This past Saturday, as I sat idling in a rather long line of traffic on Memorial Drive right by the park, I fired off a quick text to my wife letting her know I’d be a tad late getting home.

"Stuck in traffic. Horse caravan and cowboy posse crossing street."

As Caroline Gallay also noted on CultureMap, it is a moment like this that reminds us that Houston, and Texas for that matter, is a special place.

I’m sure the amiable cowboys and cowgirls riding down Memorial Drive would have corrected my characterization of their group as a “posse.” I’m not so sure a procession of horses can amount to a “caravan” of any sort either.

Despite my imprecise description of that scene on Memorial Drive, I do know that my mere acceptance of horses crossing the street on a Saturday in February is yet another step in my incremental, and usually enjoyable, 15-year acclimatization process to becoming more “Texan.” My inexact verbiage does nothing, however, to diminish my status here as a benign carpetbagger.

An Outsider’s Embrace of Texas

Although I still maintain what I believe is a healthy and rational aversion to guns, I’ve attempted to ingratiate myself to Texas and to its many unique customs.

• I’ve donned pearl snap shirts for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

• I’ve patronized the Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco.

• I’ve swayed to the music of Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson in the dead heat of July in Luckenbach.

• I’ve marveled at the rain from a front porch in Midland (apparently it is what one does when the clouds open up out there).

• I’ve felt the sting on my face of those fierce West Texas winds in Lubbock.

• I’ve imbibed Shiner Bock at the Menger Hotel bar, where Teddy Roosevelt recruited the Rough Riders and, on a separate trip to San Antonio mind you, I nearly fell into the murky waters by the River Walk.

• I’ve even looked to no avail for those mysterious Marfa lights.

• And more recently, I’ve tried to read more about Texas history and politics. The intriguing stories found throughout the state's history have helped clarify for me why Texas is both a unique and fascinating place.

The Original Maverick

Sarah Palin and John McCain were not original “mavericks.”

That honor would go to Samuel Augustus Maverick, the rancher who settled around San Antonio in the early 1800s. Maverick, due to either inattention or empathy, chose not to brand his cows. Thus, any unbranded and unidentified cows were assumed to be “Maverick’s” property. The term, according to a 2008 New York Times article, eventually “came to mean anyone who didn’t bear another’s brand.”

Interestingly enough, the descendants of Maverick were not too keen with Team McCain’s appropriation of the family namesake during the 2008 presidential race. It turns out that the Maverick family “has been known for its progressive politics since the 1600s, when an early ancestor in Boston got into trouble with the law over his agitation for the rights of indentured servants.” Terrellita Maverick, a descendant of Samuel Augustus, recoiled at McCain’s self-described reputation as a “maverick."

“He’s a Republican,” she explained, “He’s branded.” Perhaps it was this revelation that forced Palin into ‘going rogue’ instead of ‘going maverick.”

More Modern Day Texas Mavericks

Regardless of the caveat explaining the origin of the term, it appears that many colorful, independent, and nonconformist Texas politicians of the twentieth century fit the “maverick” description quite well.

My good friend Jim Riddlesperger is a connoisseur of all things Texas. Riddlesperger’s favorite fact about Texas is if "you are in Dalhart, Texas, you are closer to the state capitals in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma than you are to Austin."

But Riddlesperger is not just a Texas trivia buff; he is also a professor of political science at Texas Christian University and chronicler of a litany of entertaining stories about Texas politics. In his wonderful book titled The Austin Boston Connection, Riddlesperger and his co-authors catalogue how “for the more than 50 years that Democrats controlled the U.S. House of Representatives, leadership was divided between Massachusetts and Texas.” It is a fascinating study of not only the U.S. Congress and the “importance of the friendships and enmities within congressional delegations,” but of some of the more lively politicians who hailed from Texas.

The following are just a few of Riddlesperger’s favorite tidbits about Texas politicians and their “maverick” style:

• Former Speaker of the House of Representatives and Franklin D. Roosevelt Vice President John Nance Garner “drank a bottle of Jack Daniels every day for most of his adult life.” According to Riddlesperger, this famed Texas politician was a "sipper" and always had a glass at hand. He also smoked cigars. You’d think that type of lifestyle would be tough to maintain? Not really. Riddlesperger recounts, “He lived to be 99.”

• Legendary Speaker of the House of Representatives and Texas native Sam Rayburn was, in addition to serving the longest tenure for a Speaker of the House, “a man of many sayings.” Riddlesperger recalls that Rayburn’s favorite saying, which “captures his view of governing,” was: "Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one." Riddlesperger also notes that “though his successor John McCormack was fond of saying, ‘I hold all of my colleagues in high regard, but some I hold in minimal high regard,’ Rayburn just referred to the folks he couldn't stand as "sh**a**."

• While Rick Perry may have a legendary mane, he doesn’t have a country band in tow on his campaign stops. W. Lee O'Daniel became governor of Texas in 1938. But he “was a country dance band emcee before he was elected governor.” With a campaign slogan of "My only rule is the golden rule and my only laws are the 10 Commandments," O’Daniel and his band the "light crust doughboys" barnstormed Texas politics in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

His band got its name “because they represented a flour company in Fort Worth.” Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys have nothing on the Doughboys.

• Another former Speaker of the House of Representatives Jim Wright used his sense of humor to pull a prank on President Ronald Reagan. Riddlesperger recounts that when Wright was speaker, “and Ronald Reagan came to the House to give his State of the Union Address, Wright told Reagan that the Teleprompter was broken and Reagan might have to ‘wing it.’

Reagan looked so dismayed at the thought that Wright couldn't hold the joke – and of course, Reagan gave his normal masterful speech – using the teleprompter.”

These stories illustrate the maverick style Texas politicians have displayed during the years. It also seems that these type of personalities appeal to many. Unless of course you’re Val Kilmer, and these maverick types make your teeth clench awkwardly.

My Inner Texan

While the two stadium seats from the New Jersey Meadowlands that now reside in my family room are both a semi-permanent shrine to my beloved New York Giants and a testament to my Yankee roots, I’ve taken several steps to embrace Texas during the years.

Pennsylvania, where I grew up, is still the Keystone State in my book, despite the fact that Texas has its own toast. We Pennsylvanians provided the setting for the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the foundation of our republic, after all.

But Texas, its people, its culture and its ever-lively history, holds a spot that is near and dear to my heart.