Saturday was gloomy, humid, warm, and promised impending rain. We had one purpose for the day which was to get to the Gun Show at the Will Rogers Complex in Fort Worth. (That is the grounds where the annual Fat Stock Show and Rodeo is held each January). H needed to get something and I figured I might find a new cellphone case while I was looking at all the vendor stalls. (The one I was using was severely broken and unable to be salvaged). We started by eating breakfast at Subway after having seen the ads for their new breakfast offerings. Save your money. It was cheap, but the quality and taste was lacking.
We got to Fort Worth and discovered that parking was a problem. Many cars, many pickups, and even more horse trailers vied for available space. Obviously something else was taking place at the venue in addition to the Gun Show. Within minutes we spied a sign pointing to a Flea Market. There was one reason. We parked and walked the blocks to the building. We found what we needed and then tried to find a shortcut back to the truck.
Then it happened. I smelled horses. Then I heard them. (There is very little more pleasing to my ears than the clip-clop of horses hooves on cement in a stable or barn). We came around the corner to find a horse show in progress. It was a show of exquisite Arabian horses with elegant riders showing the horses English style. Naturally my camera was in the truck.
We eventually got back to the truck and decided to visit the Stockyards. We parked at Billy Bob's Texas and walked the several block area. This picture below is a view of the pens from a catwalk traversing the historic feedlot.
Notice the corral with longhorns. Twice a day there is a re-enactment of a cattle drive through the brick-paved streets of the stockyards.
These critters are all obviously steers rather than bulls. They were too complacent. Indeed they even came to the fence to get some human TLC.
It is a good idea to be ever-mindful of the horns... they can poke them through the fence with no problem just by shaking their heads.
A glance up the busy street. The area is a major tourist attraction and, despite the rain that was falling, there were still tour buses full of people arriving and departing. Funny thing... I used to live in Fort Worth the entire 80s decade and never once "did the tourist thing" in the Stockyards district.
Not only had I never played tourist in the Stockyards, I'd also never set foot inside Billy Bob's until this past Saturday. It was huge and I can imagine it being very loud and crowded during an evening of music. While there a major storm struck so we were forced to sit inside Billy Bob's listening to and watching the band of Rodney Atkins do sound checks and stage set-up for the show he was doing later Saturday night.
So what started out as a day with only one errand on the agenda turned into an adventure filled day. That made me happy!!
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