Chet Garner Knows Texas

When your entire professional life is focused on helping viewers make the most of their vacation travel, getting in some rest and relaxation for yourself can be tricky business. At least that’s what Chet Garner has found as he starts the seventh season of his Texas-exploring television series, The Daytripper. But he’s not exactly complaining.

“That’s one of the job hazards. No matter where I’m going, I’m kind of always working. But that’s part of the magic of finding a job that you love doing,” Garner says. “Every weekend and every time I’m traveling down a back road, I’m scouting for a future episode, or I’m on the hunt for that elusive down-a-dirt-road barbecue joint.”

Part of that love comes from a lifelong affection for Texas, which comes through loud and clear on his six-time Emmy Award-winning series on PBS. The Daytripper grew from Garner’s own personal philosophy in which vacations, he maintains, should be active, engaging endeavors.

“Vacation to me is an experience outside of your ordinary. If you want to make the most of it, do something you’ve never done before,” Garner explains. “Now, there are some people who like going to the same place every year. But I’m going to go somewhere new. I’m going to see something new, eat something new, and do something I’ve never done before. That, to me, is how you make the most of it. You capture the excitement of discovering something.”

The trick, though, to truly engaging in a destination — whether you’re going somewhere undiscovered or to a familiar haunt — is being sure to turn off your work-life brain. “I mean, you can go somewhere different, but are you really going to make the most of it?” he asks. “If you take a trip and do the exact same things you do when you’re at home, then you’re not really vacationing. You just moved your body somewhere new.”

Texas Is a Big Place
Even after so many episodes of The Daytripper spent exploring well-known and obscure landmarks, Garner isn’t worried at all about running out of material. Finding new stops along the road “is a lot easier than you’d think, truthfully,” he says. “Texas is so huge, with so many cool hole-in-the-wall places that I never knew existed; there’s really an endless amount of content.” The nearly 268,000 square miles of the state contain a seemingly endless array of towns to visit, unique sights to see, and delicious grub to eat. “I checked the other day, and I think we have something like 16,000 historical markers in the state, and each one of those has some kind of story behind it,” he adds. “People are like, ‘When are you going to run out of towns?’ And the truth is, never. By the time you come back around, everything’s changed all over again.”

With such in-depth firsthand knowledge of the state, Garner should pretty easily be able to pinpoint a favorite destination, right? Not quite. “I mean, to me it’s like asking someone their favorite kid. I grew up in Southeast Texas. It’s kind of like I think I live in the coolest part of the state, and then I go visit another part and I’m like, ‘Oh no, this is the best part,’” he admits. “It wasn’t too long ago we were out west in Alpine, and I was like, ‘Oh man, this has got to be the coolest part’ because you’ve got Fort Davis and Marfa and all of that stuff going on — Big Bend, which I absolutely love.” It’s an abundance of riches, really, and the kind of variety that creates shifting allegiances in Garner. “My favorite part of the state changes constantly. It’s sort of like whatever part I’m in that day is my favorite,” he finally decides.

Garner at least has a fixed opinion about one crucial Texas topic: barbecue. “I’ve got a small list of places I eat every chance I can get,” he reveals. “Franklin Barbecue in Austin, but you’ve got to wait two or three hours in line to eat that — I often don’t have that much time, but it’s actually worth the wait — the Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, City Market in Luling. The best barbecue in the state, in my opinion, is right around Austin. It’s in that Austin daytrip zone. You can get to it within two hours of the capital.”

Considering his wealth of experience in Texas, Garner has pretty detailed standards for fully appreciating it. It all ties into his mission statement of giving proud Texans some solid ammunition to boast about the superiority of the state. “I don’t like it when people are pointlessly proud, and there’s sort of these ‘puff up your chest’ Texans that have never explored the state. But once you’ve explored it, you understand that there are so many reasons to love it,” he says. “You need to have gone to Big Bend and you need to have seen Palo Duro Canyon and you need to have gone to the Piney Woods. Texas is so much more than a lot of people think.”

For all the secret gems of Texas that Garner has uncovered and turned into fodder for his series, his gig can sometimes come with a unique conflict of interest: reveal a magnificent getaway to the masses or keep the secret all for himself. Let’s just say even Garner isn’t immune to the pangs of selfishness. “I would say that’s something I wrestle with at least monthly. There are some places that are too good to put on TV, without a doubt,” he says. “Some of them are restaurants and some of them are swimming holes — there are a few places I wouldn’t want to get too much publicity or else they might change, you know what I mean?”

Downtime for a Day-Tripper
So where does a bona fide expert on recreation and relaxation in Texas go when he wants to kick back himself? It all depends on the water. “For me, I like going swimming. If I’m going to relax, I want to be outside the city someplace where I’ve got water nearby,” he says. “And even if it’s wintertime, there’s something about being near the water for me. So I love going to the Highland Lakes — the Burnet area, Marble Falls — because you’ve got those beautiful lakes and the Hill Country there.”

Of course, Garner seeks out the less-traveled coastal areas. “I like the more under-the-radar parts of the coast. I love going down to North Padre Island, Rockport, some of those sorts of places that are kind of forgotten about. Or disappearing into the Piney Woods up there in the northeast. As long as there’s a lake or a swimming hole or something wet to jump into nearby, I’m good. That’s all I need.”

But while unlocking Texas history and rating the state’s barbecue is pretty awesome as vocations go, vacation time with the family is still important, and even someone who loves his job can run afoul of the work-life balance — in fact, he may be even more prone to it. “My wife has said a couple of times, ‘Chet, when are we going to leave Texas for a vacation?’ And I say, ‘Honey, we don’t ever need to leave Texas! Look around!’” Garner jokes, admitting that his response wasn’t met with the warmest of enthusiasm. “But she loves Texas as much as I do.”

That doesn’t mean he’s not up for actually getting out of the state every once in a while, even just for a bit of perspective on home. “Sometimes it is fun to step away and look back and go, ‘Oh yeah, that’s why I love Texas so much.’ Sometimes you’re so close to it you can’t appreciate it,” Garner explains. “I grew up as a Texan, and that’s really what inspired me to start the show, because I traveled to Europe and Asia and realized that a lot of the stuff I was purchasing $2,000 plane tickets to go and see wasn’t as good as some of the stuff right here in my own backyard.”

Garner says people often think adventure requires time off of work and elaborate trips. “That’s not true at all,” he says. “You can often find the best adventures just right there in your own backyard, just a daytrip away.”

But that sense of adventure gets put on hold when the holidays roll around — well, usually. “I’m a big family guy, so for me Christmas is different. We go back and see our family and spend time with our extended family on Christmas,” Garner says. “You can find reasons to travel year-round, but Christmas for me is typically all about family, staying home, and enjoying the people rather than trying to cram it full of another activity.”

Always up for adventure, he carves out time for the occasional Christmas season trip to places like Grapevine, known as the Christmas Capital of Texas. “I love it,” he says. “Every Texan should visit at some point.” It’s true, in a sense he never stops working.