| We got a phone
call from our post office one day - and they really do ring twice. We were informed
that we had a package - postage-due. They are very careful at our post office
and made sure they got the 73 cents before we saw the package. It was a book-sized
Manilla envelope with a Duncanville postmark. We didn't know anyone in Duncanville
- but what could we do at that point? The postal service person had the money
and they didn't look like they wanted to give it back.
It turns out
that it was worth it.
It was a thin little book that ends rather abruptly
on page 93 - but that shouldn't come as a surprise since the title is The Eight
Corners of Texas and one should start expecting it to wind down sometime after
the seventh corner.
It should surprise no one to learn that the corners
of Texas are barely known to the people who live closest to them. By the way,
the use of the words close, closest, closeness and "pretty close" have new meanings
in the context of this adventure.
The outline of Texas is said to be
the most recognized silhouette in the world - (after the original bulged-waist
Coca-Cola bottle) and like the Coke bottle - it's hard to point to well-defined
corners of Texas. But before this review gets longer than the book itself….
Mr. McBurnett, his wife Jan, son Neal and his wife Cindy with some additional
in-laws and friends (some of them recruited locally) visited all eight "corners"
of the state over a four year period (you do the math). It soon becomes apparent
that getting there was much more than half of the fun - more like 99%. Mr. McBurnett
wisely includes some character sketches of the people they met while on their
journeys and some anecdotal stories about local people and their reaction to "the
quest" for the eight corners.
We guarantee the book will add dimension
to your mental image of Texas - especially if you never had one to begin with.
It's a very entertaining trip - and while it's possible to visit the eight corners
yourself - you might have second thoughts after reading the book. If you do, the
McBurnetts recommend taking a golf club for each participant - hint: they aren't
to play golf.
The seldom-answered questions, closed chamber of commerce
offices and suspicious looks may be disheartening to the reader, but the McBurnetts
are optimists and seem to genuinely enjoy people. The reader is relieved that
their guide for the Sabine Pass "corner" turns out to be from the same tribe.
The cemetery fencing around one corner's marker and the story of one
marker being borrowed for use as a tractor weight give the trips color that can't
be made up.
Actually it's a book that should've been written a long time
ago and our hats are off to the McBurnetts - for thinking of it and for boldly
going where state and local officials fear to tread. Once again, individual ingenuity
and insatiable curiosity triumphs over bureaucratic laxity and disinterest. For
further information: www.eightcornersoftexas.com November
2002
© John Troesser
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