Bentley the Spaniel Guy knew something was up before we even got in the car. Sensing that we were preparing to leave, he ran into his kennel expecting his usual treat, but was confused when we put on his leash and led him to a neighbor’s house for a play date. It was entirely appropriate, though. Bentley spent the day with his Shepard friend Shiner while we spent the day driving to Shiner.
The morning was cool, but the overcast skies showed promise of clearing, so we lowered the hood on the MG and headed off to the rendezvous point at the Valero station – and found our first surprise. Sometime in the two years since we met there for our Spring Drive to Brenham, the Valero had transformed into a Circle K. This transformation seemed to be news to Google, too, for they still called it a Valero. Fortunately, everyone participating in the drive soon figured it out, and our band of five MGs and two lesser vehicles headed out shortly after 9:00.
Our first destination was Rockne Groceries on the far side of Brenham, where we met up with members of the Alamo MG Club. Our second surprise of the trip was doubling the size of our entourage, because San Antonia showed up with seven MGs, including an MGC and a more modern MGF. And our timing was impeccable, because we showed up mere minutes after they arrived. After some chatting, gassing and munching, we headed out to our second stop, the St. Mary's Catholic Church in Hallettsville.
St. Mary’s is one of the Texas “painted churches”, established in the 1800s by Czech and other eastern European immigrants. Imagine our surprise when we pulled up to this small country church and found the parking area packed with vehicles on a Saturday morning! We subsequently found out that the church had been filled with mourners attending a funeral mass, so we debated the propriety of our group touring the church. Fortunately, one of the parishioners let us know that the services had concluded, the church was empty, and we were welcome to look around. We thanked her for her kindness and completed our brief visit to this comfortable and beautiful historic church.
We soon departed for the final leg of our journey to the K. Spoetzl Brewery and Distillery in Shiner, a short 15 minutes down the road. When we arrived, we were pleased that the brewery had reserved parking for out group in the employee lot, which is covered with sunshades. We were able to park all our MGs together, and we were shortly joined by more than a dozen cars from the Houston MG Club, completing our reunion of the three car clubs. After a beautiful morning drive, it was time to take photos and have a natter with friends!
We were fortunate that our visit coincided with the grand opening of their new Rickhouse Restaurant, containing both a cocktail bar featuring drinks made with their new line of spirits, and a restaurant serving a full range of lunch and dinner items. We were able to find tables inside to swap stories, enjoy a beverage, have a nosh, and watch football on the giant TV screens. Others in our group enjoyed a tour of the brewery, sampled the BBQ restaurant, or enjoyed one of their many varieties of beer not widely found for sale. We were also able to enjoy live music in the covered beer garden.
All agreed it was a great drive on what turned out to be a perfect warm Fall day. As we departed to make our way home, we looked forward to returning to Shiner next year. Maybe next year we will give Bentley his choice of Shiners to visit!
