Hard to chew, but worth it

I've never been a fan of beef jerky, because I've always had the stuff from Wal-mart. A few decades back (...I'm showing my age, lol) we tried making our own, and it worked until I realized it cost three times as--right, the Wal-mart brand.

But the day I found Green Valley Meats everything changed. Sure, the idea of a meat-shop on the banks of the Green River is creepy, but jerky this good is worth a few goose bumps. It's a scant hundred yards from an off ramp I pass every day, but out of sight, out of mind. There is NOTHING on this road. It's so empty people keep buffalo in their front yards. Real ones, horns and everything. There are trees and trees, and water, and green stuff and this place.

It's so deserted, there were no cars in the parking lot, and the sign made this little screech screech as we pulled in. My kids said, "Uh, mom? This doesn't look like a good place to stop". They had to explain the resemblance to me. Apparently the buildings are a dead-on match for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

I guess I'm not big on horror movies, because all I was thinking was, "hmmm, I hope they're sanitary."

There were a few guys in the store. They cater to the biker crowd (as in "bicyclists"), who like the umpteenth gazillion mile run up to Black Diamond. ('cause there's no cars either)

And tubs, actual real-life tubs of beef jerky in things that look like shoe boxes. There was also smoked salmon and fish, sausage, and german style jerky sausages.

But it was the jerky that hooked me. My kids got the buffalo jerky and kickyoasshot, which was so hot it had pepper seeds crusted on it and glistened with red-hot oil. I got apple smoked thick cut, and maple flavored.