Mom's Famous $100 Chocolate Pie LbNA #66034

My Mom was the best cook in the world! Well, at least in my world she was. Every Sunday morning, she got up and made two cream pies for dinner before going to church, and not just if we were going to have company. We went to a small church in a rather small town in West Texas. It was a church with old-fashioned values and old-fashioned ways. Occasionally, we would have “dinner on the grounds”, which meant that, after preaching, everyone would bring “pot luck” and we’d spread it all out on tables in a room in back of the church which was used for all kinds of social gatherings, and everyone would eat and visit, and maybe sing a gospel song or two around the piano. My Mom would bring fried chicken and the pies she had made that morning, usually chocolate, because that was the kind most folks liked best. She was famous for her chicken and her pies, at least in our world. Occasionally, when the church needed a little operating money, or new songbooks, or whatever, we would have an auction in that back room. The ladies would bring their best dish and it would be sold to the highest bidder. Mom’s chocolate pie was on the desirable list and a couple of the men would bring a little extra cash to make sure they took it home. One time I remember, when her pie came up for bids, a couple of guys just wouldn’t be denied. The bidding started at $10 or so, but it was quickly raised to $20, then $30 and before you knew it, the bid was $50! One of the bidders dug down in his pocket and found an extra fifty and doubled the bid to $100! His opponent was beaten and good-naturedly conceded. That’s when Mom’s chocolate pie became really famous. Her pie recipe is in my file under the name of “Mom’s Famous Hundred Dollar Chocolate Pie”. I make one every now and then, but I’m sure I don’t make it as good as she did. At least nobody ever offered me a hundred dollars for one.

Directions:
This box is located in Lake Houston Wilderness Park, 25840 FM 1485, New Caney, Texas. Check in at the Gate House, pay your fee and get a trail map. Park in the parking lot adjacent just to the right of the Gate House.

To the box:
Take the Peach Creek Loop Trail. At the trail junction with the Dogwood Trail, keep to the right on the Peach Creek Loop Trail. The trails are not marked. Be careful as you go through "Ant City" all the way to the wooden footbridge. At the bridge, turn back the way you came and take 158 steps, then look to the right for a spreading oak about 18 steps off the trail. Walk to it and find the ground-level limp that points back to the trail. In a hole about 3 feet from the trunk of the tree, you'll find the box, held in place by a stick and covered with sticks and leaves.