For Wilshire Baptist Church
Eating BBQ under a sheet-metal shed in the howling, dusty wind at a roadside stand was not our first choice for dinner after a long day of exploring Big Bend National Park. It wasn’t even our Plan B; it was just what happened. But for Don Bauchman, owner of DB’s Rustic Iron BBQ in Terlingua, feeding hungry folks like us is a vocation and fulfillment of a longtime dream.
We learned a little of DB’s story as we ordered from the window of his rustic trailer-based restaurant, but most of it was shared when he came out to check on us while we finished up our plates of turkey, beans and potato salad. We were his last customers of the day and he’d already hung the “Closed” sign. A couple of cars rolled up earlier while we were eating but left without stopping, probably when they read his hand-written sign that he was out of beef. We saw the sign too, and we’re glad we stayed for the turkey and conversation.
DB worked in the oil fields of West Texas and Angola for 35 years, often working 30 days on and 30 days off. But he loved to cook BBQ for family and friends on his days off, and all along he knew that he wanted to have his own place someday. He also knew he’d get laid off eventually given the ups and downs of the oil business, and when that happened in 2015, he was ready to roll into his lifelong dream.
Probably about my age, DB spoke with enthusiasm about what he’s doing and the future he has planned. Business has been mostly good, the pandemic not withstanding, and he’s working on a brick-and-mortar location nearby. It was evident from the way he chattered amiably from behind his screened takeout window or stood near our table that he’s a real people person. I get the feeling that to be in his kind of business, you have to like people as much if not more than you like simply cooking.
It’s hard not to be inspired by a person like DB who has worked hard all his life for other folks and is not afraid to work hard now for himself and his customers. What is a little hard for someone like me to understand is why he’s chosen a dusty, seemingly isolated place like Terlingua to set up shop. In talking to DB, we learned that Odessa was his previous home and there’s a lot more people to serve there.
But I suspect after living so many years in the oil fields, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and home is what you make of it. But mostly, I think, vocation can happen anyplace where there are people to serve — especially hungry people. And there’s plenty of folks like that rolling through Terlingua on their way in and out of Big Bend.