Q&A    Questions and Answers:

Hi Cowboy Bob.

When you take the long way across, there are seven dips on a Texas trip. Name them.

To my way of thinking, this question is somewhat difficult, since the answer depends on who is asking the question -- a cattleman or a cowboy wannabe.

If it's a question from a cattleman, the trip must follow the Texas side of the Mexican border, with stops at the "dips" -- or dipping vats -- run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's Tick Fever Eradication Project. As you travel up the Rio Grande, the seven dips are located at Brownsville (Cameron County), Mission (Hidalgo County), Rio Grande City (Starr County), Zapata (Zapata County), Laredo (Webb County), Eagle Pass (Maverick County), and Del Rio (Val Verde County).

The trip gets a bit more complicated if it's a wannabe asking the question, since he's probably more interested in food than in treating tick-infested cattle. In this case, our travel could start at Spring, TX, for a taste of Spring Herb Dip, then we'd head south to Houston for Houston's Artichoke Dip.

Next, we'd go west to Blanco, TX, for some Blanco Bean Dip. (We could make a side trip to Castroville, but Castroville Artichoke Dip is really named for Castroville, CA.)

Now we head north to Dallas for a dollop of Dallas Dill Dip (which is actually produced by Carmie's Kitchen in Richardson, TX). From Dallas we take the freeway west to Pecos for Pecos Bean Dip, then travel south to Alpine, TX, to sample Alpine Avocado Dip.

Our trip ends "Out in the West Texas town of El Paso" -- where we celebrate with a big batch of El Paso party dip!

So, you see, there's more than one Texas trip with seven dips!

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