Food, fun, friends make for special Saturdays
Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Mackenzie Free
It’s an August morning at Town & Country Texaco, a view of Logan Martin setting the scene as a backdrop in the distance. Boaters line up at the pumps to fuel their day ahead on the water. Dozens of anglers put in at the boat ramp just as the sun comes up, readying for today’s big catch.
Cars and trucks stream in and out, almost as if the parking lot were encased by a revolving door. Folks clad in everything from suit and tie to shorts, tank tops and flip flops head into the store and out again. It’s the hurried comings and goings of yet another Saturday at Town & Country.
You might say the establishment itself is quite the attraction, and you would be right. Ask Kurt Russell and the set crew of Rivals of Amziah. They filmed there in July.
But if you look to the left, smoke wafting from a nearby tent with a tantalizing aroma of Boston Butts, ribs, chickens and wings emanating from oversized smoker ovens, you’d know you had arrived at so much more.
Under the tent sits Gerry Richey, a retired coach, who set up shop there nine years ago when Craig Goodgame opened the new Town & Country. He had been cooking for the high school baseball team for 20 years, and the culinary expertise he brought to that tent nearly a decade ago simply “took off.” The evidence is seen in the growing volume of customers awaiting his creations every weekend.
Of course, the tent has expanded since then. So have the ovens – double deckers – the crowds of customers and the gathering of locals who swap stories, settle the woes of the day and just plain ‘hang out.’ Of course, if they see a need, they’re right there, too. “If our friends see we’re busy, they jump right in taking money, boxing stuff up,” said Richey, who handles the operation along with Wade Graham.
On holidays, the pace is hectic. They average cooking 180-220 butts on holidays like Labor Day and July 4. “We couldn’t make it on holidays without help,” Richey said. Holidays have three grills going continuously.
He and Graham bought the first oven nine years ago when they opened their fledgling business under a pickup tent. Now, it’s a tradition for locals sharing ‘quality time’ on a Saturday morning.
History lessons abound about the river and days gone by. “You learn a lot of history,” said Erskine Funderburg, a lawyer in town.
The conversation tends to go a bit like this:
“Me and Daddy used to quail hunt at Lock 4,” Richey recalls, referring to a lock near Riverside and Lincoln no longer in use once Logan Martin Lake was created in 1965.
“We used to rabbit hunt at Catatoga,” he said, pointing in the direction of a lakeside subdivision a stone’s throw from Town & Country.
Blake Nixon, Danny Abbott, Funderburg, Bob Thomas and Richard M. “Doughnut” Nixon are usually in the mix of Saturday regulars, although not all were there this particular Saturday. On this day, there’s Richey, Jerry Howard, Craig Goodgame, Graham, John Otwell, Jerry Bowman, Terry Castleberry, Spike LeMaster, Funderburg, Thomas and Nixon.
Funderburg dubbed it the equivalent of “our men’s beauty shop.” He comes nearly every Saturday for “personalities and conversation.” To him, “It’s definitely a men’s beauty shop – lots of lies and a little bit of truth.”
“It may get a little different when you leave,” Terry Castleberry interjected with a nod toward being respectful of the woman present. Knowing laughter from the rest of the assembled group immediately followed.
“Don’t pay attention to him,” one of the ‘beauticians’ said as Spike LeMaster joined the group. He’s another regular, who enjoys the camaraderie, he said.
Conversation again turns to the beauty shop reference for a moment. “Is that a permanent?,” one asks Frunderburg, who has curly hair peeking out from under a baseball cap. Funderburg retorts, “It’s only right to come here and get abused every weekend. I do the abusing (as a lawyer) all week long.”
The scene is much like the mechanics of a pinball machine, bouncing from one subject to another.
Talk briefly turns to the lottery, where the $1.4 billion pot was still intact from the drawing the night before. A couple of them had tickets with four of six numbers plus the Powerball. “So close,” they lamented.
“Here comes the plumber,” said another, alerting the rest of the group to the arrival of Jamie Gipson from Trussville. He comes every Saturday for ribs, they boast. When he arrives at the tent, Gipson explains as best he can. “I don’t know what they do with the ribs, but every Saturday morning, it’s my ritual. When you get hooked on something, you stick with it.”
What about the movie filmed there a couple of weeks before? Craig Goodgame, owner of Town & Country, is part of the group, and he sets the scene. “This guy stopped by. He said he was a scene director, and he asked if I would be interested.” Goodgame obliged. The original ask was for two days of shooting, but it only took one. “They showed up at 7 p.m. and left at 2 a.m.”
Although Russell was a star, Goodgame said, he was approachable, talking to him and the staff the whole time. “He was extremely friendly – a nice man.” While Russell and his movie star wife, Goldie Hawn, have been together since the 70s, he told him and the staff they just got married six months ago. “He told us that story,” Goodgame said. “He said they were finally old enough to get married.”
The tent operation supplies the convenience store, too – at least 20 butts a weekend. “Can’t get caught up in there,” Richey said. “They take the butts and make sandwiches. They can’t keep them,” he said of their apparent disappearing act as the comings and goings of the day wear on.
Wings, butts and whole smoked chickens are the order of the day, especially during football season, where a single customer may order 100 wings for a game day gathering.
Customers come from all around the lake and out of town, too. Regulars stop in from Trussville, Moody and Vincent. He has one customer from Atlanta with a lake place, and he stops to take meat back with him to Georgia.
When do they close? Simple, said Richey. “When we run out – usually run out every Saturday.”
The day for him actually starts the day before. He puts the butts on to smoke overnight at about 6 p.m. on Friday. At 3 a.m., he’s back to smoke the rest and put the finishing touches on. “By the time people get here, everything’s ready. If we’re not ready, people would get ill at us.”
They’re only open on Saturdays, but holidays see them expand to a three-day weekend – Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
As the conversation slowed a bit, Richey checked on the wings, toting a nondescript bucket with a mop. He’s ready to baste. He says what he’s holding is the key to their success. “This is what makes our butts so good.” He didn’t wait for the obvious question. “No, I can’t tell you what’s in the bucket. It’s a secret – the secret sauce.”
Perhaps the secret comes from the days his family owned a café when he was young – the Ranch House. Or maybe it’s learned from decades of grilling for the baseball team.
“It must be pretty good. People still come,” Richey said, not specifying whether it’s for the food or the company.
As another crowd gathers under the tent on Saturdays, it’s easy to conclude it’s both.
