Ride'em Cowboy

Decided to be "wild" on Saturday and go to Billy Bobs in Fort Worth. Went with Kevin, who is sort of a cowboy and also from Tennessee. Kevin was afraid I would project too much "Dallitude" unless I borrowed one of his cowboy hats, and a western shirt. His house is exactly halfway between Dallas & Fort Worth, so I stopped at his place for a quick change into western gear. I looked pretty good, except that the Wrangler rodeo shirt was a bit snug and my belly was prominent. Kevin lives in a very nice, brick tract home – nicely maintained. If he weren’t so far out in mid-cities suburbia, it would be great.

We went in Kevin’s giant, 4 door Dodge Ram to the Fort Worth Stock Yards. After parking in a public lot toward the end, we took in a Rodeo at the Cowboy Coliseum, from 8 to 10. I kept using the wrong terminology for everything. “Is that a girl cow?” “Is that a heifer?” Have to admit I’ve only been around cows a few times. My great aunt had a farm, and my grandfather had a few head of cattle back in the 70’s. I’m not good with all the lingo, but the rodeo was still fun. Can’t relate to a lifestyle of ropin’, and wrasslin’ but what the hey. Dodge is an official rodeo sponsor and specifically the Dodge Ram is advertised all over the place, so I see where Kevin was inspired for his vehicle.

Next we strolled over and looked at the official Fort Worth herd. It’s a herd of Longhorn cattle that are driven through the Stock Yard streets twice a day. The Longhorns were huge and extremely inert, mostly sleeping. Kevin told me that these large, neutered beasts are called “oxen”. Now, I’m really getting confused.


Billy Bob's of Fort Worth

Next, we went to Billy Bobs, next door to the Cowboy Coliseum. The building is gi-normous, probably 1,000,000 square feet. A new country band called Trick Pony was playing, and I was surprised to see such a broad cross-section of people in the audience. There were many older people, and whole families with children. I was expecting a smoky, honky tonk atmosphere with single adults, but that wasn’t the case here. The high point of Trick Pony’s performance is when the lead male singer (don’t know the name) leapt from the stage to the table tops and played guitar while strolling across the tables. He showed great agility. Alas, our adventure ended with sort of a yawn after the band quit playing. In retrospect, we should have gone to the Cadillac bar afterwards. It’s truly a honky tonk that gets a bit of the rodeo crowd. Also known for fights around the pool table. Yee haw!