Growing up in Harrisonburg, Louisiana in the 1940s and '50s was, I suppose, not that much different than people growing up anywhere. We didn't give it much thought. After all, it was a very small town in a very rural part of the state, and although it had an old Civil War Fort where bullets flew, it was pretty boring. The town had been there for a long time and even prospered after WWII. But growth seemed stimmed by the people leaving for greener pastures..
Families would sometimes move to town for a while, and then move on. The population remained fairly steady at just under 600. And as soon as I graduated high school in 1959, I also packed my bag and joined the Army. Surely there was a place for me in the world if I looked for it.
Meanwhile, one of those families, the Arch Aplin's, decided to pack up and head to Texas. And just like that, the town was one family less than it was the day before.
My only connection to the Aplin's was that Arch Sr. married my grandmother Hazel 'Terry' Mcmillin's sister, Mae 'Terry' Aplin, Arch III's grandmother.
But the Aplin's had a plan and they designed their life to make it work for them. And the plan came together in a remarkable way as Arch Aplin III gradually grew into the goal. He opened a small store and named it Buc'ee's.
As I began writing this post, I was wearing my Buc'ee's T-shirt, silently celebrating with the students at my old school in Harrisonburg as they recognized the family that became a familiar name to travelers driving through Texas.
This article in the Shreveport Times sums up Buc'ee's story quite well. It's worth a read, just as stopping at Buc-ee's is well worth the stop.
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