty-gritty till the end. So Michigan spent much of the competition in first place, but Florida Highway Patrol's communication team mounted a late push that ultimately propelled propelled the state's black and tan Mustang to win. That's not it. That's not that's not a Mustang. Uh but uh the Troopers Association has some fun with the dramatic finish, joking that it must be hunting season in Florida because they managed to shoot down the blue goose, which is referring to the Michigan State Police car. Uh is also equipped uh by hanging chads or late night ballot dumps from Florida, emphasizing the good natured rubber ribbing as part of the contest of friendly rivalry. Well, Florida finished with fifty two thousand two hundred and forty nine votes. Ahead of Michigan's 37,654 once the polls were closed. Georgia secured third place with 34,000 plus, followed by Ohio, Kentucky to round out the top five. Overall, 360 plus thousand votes were cast along all participating states. Oregon received the least with just 185. So that right there shot is the Michigan car. That's the uh what they call the blue goose. And I think if you look on that boat, I think that's David Ainsley floating by on that boat back there.

Don Armstrong 22:27

No, no, no, no, the sky's too clear. It's all uh smoky up there where he is.

Jeff Dziekan 22:31

And then the victory means Florida will once again uh receive the best looking cruiser award. There's Florida, uh, and the winning photo will appear on the book. Well, how about their Mustangs and Camaros? Yeah. Best well, that in uh Chargers. Uh so the Troopers Wall Calendar, sales of the calendar support the American Association of State Troopers Foundation, which awards educational scholarships to the dependents of the troopers. Now I've got the list right here. So Florida and Michigan are first and second, Georgia was third, Ohio is fourth, Texas came in ninth with 11,164 votes. So good. We got made a top ten, which is good. Uh but Michigan and we need to do better before to battle it out. Well, we need to know what we need the sergeant to get out of the room. Woodard.

Don Armstrong 23:12

It's all well, I know. Uh we need Woodard to be our spokesperson. He got a new car too. He showed it to us the last time. Yeah, as a matter of fact, I saw a brand new state trooper SUV. Whew. Nice.

Jeff Dziekan 23:25

Oh, yeah. They're nice. So maybe next year we'll we'll get them next year. I want to know how much they cost. A trooper car? A lot. Well, I think it's all the add-ons because there was there was a dealership when I worked for ATD. There was a dealership in South Texas that did the uh Border Patrol vehicles, and they put the radios and the gun racks and all the stuff in them, the stickers and all that. And that was a process. You had to be licensed to the state to work on those particular vehicles for the state, the vehicles in the dealership. So there's a little bit of regulation to go on with that, but I'm sure they're expensive and it's all the add-ons.

Houston Area Drives To Beat Heat

Don Armstrong 23:56

Mr. Mars has four minutes to complete his driving destination: the Houston Heat and the Driving Beat. Go, Mike.

Mike Marrs 24:04

Where am I? It's beat the heat drive. So coming up here, it's summer's coming up. It's going to be plenty hot. So we've got a few things you can do. Number one, you can head off to the Bluebell Creameries. And this is about 75 miles from Houston. Summer ice cream go together. Bluebell Creamy Creameries Vistor Center in Brenham is a great road trip. You can tour the facility, you can tour their museum, and you can also try out some of their different flavors of their ice cream. Then, if that's not what you're what you're looking for, number two, go to the Bryan Museum down in Galveston. Now, this is fairly new. It opened in 2015 and it's in the old historic Galveston Orphan's Home. Now, if the beach is too hot, this is where you want to go because it's all inside, air conditioned. There's over 70,000 artifacts from the American West and Texas to go in and look at uh restored galleries, interactive exhibits, and it's all air conditioned, and it's nice to go along the Galveston seawall to kind of make your way back to Houston whenever you do that. Number three, a lot of people know it. We've been there a couple of times, the Lone Star Flight Museum in Houston. Now there are 24 historical aircraft here, and kids are fascinated by airplanes. We are fascinated by airplanes. So this is a great museum to go visit out at Ellington Airport. It used to be down in Galveston until Hurricane Ike came in and forced him to make a move. But they've got historic aircraft, they got interactive flight simulators, and they got a lot of aviation history from World War II through the space age. Now, number four, Brazos Benn State Park Nature Center. This is up in Neadville. This is 4,897 acres. You don't really want to go out midday walking around, but they do have the George Observatory Fenner Visitor Center that I didn't know existed. Now this provides a cool introduction to the wildlife and the ecosystems of Brazos Benn State Park. You get there early, get a little bit of shade, do a short walk around the alligators, and then go inside and check out all the exhibits that you got. Take a picnic and you've got a full day of a family trip there. Then I wanted to bring up that's with a family. Now, if you've got your car and you want to go on a road trip, so you need a road to go drive on. So FM 149 in Montgomery to Anderson through the Sam Houston National Forest. Now, this is 48.3 miles, so it's not real long down Highway 149, goes through the Towering Pines of the Sam Houston National Forest, and you goes off to you got beautiful old historical courthouses on either end of it that you can go in and visit. I've been to the Anderson a couple of times, and uh it's great, nice drive after you've been with the family all day, and you just want to sneak out for a quick drive, tackle this one. So that's a few things you can do out of Houston to beat some of the summer heat coming up.

Don Armstrong 26:58

So I have to ask you, uh Jeff and I were just sitting here looking at that courthouse thing, and you said you've been there several times. Were you in handcuffs? Yeah, was it uh was it for a misdemeanor or no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Mike Marrs 27:09

It was actually on uh doing some family research actually up in Anderson County.

Jeff Dziekan 27:13

So you're visiting an inmate. Yes, a distant, very distant cousin. Yeah, the question I have, you said you walk along the alligators, a short walk. Walk along near the alligators, you can see the always. Oh, short walk. Okay, because it could be you could have to run real fast.

Mike Marrs 27:26

Well, you don't want to get that close.

Don Armstrong 27:28

Have you ever have you ever been there? No, I don't have you know it it's right down the street from uh where we are, and I will tell you that I have been there, and there is a lookout over a swamp, and uh you cannot believe the number of alligators that you can see. Walk across on alligators. Yeah, and uh you you definitely don't want to take a small dog and you don't want to take children off the leash because uh they listen, those things are faster than you think they are. Yeah, yeah.

unknown 27:58

Anyway.

Don Armstrong 27:59

All right, thank you, sir. The in-wheel time car talk show will continue right after

Alligators Laughs And Wrap Up

Don Armstrong 28:04

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