Note: From today the blog’s date and time will represent where we are in the US when we post rather than UK time.

So we went to the rodeo last night and it was great.  Those guys really take their lives in their hands with the bulls.  There was bull riding, bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, ranch saddle bronc, break-away-roping, tie-down roping, team roping and barrel racing.  Mostly it was men riding but ladies did the barrel racing.  There was also some lasso tricks.  They also did something for the younger members of the audience.  The children went into the arena and they let a calf loose and then a sheep with a ribbon on their necks and the child who got the ribbons won a prize.  Some of the children were as young as 4-5 and they had great fun. The animals running around didn’t bother them at all.

This cowboy was very clever with his lasso. He was one of the guys who helped catch the bulls and horses after their riders had fallen off.  He’s also part of the Wild West Show.

Here’s a short video of some of the roping action. 

Today, we started off going to watch the cowboys herding the Texas Longhorns down the street.

This cowboy was one of guys herding the bulls down the main street.

Then we were invited to a gun fight! 

We thought this was John Wayne!! 

After ‘doing’ the museums we took a stroll down the street and saw there were quite a lot of bikers in town today with their magnificent machines.

And last, but not least, are some pics to finish with today.  One of Si eating yet more ribs, beef this time and us at the end of a tiring day sitting outside our hotel.

We left Hot Springs this morning just as a bad storm hit, lots of rain and thunder but after a few miles the sun was shining and that lasted for most of our five-hour drive.  It only started raining again when we were about 10 miles from Fort Worth and when we arrived here the sun was shining and it was lovely and hot with no sign of the predicted storms …. well, not yet anyway!

You may ask what we do to while away the hours on a long drive.  Well, today we completed some more of the license plate game, saw another three license plates so only have five more left to get.  Also, we have Sirius XM satellite radio in the car and on there is a channel called E. Street Radio dedicated solely to our favourite boy, Bruce Springsteen.  So, we spent most of the trip singing along to our favourite Brucie tunes.

Texas here we come!

Travelling in the US is very easy, most of the highways being so straight and long and as we pass from one State to another there’s always a Visitor’s Centre full of maps and leaflets and people to tell you all about the best places to visit.

Today, apart from visiting Dot and John’s, was the first time on our trip that we actually travelled on a road that we had driven before.  A couple of years ago we visited Dallas and passed by there today on our way to Fort Worth.

We are at Fort Worth primarily to visit the Historic Stockyards and our hotel is bang, slap in the middle of them. People told us we would know we were here because of the smell (the cattle) but so far, no smell! The Stockyards were once the biggest and busiest cattle, horse, mule, hog and sheep marketing centre in the south-west, where more than 160 million head of livestock were sold and have operated under various owners since 1866.  Today the 125 acre Stockyards National Historic District is home to restaurants, hotels, saloons, galleries, great shopping (if the brochure’s to be believed) and family-style entertainment. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Fort Worth Stockyards Historic District in 1976.

There’s lots to see here and one of the attractions is that twice daily a herd of Texas longhorn cattle are herded down the main street.  It’s a sight to see. The cowboys driving the herd are all dressed in 19th Century clothes. (Pictures tomorrow).

Home of the rodeo.

Tonight we go to the rodeo.  What I didn’t realise was the rodeo is indoors so there will be no problem if it should rain.