The Beaver Nugget and Buckeye come together

I was recently visiting some family from Ohio. Looking forward to some of the perks of home like authentic local cuisine, naturally, my mom pointed out Ohio had recently celebrated the opening of its first Buc-ee's and suggested the fam head there instead.

Ohio, a land of innovation, broke records on Buc-ee's opening day last month with sales topping $1 million. A check of Buc-ee's website shows he has stores in Florida and Virginia, but the Dayton store is the farthest from Texas.

Excuse me, the Huber Heights store.

I met Beaver Aplin for the first time when he was trying to build a Buc-ee's in Corinth, Texas. Corinth's Economic Development recommended a sales tax rebate to get him to build there.

Corinth is a city of about 25,000 people north of Dallas and Fort Worth. Some people who lived in town said they didn't want a giant store with 96 gas pumps creating traffic at an interchange there.

Aplin argued something was going to get built at that interchange, and he had a history of working well with neighbors to deal with their concerns about traffic, crime or bright lights.

That meeting lasted well past midnight with the city council rejecting him 3-2. Talking to him afterward, he said he was disappointed to have tried to work with neighbors who were worried, to try to give Corinth something memorable, only to be told he wasn't welcome.

I asked him what he was going to do instead. He just went an exit up and opened the store in Denton.

I bring that up because even with the iconic Texas brisket station, Huber Heights Buc-ee's also embraces its community.

Aplin spotted opportunity, where it's often found, in Ohio.

Interstates 75 and 70 are major corridors which intersect in Huber Heights, so I suspect millions of people have passed through over the decades without ever knowing they were in Huber Heights, Ohio. That ends now.

Aplin will tell the world about Huber Heights... in the form of magnets and cutting boards.

Buc-ee had embraced Ohio, but Huber Heights is reminded who the star is. You can get postcards with the Ohio flag and acknowledging the state's history as the birthplace of aviation. Maybe you'd like to send one off right after you have your Buc-ee-shaped waffle for breakfast.

I mentioned this to a group of associates after returning to Texas. One told the story of a stop we had made at the Buc-ee's in Fort Worth on the way to one of the casinos in Oklahoma.

I filled the gas tank, and he went inside. He came out with a brisket burrito.

I thought nothing of it, and we continued on to the casino. Here we are, years later, and he says he hadn't actually bought that burrito.

He--and I'm not making this up--explained he had just gone in to use the restroom. On the shelf above the urinals, he spotted the burrito. No one else seemed to be looking for it, he continued, so he helped himself, taking the burrito (which, as a reminder, had been placed in the bathroom) back into the store to load with fixins.

"It still had the sticker!" he exclaimed. "It was sealed! And it was delicious."

I was still dumfounded.

"Plus, they have those legendary bathrooms," he persisted. "Probably cleaner than your kitchen."

An associate echoed Buc-ee's reputation for cleanliness, saying he had never enjoyed lunch in their bathroom, but their windows are so clean, he once walked right into some glass next to a door because he thought that was the opening.

Meantime, my mom's kitchen is now stocked with some Texas staples.