Git Along, Little Doggies!

After a month on the farm in Kansas (and a hiatus from journaling on this blog), we decided to git along, only instead of driving north as the cowboys did in the glory days of cattle drives, we headed south.  First stop:  Dallas-Fort Worth. Air leaks in the RV's system needed some attention at the Prevost Service Center in Fort Worth.

Friends had told us that no trip to Fort Worth would be complete without a visit to the Fort Worth Stockyards.  

Stockyards?  That name for me doesn't conjure up the image of a popular tourist spot. Instead what I think of is the overpowering smell of a herd of bovines confined to a small pen. Pee-ew!  But we had nothing else to do while we waited for the repairs to be completed so to the stockyards we went.  

On a gray and cloudy day, we joined other visitors to this 98-acres of saloons, restaurants, western wear clothing stores, cattle pens and stables all listed on the National Register of Historic Places.   

Ranchers from the mid-1800s through the 1950s brought their stock here to bargain for the best price at the Fort Worth Livestock Exchange. 

Instead of attending a livestock auction, we concentrated on 

Bull riding!

Yes, that is Tim on a real, live longhorn!

Cattle drives!

Shootouts between the good guys 

and the bad 

And a visit to Billy Bob's, billed as the largest honky tonk in Texas. 

Inside this 100,000 square foot venue is an arena where bull riding on real--not mechanical--specimens takes place every Friday and Saturday nights. 

That would be quite a spectacle!

But our time in Fort Worth is drawing to an end.  Git along, little doggies!  We are heading south to where it's warm.