JFK Museum and Cowtown Rodeo

We spent the morning remembering a date in history we will never forget - the assassination of JFK.  The JFK memorial in Dallas in the picture on the left was interesting but not the type of memorial that I would have imagined.  It was basically four concrete walls with nothing inside except a small form with the name John Fitzgerald Kennedy in gold lettering.  It was disappointing.  Then we went on to the museum that was fascinating. 





We were surprised with the number of people in line to see the displays and the age range of the people - all ages were represented.  You were given a headphone which took you through 40 different stages depicting what happened on that day and the follow up investigation.













Besides all the information boards, pictures and items associated with that day, the museum is on the 6th floor of the Book Depository Building where Lee Harvey Oswold shot JFK from the window pictured here.  That is actually the window behind the boxes that he used to hide behind. 










This is the view from the window showing the path of the car parade.  He was shot on the rode to the right of the picture.  On that date, the trees were not that large and there was a clear shot from that window. 










This is a scale model of the area and the strings show the path of the three shots.  It was very eerie knowing that we were at the actual location. 


For anyone who lived during that time, I would recommend seeing this museum if you are ever in Dallas. 









This evening, we went to the Fort Worth Stockyards Rodeo. The Cowtown Coliseum seats over 3,000 people and was built in 1908.  It was the first indoor rodeo arena in the US. 




One of the events they invited kids from the audience to catch a ribbon on the back of a sheep.  Fun and interesting evening!

Biking and Site Seeing in Fort Worth

We decided we needed some physical exercise after a day of driving and two days of rest.  I recently added an app to my phone called "TrailLink".  It gives you a list of bike trails near your location.  For this morning's ride, we selected "Fish Creek Trail".

The trail runs for about 7 miles each way and takes you along the creek bed as well as through a couple of neighborhood parks.  It's a wonderfully maintained newer concrete trail with offshoots to different neighborhoods.  Within the next couple of years, it will be part of a 58 mile trail from Dallas to Ft. Worth.




The Chamber of Commerce lists the Ft. Worth Stockyards as one of the must see sights.  The area dates back into the late 1800's as the focal point of the thriving cattle business in Texas.  Today, the buildings and cattle pens and shelters contain shops, restaurants and entertainment venues.

Twice daily they continue to drive the longhorn cattle down the street to the remaining pens.  I've seen Texas Longhorn cattle before but never ones that had horn spans exceeding 6 feet.







Just around the corner from the Stockyards is largest honkytonk bar, Billy Bob's Texas.  It's larger than a football field with multiple bars, dance floor, stages, and even a bull riding rink.  Hundreds of famous bands and singers have performed here such as Willie Nelson, Glen Campbell, Hootie and the Blowfish, Huey Lewis and the News as well as many country performers.

This evening we "mosied on down" to Ft. Worth to check out Sundance Square.  The town has changed a lot since I was here over 25 years ago.  The square was developed 5 years ago and has a performance stage, with great restaurants, bars and entertainment.

We really liked the way they restored many of the older buildings and complimented them with modern architecture.











There are lots of placards on the older buildings that explain the history of the wild west days of the late 1800's.  Ft. Worth was not a safe place to be in the old days.

On to Fort Worth

Last night we talked over options on which way to proceed on our trip.  Hurricane Michael is headed for the panhandle of Florida and we certainly don't want to get caught up in it.  So, we decided to head to Ft. Worth Texas for a couple of days.

As we headed down U.S. 287 towards Ft. Worth, we saw entire fields covered with windmills.  From the looks of it we could have been in Iowa.

We also saw hundreds of oil pumping rigs and that's something you don't see in Iowa.  The drive itself was pretty nice, good roads, interesting towns and light traffic.  Unfortunately driving across the heartland is rather mundane, not much to talk about.

We thought it interesting that we drove past hundreds of acres of cotton fields.  It's not quite the picture I had in my mind of Texas.







We lucked out once again with a wonderful campground in Arlington, Texas (midway between Ft. Worth & Dallas).  TreeTops Campground lived up to its name as the entire campground is set underneath a canopy of trees.  We were fortunate to have our Passport America membership that afforded us a 50% discount on their $52/night rate.  We plan on staying 3 nights as we wait for the hurricane to pass and Interstate 10 to reopen.

Amarillo

We arrived in Amarillo the day after they received torrential rains.   Fortunately, the campground had a great drainage system and was spared from the flooding we saw in the surrounding fields.  We ended up staying for two nights as the weather was pretty nice and the campground (Oasis RV) was one of the best we ever stayed in.  As you can see, the parking pads were concrete and level to the point we didn't need to deploy our jacks.  They had a large heated swimming pool and hot tub, recreation room and laundry.  Unfortunately, there is not a lot to do in Amarillo so we just took it easy and relaxed for the day.













We thought the buried RV was interesting.  They use this in their advertising literature and on their web site as an attention grabber.

Albuquerque Biking and Old Town

Due to the high winds, the Balloon Fiesta scrubbed the morning launch but did inflate a number of balloons for attendees to shoot pictures.  The early evening launch and glow were cancelled due to the continued high winds and thunderstorms approaching the city.



Albuquerque has a great system of bicycle trails throughout the city as well as a popular bike sharing program.  This morning we decided on trying out a couple of the trails, in particular the one along the Rio Grande River shown to the right.












The trail is nicely paved with blacktop and in great condition.  There are trail location markers all along that you can easily follow on the free trail map we picked up at the bike store.

Following a 20 mile ride down the river and back, we headed over to Old Town to have lunch and visit several of the stores around the town square.










We chose a Mexican restaurant, La Placita, a very popular eatery near the square.  Our dinning room at one time was part of an outside terrace of a 1706 Hacienda.  The tree growing in the center is still alive and growing.








While Kathy went shopping, I strolled over to the center courtyard to listen to the 7 piece Mariachi Band.  In addition to classic Spanish tunes they played several of today's pop tunes.

There was also a beautiful Catholic Mission Church founded by Franciscan Friars in 1706.  The church was originally part of the diocese from Durango, Mexico until 1817.  It was then taken over by the Jesuit Brothers until 1868 when it became part of the Archdiocese of Albuquerque to this day.  It has served the community continuously for over 300 years.

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is the largest gathering of balloons in the world.  Over 500 balloons were registered this year along with 1000 pilots.  It all began in 1972 with 17 balloons in attendance and has continued for 47 years.

With balloons rising in the background Kathy and I watched as this crew rolled out their balloon and began to inflate it.

There were well over 100,000 people at this years event.  The lines for the buses were up to an hour and one-half long to take you to the Fiesta.  We were told that driving there can take up to 3 hours so we opted for the bus.  As you can see in many of these pictures, they allow the attendees to actually get right next to the balloons.

Assisting crews that range from 2-7 are launch directors, dressed in these wild outfits, that help clear away the crowds as the balloon begins to straighten up.














The mass ascension begins around 7 am but continues for almost two hours as the balloons begin to crowd the sky.  The area to launch 500 balloons takes up over 54 football fields.

Here are some of our many favorites.

Of course the show wouldn't be complete without Darth Vader and Yoda.






And here is the most expensive ($250,000) balloon, the Wells Fargo Stagecoach.

Standin' On the Corner

Well I'm Standin' on a Corner in Winslow Arizona and Such a Fine Sight to See, by the Eagles.  This was the theme of the entire town of Winslow, Arizona were we stopped on the way to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.  "Take it Easy" was always one of my favorite songs of the early 70's and I wanted to see the town that inspired it.

The song "Take it Easy" was written by Jackson Brown and the "Eagles" Glenn Frey who are pictured here with us in the next two photos.  They're hero's to this small western town because they helped to make it a destination stop for travelers coming across I-80.  This is Glen Frey standing with Kathy.










And here I am with Jackson Brown, who we saw in concert two years ago while in Ft. Myers Beach.

The town also host one of the last remaining stretches of the famous "Route 66"  that ran between Chicago and Los Angeles.













Winslow is a town of about 9,000 and seems to be doing pretty well compared to the others in this state.  The downtown area has thriving stores and restaurants.







On the way back to the motorhome we walked past this old building that looked quite interesting.  Turns out it's an old historic hotel Las Posada built in 1930.  It's the last of the great Santa Fe Hotels built.  The architect was Mary Jane Coulter who designed most of the buildings in the Grand Canyon National Park.  She is considered to be one of the greatest of all Southwestern Architects.

La Posada is on the national and state registers of historic places.  It's not hard to see why it has this distinction as we toured through it's majestic halls.  Below are a couple that stood out in our minds.  Click on the picture to enlarge it.