- The "Daytripper" is made possible by Rudy's, real Texas barbecue.

Shipping nationwide at rudys.com.

Karbach Brewing Company from Houston, Texas, makers of Karbach Lager, a beer that is proudly partnered with Don't Mess with Texas, please dispose responsibly.

Visit Georgetown, where big ideas meet small town charm.

Georgetown, the most beautiful town square in Texas.

Texas Farm Bureau Insurance, protection and peace of mind for Texans since 1952.

Don Hewlett Chevrolet Buick in Georgetown.

Making Texas road trips possible for over 50 years.

Don Hewlett Chevrolet Buick, Texas True.

Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages, Texas' local bottler providing the Lone Star state with a variety of Coca-Cola products.

(Upbeat folk music) - When someone calls a place a railroad town, I think of some dusted up back roads.

Burg, well past its prime.

I definitely don't imagine a thriving city with a boom in population, culture, flavor, and amazing food.

But maybe that's because we just been traveling the wrong tracks.

- Ah, ah.

Simple.

Ah.

Oh, - Wait a second.

- Ah.

- Splitting the journey between Austin and Waco and seated just the stones throw from Lake Belton.

You'll find Temple in its infancy temple was no more than a few simple shacks and saloons.

But after two of America's largest railroads came through town, well, it grew into a major hub of operation.

One who's ever expanding economy continues to redefine what a railroad town can be.

But to keep us on track and chugging along, we're gonna kick things off with the Breakfast of Czech champions.

Good morning.

Good morning.

- How are ya?

I'm good.

- Smells like fresh kachess to me.

- That's what we've been making here.

- This is Carol White, owner of the Kche Kitchen, which was started by her mother 40 years ago with her family's authentic recipes.

- My grandmother made kachess all the times, every weekend.

So we went to my grandmother's and we said, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Wait.

Measure that.

Measure that.

'cause she did it.

Oh - Yeah.

Just kind of by instinct, - If you We did not have a recipe.

My mother did all the hard work.

She took my grandmother's recipe that we had and transferred it to a commercial recipe.

Gosh, - In 40 years, how many kolaches can a place like this make?

- You'd be surprised.

You'd be surprised what this little building can do.

- This is the closest you can get to having a check Grandma who's filling each fluffy fruity dough ball with love?

Ooh, they look amazing.

Ha ha.

- Oh, that's good.

- The, the coarseness of the dough, I think is something special.

While it is buttery and soft, it's not the same as a dinner roll.

What's your favorite of these - Train?

- Really?

Somehow simple - As, and they're like, yeah, we're not gonna eat that one.

But - I'm gonna need to make a closer inspection to another flavor here.

- Okay.

You want a clo sticky?

We can go make some back there.

- Yes.

Alright, - All.

Let's make them You got the oven crank.

- She's like, if you're gonna eat this mini, you better start working.

Alright.

- Alright.

- Alright guys.

Check language.

Check in.

This is a kechi.

This is not.

It's a club.

I sneaky, but regardless, I'm going to make and eat both of 'em.

Alright, so every cachi starts off as a little ball - Tuck.

So tuck on the end.

All right.

And then just pull it under.

- You got a pinch and twist.

- Well, you could do that kind of, yeah, - You've just got the pinch of death.

Yeah, that's just popping right off.

- Just squeeze it.

You done?

- Come - On.

So you're not gonna replace me.

Darn.

- You can do this in 30 seconds.

I would be back here for 30 minutes.

Next it's into the oven to proof, so the dough can rise along with my appetite and we can pick our filling.

Looks like what I'm gonna look like in a Speedo this summer.

After eating all theses right there.

- This is how my grandma did it.

- Light gentle.

He come one with the dough.

- So what I do is, - Oh, punch and fill at the same time in one movement.

That's like watching Mike Tyson give you a left hook and a right upper cut at the same time.

Right there - The seat does in those Tupperware.

There you go.

Wait, - What?

What'd you say?

- Pika - Pika.

- Flour, sugar and butter.

- Oh, the special crumble.

Okay, now what do we do?

- We're gonna put 'em in the oven, let 'em prove.

See where all these little wrinkles are.

All this.

It's gonna close up.

- Wait, we're proofing 'em again.

- Again.

- When do we actually bake the things?

- In a couple of minutes.

- Who's crazy enough to make these?

This takes so long.

It just goes to show you that if you don't believe kolaches are a labor of love.

Well, the proof is in the proofing.

This is so much work.

- It is - Worth the wait though.

All things are - Definitely worth the wait.

- And while we wait, we are gonna make one of Carol's own creations.

The vey Slovak sausage sauerkraut, American and Swiss cheese.

Then jalapenos rolled in a delicious blanket of dough.

No surprise vey and check means big.

- Oh, - Look at how many layers of happiness.

There's not a single non delicious thing in this.

Come on.

I would start every morning with this right here.

If I could.

I really would.

That is so good.

If only we knew something to eat for dessert, - I bet I could take care of that if only.

- And for the finishing touch a healthy dose of butter and sugar - Done.

- That's perfection.

Oh, that was so much fun.

Can we take these to go?

You can boys.

We have a full day trip ahead of us.

Coffee up and we must power on.

Let's go.

And so we head into the heart of temple.

So this is Temple, Texas, a small railroad construction camp that frankly got outta hand, but its original name was Temple named for the chief engineer of the railroad Bernard Moore Temple.

Its other names were MudTown tangle foot, but eventually it was shortened to just temple.

And just like the railroad sends out and brings in goods from all over the world, temple has been a melting pot and a hub of culture, one that already tastes pretty darn good.

After I stash these kolaches, it's time to jump into the reason Temple is here at all by visiting the stately Temple Railroad and Heritage Museum.

And railroads are more than just history around here.

How's the audio, Greg?

It's pretty good.

Sounds great to me.

It's the sound of America right there.

The museum occupies the old Santa Fe depot, which was once the Southern most headquarters for one of the biggest rail lines in the country.

And this is director Alicia Richardson.

- You know Temple has a big history for being a medical town too.

And that actually started because of the Santa Fe depot, - Because of the danger, railroad workers need hospitals.

However, two railroad surgeons decided that more than just workers needed great healthcare.

And so they started their own private hospital.

Their names were Scotts and whites.

It's safe to say that without the railroad temple would not be here.

Oh - Yeah.

No, no, no.

There's actually a history of towns within Texas that end up becoming ghost towns because the railroad chose to pass them by culture, technology, agriculture, economy.

There's so many different - Layers.

When the rail was king, it was truly king.

Yes.

And outside the museum, visitors can climb into a giant engine that would've truly been king of the tracks.

This is awesome.

This is exactly like you hope it would Look when you're a little kid, lots of things to push and pull.

This is either a steam engine or it's Willy Wonka's Gobstopper machine.

I mean, pretty much like, look this over here.

- Oh, is the brisket ready?

- Yeah, but where is the cold?

That doesn't make any sense.

My understanding of how steam engines work has been based on Mickey Mouse and that is all failing me right now.

Good thing there are museums so we can all learn together.

- Alright, so I've got a question.

What are the residents of Temple called Temples?

Timians.

- Timians.

Temple Lights.

Think this is where the Knights Templar came from.

Oh, so the Holy Grail is in Temple Texas.

- Indiana Jones'.

Dad should be showing up any minute, - Right?

Cancel the show.

We're gonna get some shovels.

- Just start digging.

- We have no information to go off of.

We're just gonna dig.

I honestly have no idea what they're called.

But if you're looking for antique relics and temple, there's a much more predictable way to find them.

And that's with the stop to the Check Heritage Museum and Genealogy Center, but already eaten Keaches.

And so I figure we should learn a bit more about the people who brought Keaches to Texas.

This is museum curator Kenny Lang.

- The checks were in search of agriculture land to farm and be self-sufficient.

After they came in through Galveston, the migration came to the north along the Blackland Prairie of Texas.

- This museum documents the journey and culture of the thousands of checks who settled in Texas and who brought with them some pretty bizarre things like this collection of antique marionettes.

However, nothing tops the magic gambler.

This is 140 plus years old.

- Correct.

And he does lift the gold dome.

If he draws your number, you've got the honor to buy the round of beer.

- Let's see - Who it is.

Daniel.

That's you, man.

Sorry.

You're buying this round.

Dang - It.

- The fact that this still works is mind blowing - Creepy in a cool sort of - Way.

Oh yeah.

No.

Terrifying.

I mean, we're gonna look much worse when we're 140.

That's the truth of it.

Y'all all need to poke on in here and check this place out.

Despite our hardy breakfast, it is time for lunch.

Our stop might not be 140 years old, but it's still old enough to be old Jody's.

Jody's started in 1963 and has been around long enough to be Temple's oldest restaurant, a feat not obtained without good, good eating and generations of happy customers, which today just happens to include my good buddy and timian.

Kevin Pitts.

How many times you been in here?

- Hundreds, if not thousands.

I mean thousand thousands of times.

Everybody tells me the burgers are great.

The hamburger steak's great.

Couldn't tell you.

That's the only thing I've ever had.

And I've been coming here as long as I can remember.

Once I turned 21, it's a chicken pro steak.

And of course a Jody's beer.

- You could swim in that beer.

That's - A Jody's beer.

That's right.

I'll show you how we do our rolls.

Okay.

All right.

Injection just like that.

- So it becomes like a full cream puff a rock.

Thank you brother.

Well that explains the squeeze bottles on every table.

- There you go.

- This is Cheryl and Joey Franks second generation owners carrying on Joey's father's legacy.

So did you learn how to do all this from your dad - Picking things up as we went and then just over the years, the menus got bigger and bigger.

- Burgers, chicken fried steak, all from scratch.

It got so popular.

Jody decided to open a second bigger location across the street and plan to close this one down.

Only problem, folks didn't stop coming to both.

- So we had to call this one the old Jodi's and that one, the new Jodi it.

Same menu and everything.

- Joey's brother Doug ran new Jodi's until he decided to retire a few years ago.

And now the old Jody's is the only Jody's, but it's still a family affair.

Who's been here the longest?

- Glenda overalls.

Glenda - Overalls.

- Glenda.

41 years.

- You're kidding me.

I mean, you don't work at a place for 40 something years unless you love the job.

- We have three girls and they all help.

We've got eight grandkids.

They will come up and help.

- You know, usually you go one of two ways.

Either you want nothing to do with the family business or you're all in.

Yeah, we're all in.

I feel the temple.

Love here.

Yeah.

Wish I get - Chicken fry.

- Oh, Excel.

- Excel.

I don't know if you want one of those or not.

Yeah, go for it.

- Let's get ready.

Get the trailer attached up.

Put my bed in it.

I might be sleeping on the way outta here.

And who should steal my fate?

Overalls.

Glinda herself.

What - Would you like - Today?

Alright, so I think I got convinced to get this Excel's chicken fried.

Okay.

Is that a bad idea?

- It's big.

- Okay, well that's it.

Alright.

Thank - You.

Thank you.

- Well boys, we have our work cut out for us today.

XL chicken Fried steak at Old Jody's and Temple.

- So big.

Your chicken fried steak has a - Chicken fried.

We're both eating today.

You may wonder, where's the gravy?

Well, my friends underneath.

That's where it is.

It's like a little chicken fried blanket.

Keep the gravy warm.

Also keeps the batter extra crispy.

Here we go.

Oh man.

That is near country Perfection right there.

Tender bead, crispy crust.

That light flavor of grease going throughout it.

Definitely one of the best we've ever had on the road.

No doubt.

- Hey, I think you need to try that roll method.

- If I get distracted with those things, ain't no way I'm finishing this.

- That was my secret.

- I know.

- Done.

I was trying to distract - Sabotaging me.

Man.

You're sabotaging me.

Slow and steady friends.

Slow and steady.

- Ooh, - I did it.

- I don't know if you really did it.

There's little tiny pieces that's - Just like the batter bits.

That doesn't count.

There's no steak in there.

The - Chit.

Was it part of the chicken fried steak?

- Yeah, Dan.

- All right.

Each eat your little bits and the gravy too.

- What do we do the rest of the day?

- I don't - Know.

Napping.

Napping.

I regret nothing so good.

But I only know one way to power through the chicken fried sleepies.

And that's to keep my feet moving.

So let's head into the great outdoors of Bell County.

Alright, so we are in far West Temple now, right up against Lake Belton.

Actually, this right behind me is the Lake spillover.

But we are inside of Miller Springs Park.

And right down this trail are them springs.

Let's go.

This preserve covers 260 acres with canyons that were violently formed over mere days when water breached the spillover.

So look, this is a spring fed pond.

It's actually fed by at least a half dozen springs that are all up in these hills.

A number of them are coming in on these creeks.

There's just something about springs, like watching water flow out of the earth.

I, I just always connected to it.

I think it's all my years running around the hill country and finding these swimming holes.

Let's hike back up one of these creeks.

See what we can find.

All right, so this is when I have to embrace my inner Tom Sawyer.

Just start hiking through the creek.

Why?

Why not?

If I knew what was back here, I wouldn't do it.

But there's only one way to find out.

I definitely wore the right shoes.

Oh, cool.

Little waterfall.

The water that's flowing through is crystal clear.

There are 10 miles of dry trails, but I guess this wet one is over.

I think this is the end of the road, or at least the end of the creek for me.

But right now, I think I'm in the mood for something.

A little more action adventure, if you know what I'm saying.

Of course.

Lake Belton is full of water sports.

But I'm looking for a place to both enjoy the outdoors and test our skills.

And just north of Temple.

Well, we found our target.

This is Weber shooting sports.

And this is owner Todd Weber.

If you've got a gun, they've got a range for it.

We have a - Hundred yard rifle range, a 25 yard pistol range tactical base.

We've got a wooded area for our sporting clays.

We do trap and skeet.

We try to make it very accessible for people to come and enjoy their firearms.

- If you're new to shooting sports, they even have guns to rent.

And now there are a lot of options.

What I wanna show y'all the sport of sporting clays station number one.

- This station is on report.

We'll throw bird one on the sound of your gun.

We'll throw Bird two.

Oh, - Of course he did.

We got a dead - Pair.

Now you're up.

- All right.

Ready?

Pull.

- Excellent.

- Hey, dead bird.

He's - Sandbagging me.

- So that's fun.

That's basically par, huh?

So we move on to the next hole.

Right?

Sporting clays is often called golf with a shotgun one where you blast the ball to tiny bits.

- Oh - Yeah.

- Oh, - Nope.

My batting average went from a thousand down to 500 real quick.

It's a sport.

So yes, we are keeping score.

And just like golf, every hole or station presents a different challenge.

- That was really quick.

That - Was really quick.

Bang, bang.

I'm just gonna close my eyes and pull it twice and see what happens.

Pull.

Nope.

Zero.

God, that's fast.

You win some, you lose some.

That's right.

- In this case we lose - Some.

Yeah, that's it.

The point is to simulate real bird hunting where you don't know when or where the bird will appear.

But they're not all birds.

Oh, cool.

Rabbit.

Y'all see that it bounces on the ground.

That's awesome.

Oh, it's right behind it.

You ever seen a rabbit hop that high?

I haven't.

The clay pigeons can fly from any angle.

And there are two at each station.

But where?

Oh.

- Oh, - That felt good.

Y'all wanna try it?

He only knows how to shoot a camera.

He doesn't know how to shoot one of these.

We'll see how this goes.

- Oh, - Like - He does it every - Day.

Goes All right.

Right.

Johnny, - Excellent shot.

- Let's see if sound guy can do it.

Nah.

- What?

Ah huh.

You destroyed those.

- Personally, I think this is way more fun than skeet, than trap.

But always remember, even more important than fun is safety.

However, when done with caution and care, shooting sports are a blast.

Literally.

- Well, before we finish, we're gonna shoot the flurry.

Okay.

The flurry is a 30 bird and 62nd - A array.

Whoa.

- Just absolute - Chaos.

So it's like the whole sporting clay course at one time.

All at one - Time.

- This will be fun.

All right.

- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

- Oh, come on.

- Woo.

- What in the world if sporting clays prepares you for bird hunting?

This prepares you for the apocalypse.

- Woo.

- Oh, that's fun.

That is just adrenaline, man.

That how'd we do?

Thank you.

19.

19.

19.

You shot at least twice as many shells as I did.

But - That's a really good game.

- Woo.

- Ow.

Barrel's hot.

Barrel's hot.

That's hot.

Woo.

Thank you Chet.

You, you're not too bad on a shotgun.

- Well, - You're not too great either.

I just - Say, - You know, I wasn't gonna brag about it because I'm actually terrible.

And there's, yeah, you probably should.

There's nothing to brag about.

I loved it.

I've won some championships.

Oh, really?

I, I, I have a couple years ago, a couple years ago, you won a trophy.

Look, if that's true, we're gonna insert a photo right here.

- Oh, - Well I didn't know we were in the presence of such royalty.

We should go back and you can show us really how good you are.

No, no, no, no.

I, I'm, I mean, let's go back.

We can.

All good.

- We've been, - I'm tired.

Hey, Daniel has been shooting all day with a camera.

But we do need to find a place to kick up our feet a bit.

And if that place just happened to have amazing pizza and cold beer.

Well, I would not complain.

So let's head to Trento Pizzeria and Tap Room.

This craft pizza spot is helping Downtown Temple become a true destination.

And this is Co-owner Jason Bates.

We're in the middle of the crucible.

- A hundred percent hottest - Fire.

Speaking of fire, I see this oven is - Intense.

Yeah.

We get anywhere between 600 and 800 degrees depending on the day.

So - Your vision to open this kind of artisan pizza place in downtown Temple.

Well, - I have two really great partners and decided that the downtown area needed something that would accommodate the adults and the kids all the same way.

Have a beer with our kids being able to play.

And then we took all of these ideas, put 'em all together and Trento Pizzeria came to head.

- Well, I think the people have spoken.

Yeah, absolutely.

Every time I've been in here, it's been this packed or more - Packed.

Absolutely.

- And why not?

Especially when Trino is slinging some of the tastiest, most creative pie in Texas.

- The initial idea was kind of a Roman style where you pile ingredients on top of it and then it morphed into what the community wanted.

Fun, exciting, flavorful Pizzas specials every week.

And it - Here we're all looks so good.

- Yeah, they do.

They smell even better.

- The toppings never end.

But if you think it's hard to pick a pizza, wait till you see the beer wall.

36 self four handles.

You scan a card and pour what you want, whether it's one ounce or a full pint.

- We are able to continuously feature lots of local breweries.

And very specifically on our wall.

We like to feature our Bird Creek brewing or our sister restaurant, which is a couple of roads down.

- If you want a burger with your beer, that's the spot.

But lucky for pizza lovers, they carry the best of the bird brews here.

- So this is the Lamborghini truck hazy IPA.

- Well, I'm fully committed to that one.

- You should be fully committed to that.

That is - The haziest of hazy I may have - Ever seen.

Yes, sir.

And that one did win gold in the Texas Craft Brewers Guild Cup.

- So we're talking about the best.

- This is the best of hazy IPA in Texas right here for at least the next 11 and a half months.

- That's That's pretty epic.

- It is pretty epic.

- Oh yes.

You nailed it.

You nailed it.

Heck yeah.

Well 'cause it's citrusy.

Hoppy's.

So good.

- It's very juicy.

- Now the truly hard choice pizza, I had to go with Jacob's recommendation of the ator.

Ah.

Mm.

Oh, that's so good.

The crust is totally unique.

I mean, it's got sourdough vibes.

It's a little bit crispy, but it's mostly just soft and chewy.

The oven cooks it perfectly with the creaminess of the ricotta and the hot honey.

I think every pizza in America may deserve hot honey on it.

You know, a lot of people dip pizza in ranch, which I think is just a travesty.

Like a good, - Do you feel that - Way?

It's like putting ketchup on a good steak, especially when the pizza is good.

I'll let you - Finish both of those and then we'll bite.

- And then over here, king brisket, spicy ranch, base cheese, panchetta, and then brisket.

Oh, that's good too.

Wait, - Hold - On a second.

What is on - That pizza?

When it's worked in to the pizza by the architects of genius that are making this for me?

I'm all about it.

This is a heck of a way to finish a day trip right here.

They go together like a pizza and ranch.

So it turns out the railroad can take you to some pretty amazing places.

Places where a magic gambler decides who buys the round places with incredible people, culture and food.

But definitely not to places where ranch belongs on good pizza, because those don't exist.

- Oh.

- So I had to get a dessert pizza, but I needed to stand up to let the other pizza sort of settle in.

So this is s'mores and it looks amazing.

So I, will see all y'all out on the road.

Via con Dios, Amigo Hello.

Whoa, whoa.

Where did y'all come from?

My hair and my nieces and nephews.

You got marshmallow in your hair?

Ha ha ha.

- The "Daytripper" is made possible by Rudy's, real Texas barbecue.

Shipping nationwide at rudys.com.

Karbach Brewing Company from Houston, Texas, makers of Karbach Lager, a beer that is proudly partnered with Don't Mess with Texas, please dispose responsibly.

Visit Georgetown, where big ideas meet small town charm.

Georgetown, the most beautiful town square in Texas.

Texas Farm Bureau Insurance, protection and peace of mind for Texans since 1952.

Don Hewlett Chevrolet Buick in Georgetown.

Making Texas road trips possible for over 50 years.

Don Hewlett Chevrolet Buick, Texas True.

Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages, Texas' local bottler providing the Lone Star state with a variety of Coca-Cola products.