Katy, Texas

Rails, Rice & Really Big Water Slides

Think you know Texas? Think again. Just past the Houston sprawl lies Katy—a town with a haunted railroad, a cult-favorite gas station, and a story on every corner. Part history, part modern-day marvel, all brisket.

Ride shotgun with Dane D. Blaze through BBQ blowouts, ghost hunts at the MKT Depot, and a seven-story free-fall at Typhoon Texas. It’s loud, funny, and surprisingly heartfelt—like arguing about the weather over peach cobbler.

Travel Memoir Typhoon Texas BBQ Pilgrimage

Chapter 1: An Excerpt

Katy looks harmless until it doesn’t. One minute you’re posing by a cheerful rice-mill mural; the next you’re squinting down a railway that locals swear is haunted by a punctual ghost conductor. I don’t believe in ghosts, but I do believe in good storytelling—and this town has both.

Lunch escalates into a BBQ pilgrimage that violates at least three food pyramids. A pitmaster hands me a slice of brisket with the tenderness of a baptism and the smoke ring of a miracle. Somewhere between the jalapeño sausage and the peach cobbler, I vow to make better choices, starting tomorrow.

Then there’s Typhoon Texas—seven stories of gravity therapy. I climb, I question, I commit. The trapdoor opens and I achieve temporary enlightenment at 40 mph. Later, at the MKT Depot, we hunt shadows with a borrowed EMF reader and the kind of optimism usually reserved for lottery tickets and DIY plumbing.

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See something we missed? Spot a detail that doesn’t add up? That’s where you come in. Pathfinders don’t just read the journey, they help write it. Correct the facts, fill in the gaps, and blaze new trails for fellow travelers.

Does it cost anything? Ha! Nope. In fact, we pay you. Even better, you can write off your travel on your taxes (check your local laws). We’ll even help you fill out the forms.

Talk about a no-brainer. You’re a money-making, tax-break-taking, pathfinding machine.