We moved to Texas in the summer of 2005. In March 2006, we decided to go to San Antonio for our first spring break in Texas. We bought tickets to Sea World in San Antonio. We planned to spend one day at the Alamo and one day at Sea World.
We packed up the van early in the morning we were driving to San Antonio. We were about 1 hour into our three-hour drive and the kids were getting restless and starting to prod and tease each other. We were on Highway 21 in Bastrop Texas.
As we drove past a Whataburger, I had a sudden inspiration for a way to distract the kids and hopefully get them to stop fighting with each other. (Even though we had lived in Texas for about 9 months, and Whataburger is a Texas staple food, we had never stopped at a Whataburger to eat.)
I said to the kids. "Hey, see that Whataburger sign over there? Do you know where they got the name 'Whataburger'?"
They replied, "No."
I then told them this story...
So, the family that started the Whataburger chain had the idea for a fast-food burger place that they wanted to launch. They bought a store and got everything ready but could not think of a name for their store. One day, the dad was picking his nose. He pulled out a big nasty booger on his finger.
He looked at this finger and exclaimed, "What a Booger!" and that is where the name comes from.
The tenseness of the kids fighting in the back of the van was diffused. We continued on our trip.
I travel through Bastrop, Texas about several times each year. Everytime I see that Whataburger sign, I remember my inventive story.
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