Fort Worth and John Wayne

We left camp at 7:15 for Ft Worth.  GPS said that traffic was moderate.  Carol and I don't agree.  It seemed heavy to us.  Some truckers, like this one,  have a sense of humor. Woody from Toy Story is hanging on for dear life. 

Texas fly not only the American flag but the Texas one as well.

Our first stop in Ft Worth was "The John Wayne Experience."  It tells John Wayne's story from early childhood to his "Life on the Screen."

He would give each cast member specially designed coffee cups with the completion of the movies he was in.  These are some of those cups.

The many faces of John Wayne.

Here I am holding the hands of the Duke and Kirk Douglas.

Some of the many hats he wore in his movies.

He loved to fish and this is a replica of the boat he would use/

He had lung cancer in the late 60's and thought he had defeated it but in 1979 he died of stomach cancer. These are the bags of cards and letters that came to the hospital shortly before he died.  Because he died so quickly, these bags were never opened.

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We were surprised to find Trigger and Bullet at the end of the museum.  They had been at the Roy Rogers Museum in Branson and when it closed, they were transferred here.

 

These are some of the many costumes he wore in some of his movies.  The two in the center are from "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" and his final movie "The Shootist."  The Academy Award is for "True Grit." 

After visiting the museum, we walked around downtown Ft. Worth.  It is an interesting old town.  A lot of the streets are no longer dirt like in cowboy times but have been paved with bricks.

The Fort Worth Stock Yards is a national historic site.

The population of Texas has grown so much but the owner of this car is concerned that this increased population will change Texas. 

We ate lunch at Billy Bob's Honky Tonk.

We both had the chicken strip basket....very good.

For $5.00 you could get your picture taken on the back of this longhorn.  Carol and I declined.  While waiting for the herd, we heard this joke:  "Why do cows wear bells?  Because their horns don't work."

 

This little doggie has his own mini rider.

At 11:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. there is a small cattle drive reenactment.  These cowboys were part of that reenactment.

Here come the Texas Longhorns.  We didn't realize how long their horns were!

We left Fort Worth around 1:00 headed for the Kennedy sites in downtown Dallas.  Again, GPS said traffic was moderate (we still don't agree).  

It was quite an experience.  We finally made it downtown and ended up driving around the same block three times and making a u-turn three times before we found a parking lot for the Sixth Floor Museum and Dealey Plaza.  Needless to say it got pretty intense during that experience; however, we finally pulled into a parking lot.  The cost was $12!!  We stopped at the booth and the attendant came out and asked us what we wanted to do in the area.  We told him and he said that the Museum was closed for sanitation.  It is not open on Monday or Tuesday so the museum can be cleaned thoroughly.  Since we had already been to the plaza on a previous trip, we decided to head back to camp.

We stopped for gas at Buc-ee's.  We had never been in a Buc-ee's.  It is unbelievable!  Not only can you get gas but it is like a mini-grocery store, fast food, clothing, etc.  

This building is enormous.

The pump area has two multiple filling areas. One for cars and the other for larger vehicles like RVs.

We were home by 4:00 and sat outside in the shade for a while.  Carol couldn't take the mud on the tires of the RV and car so he spent time washing them off.   

Tomorrow we will head back into Dallas for the Texas State Fair.  It doesn't open until 10 a.m. so maybe by that time we will miss the "moderate" traffic.