Dallas-Cowboys
- Feb 13, 2022
- 5 min read
We almost always leave our current campground between 11AM and noon to head to our next destination. This way, we hit our new site during the daytime which is much easier to get set-up during daylight as opposed to at night. And, just like a hotel, these rv parks have check-in and checkout times too. Our travel from Austin to Dallas was no different. We took the 206 mile drive via route 35 and then north to 35W in about three and a half hours. A boring but smooth drive, most of it was a two and four lane highway.
On our first day in Dallas we visited the 6th Floor Museum on Dealey Plaza. This is the place that JFK was assassinated, now, turned into a museum. We did this in mid-afternoon because in the morning we had to have a repair done on the Coach. Yes, another repair. Think of it this way.…If you were driving your house down the road at 60 miles an hour with all your household necessities jiggling along the way, your house would need an occasional repair too. So when it’s a repair we can’t do ourselves we are just elated to find someone who is qualified, shows up on time, and is fair and honest with his billing. So far, we have needed four of these types of guys in the past five months and it‘s worked out each time. One exception, is it costs us dough we never included in our budget. Ha! We’re trying to adjust that moving forward.
We both felt a deep connection to this museum because it is the exact location that Lee Harvey Oswald laid in wait and assassinated the the 35th president of the United States. If it were not for all of the visual aids, stories, memorabilia and history it would border on eerie. The second picture below is the actual corner window that Oswald shot President Kennedy from, and, pic #3 is that same location with an outside view. Yes, the boxes aren’t original but their laid out the same way and that’s the exact spot the murderer laid in wait. The X’s on the road are where Kennedy took the three bullets from Oswald’s gun. The second one to the head and the third one, the controversial “grassy null” shot that ricocheted numerous times between the President and then, Texas Governor O‘Connelly. The fourth and fifth pics below are two 3D reenactments of the shooting. Then X marks the spots of where President Kennedy was actually shot. There a couple Dealey Plaza shots (excuse the pun) and.... a heartfelt visit it was.
After the 6th floor museum we went to the Farmers Market. It was kinda lame but we walked it along with some of it’s nearby shops…then split. We headed to another part of downtown Dallas to the AT&T Discovery District. We went to a cool but not what-we-were-looking for mall of eateries. Then we walked a round a bit and hit the epicenter of the AT&T Discovery District and it was big, beautiful, animated and colorful. The next to last pic above puts it into it’s colorful perspective. That blue either man or women pictured was an ever changing video twenty floors high. It, and the surrounding architecture was cooler then cool. The next picture of Kathy will show you what we're talking about. We went to a restaurant after called Woolworths. We hit happy hour and Kathy ordered some smoking drink. Literally, it was smoking! The last picture above of the eyeball has an interesting back story. The owner of the property bought the land to build a parking garage. His neighbours called it an eyesore and prevented the project from moving forward so he put this HUGE eye on the lot to spite the opposing group. Ha! We had a nice dinner and called it a day.
On our third day we went to Fort Worth, Texas. What a hoot! The Fort Worth Stockyard was real cowboy. As soon as we parked the car a loose horse with saddle on and no rider, galloped past us about fifty feet away. No idea where he was headed all the other animals were in the other part of town.
The first Ft Worth feature was a longhorn cattle drive down the middle of the street. It was hysterical. The cows looked like they could barely hold there heads up ther horns were so damn big and it as slow, slow, slow. It was no cattle drive it was much more of a cattle walk.
We had dinner then went to the Rodeo at the Cowtown Coliseum. Whoa! This was crazy. It was Real Rodeo. Cowboys riding bucking Broncos and bulls and Cowgirls barrel racing. Speaking of blazing saddles these women were flying around these barrels. One Cowboy did a lasso presentation that was unbelievable. It was high-energy through and through and the announcer was awesome. In typical Texas fashion they did like three American anthems even before the Star Spangled Banner to start the event. With a Cowboy galloping with the American flag around the stadium floor to start the show. Brad loved that! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🐴🏇
On day three we went to the home of the Dallas Cowboys (and Cowgirl cheerleaders) at AT&T Stadium. Most people reading this might know Brad bleeds Eagles Green but here we were in Dallas country and what a marvel of an architectural monstrosity this stadium is. Wow! We took a tour of it and to put it in perspective a reluctant Kathy, loved it too.
The facts and figures our tour guide spoke about the stadium really made it a great experience. He toured us in the players and cheerleader lorckerrooms, a 60 seat luxury box, the broadcast booth as well as the basement and top levels of the stadium. The place holds 80,000 seated with 10,000 standing room only seats at each end. The steel that holds this building up is concrete anchored 80 feet into the ground and a span of 100 feet in length each. And there are four of them. It cost 1.3 billion to build and the scoreboard cost 40 million of that. It has a retractable roof that without even opening it you could fit the Statue of Liberty in it.
We took 94 pictures at the stadium (mostly for our nephew who is a big Cowboys fan) but there are a dozen or so below if you click the slider you can check them out. we think you'll dig them. For a trip into enemy territory we got out of it unscathed and it felt like a true victory. E-A-G-L-E-S...
On day number four in Dallas we got a little eclectic. We went tho the Neaher Sculpture Center and to a part of the city called Deep Ellam. The Sculpture Center was featuring an artist/sculpture/jeweler/eccentric musician named Harry Bertoia. It was quite the display of art. A lot of his stuff moved, (not the jewellery) and one display had an artist utilizing twenty of his sculptures at one time in a musical display of his work. If you want to check out the video of the musical presentation, private message us and we'll send it to you. It was pretty weird...for us.
Deep Ellam was a funky part of town that we set out to for lunch at a barbecue joint called Pecan Lodge. This barbecue restaurant had similar stylings to others where you wait in line to order your food and in this place they called your number when your food was ready. One of the things Kathy ordered was a beef rib that they charge by the pound. When they said it was 95 dollars (for lunch) we said take off the beef rib off please, and it came down to around $50. Sold! We dug in, ate, and headed home (back to the RV).
It's off to Big Bend National Park next. We'll have a stop on our way in some part of Bum-F^ck Texas to break up the drive. Below is a video from the Rodeo as a bonus for reading down this far. Thanks for following our journey. Peace, Love and Soul-Train. Kathy & Brad
When you described that cattle drive as slow you weren't exagerating. And yes, those poor longhorns look like they can barely lift their heads!
Been watching a lot of Yellowstone lately so appreciate a good rodeo. Another great blog entry! Travel well!
Wow. Riding and lassoing! Impressive. Rodeos are fun! I went to one in Utah. Good call on the beef rib Kathy! Darn near half the price and holy horns on the cattle! They're huge. Good luck in Bum Fu^k, ha! 😁