So let me tell you how I ended up singing “Pure Imagination” to Aaron Franklin, the magician behind Austin’s Franklin BBQ, just before LoneStarCon 3 began.

Those of you who followed me as I made my Worldcon foodie plans already know all about Franklin BBQ—how Texas Monthly named it as turning out the best brisket in Texas, which means it’s the best brisket in the United States, which probably means it’s also the best brisket in the world. How by the time Franklin opens each morning at 11:00 a.m. there are already hundreds of people waiting in line to eat there. And how if you don’t get there early enough, you get nothing. (Or perhaps you get nothing but cole slaw … like Hitler.)

Which means that instead of flying to Worldcon in San Antonio early Thursday morning as I normally would have, I instead headed there late Wednesday, so that I could rent a car that night and therefore have it ready super early the following morning in order to make the drive from San Antonio to Austin (about 79 miles, or an hour and 13 minutes) to arrive at Franklin’s front door no later than 8:30 a.m. Thursday. That would (I hoped) allow me and my hardy band to stuff ourselves with BBQ and be back at Worldcon by 2:00 p.m.

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