WHARTON – Wharton's Teepee Motel & RV Park is the stuff of local legends.
Melinda Shriver can list all the famous guests, including, Shriver says, "Willie Nelson has stayed here and Elvis Presley. Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton, they were doing the rodeo back then and they came out in their full dress, story or so legend goes."
But in 2004, it was about to be demolished.
"There were snakes in the walls, trees were growing up in the middle," Shriver said while pointing to an old scrapbook.
That's when a local couple came to the rescue.
Bryon Woods remembered a conversation with his wife who asked, "Why don't you buy 'em for me?"
"Girl, I don't want to fool with them," Woods told her.
A year earlier, Bryon and Barbara Woods had won millions in the lottery.
Back then, Bryon was a diesel mechanic working nights and wanted to buy a few more lottery tickets. Bryon recalled another conversation with his wife, saying, "We had an argument. 'You don't need no more durn lottery tickets,'" she told him.
Barbara was standing behind the counter at J & K's convenience store in Eagle Lake.
"She was working that night. She sold me the ticket," Bryon said.
By morning, they were $49 million richer.
Bryon laughed repeating how he told his sleepy wife, "Sweetheart, we won the lottery," he said back then. "Fool, leave me alone," she replied.
So the Woods spent over $1 million to buy, renovate and add a now booming RV park to the Teepee reservation. The couple lives on a ranch with a daughter and three grandchildren about 65 miles away from the park.
But Bryon makes the trip to Wharton at least once a week and sometimes once a day to manage things.
He could just hire someone to do it. But, at 50, the former mechanic, mortician and sandblaster is still a hands-on guy.
"I like to have my hands on it," Bryon says with a smile.
Over the past 12 years, the Woods have invested in real estate, gourmet coffee shops, even a broadband company, but the Teepee motel is what people know them for.
How do Bryon and his wife, keep their focus?
"Grace of God," Bryon said. "I mean that's one of the biggest things. (People) think just cause you got money, you're made invincible, which you're not."
The couple knows that pointedly.
Just two months after they got their winning check, Barbara suffered a stroke.
"A lot of people say that's part of the 'Curse of the Lottery,'" Bryon said.
And if they could give the money back and change things?
"I prefer having her health back," Bryon said.
The couple like to travel to Louisiana and Vegas. They still gamble, mostly slots, and play the lottery. Their philosophy, enjoy each day as it comes.
"(God) don't give you anything you can't handle," Bryon said.
