On Wednesday, April 29th, Annie and Chuck came to pick me up and we headed over to Bandera. Bandera is officially known as the Cowboy Capital of the World. There is lots of western history here and the town keeps the cowboy way of life alive.
I spotted these chickens walking around the Courthouse grounds. Funny thing is that there is a bar just down from the courthouse called the Chicken Coop. Maybe they come from there?
Every Wednesday night, there is a big gathering of folks, locals and tourist who enjoy "Steak Night" along with an evening of entertainment with wonderful live country music at The 11th Street Cowboy Bar.
There is a very nice stage for the band to play. The dance floor is sprinkled with shavings so cowboy boots can slide along with the tune of a Cowboy Waltz or the Texas Two Step. Here the dance floor isn't busy right now because people are grilling the meat they brought for supper.
You enter on the other side of this building from the street and walk through to the open dance floor and open bar area.
There is a gal that checks your cooler to make sure no one is smuggling in beer. Drinks are cheap here. You can bring in outside wine and liquor because the Cowboy Bar does not sell wine and spirits, but since they sell beer, you can't bring beer in.
This little building is where pay your $6 and receive your plate and sides. You get a roll, a huge baked potato with sour cream and butter and a trip to the salad bar.
There are several grills like these through out the cooking area. Folks bring everything from sausage links, meat, fish, shrimp, chicken and kabobs.
There is no cover charge, so everyone throws money into a donation jar that is stitting on stage for the band. Ralph and I try to come here several times over the winter. It is a lot of fun. What is nice too is that it is an older crowd and a lot of the good ol' traditional country music is played.
There are no strangers here either. Everyone dances with everyone. Just a nice bunch of country folks.
Oops! Another sideways picture. I haven't had this happen in a long time, so just go ahead and tilt your head a bit.
This long haired cowboy is a local celebrity in these parts. His name is James "Hoot" Gibson. He is as they say "a True Texas American Original". He is a life long working cowboy,
has competed in rodeo's much of his life, trained and shod horses and is a cowboy poet.
He and his business partner Mary Allyce Schenk published a book called "Riders on the Storm". It was about their 2,500 mile horseback ride from Bandera, TX. to Calgary, Alberta, Canada for the Calgary Stampede back in 2004.
They left Bandera on January 20th, 2004 and 5 months and 19 days later, they rode into the Calgary Stampede Headquarters on July 8, 2004, an international media spotlight and into the arms of all of Canada. They were hero's to the Canadians.
They were made honorary Calgarians by the Mayor of Calgary and interviewed by worldwide media from Canada to Taiwan and back.
Years ago, I bought a copy of their book that they both signed. I loved the book, it was exciting and kept me on the edge of my seat as I was reading it. It was so well written, that I actually felt like I was riding with them through the snow, cold, rain and their mishaps.
Hoot often cooks over a open fire in cast iron cookware at his ranch and has folks over. He also can be seen often in town strumming his guitar sitting on a bale of hay and entertaining the tourist along with other cowboy singers. He will also spout out several cowboy poems to the delight of the crowd.
Next time, I will get a picture of the rest of the stage and band. Here is my friend Annie. She can play the tambourine and the band will often call her on stage to play along. She does a real good job and she has the personality and loves to entertain the crowd.
Later in the night, I walked up to the Pico convenience store to get coffee. The town celebrates its western heritage as you can see here. There are many metal art signs along Main St. that hang on lamp post. It was just too dark to take pictures of those, so I will do that next time in the daylight.
You will come across Marker's that give a history of the town and surrounding area. The Marker on the right, explained the story of Bandera County Deputy Sheriff Capt. Jack Phillips. He set out alone on Dec. 29, 1876 on an official visit to Sabinal Canon. Indians attacked him at Seco Canyon Pass, 22 miles south west of Bandera. Phillips raced for the nearest settlement. When his horse was shot from under him, he ran for half a mile before the Indians killed him.
A mail carrier and a couple found his body later that day on their way to the county seat to be married.
Ironically, the Indians had been trailed for many miles by the Texas Rangers who had turned back in exhaustion just before Phillips was waylaid.
The Marker on the left is The Old Texas Ranger Trail. It was a winding, 100 mile trail from San Antonio to Kerrville. There were many hostile Indian attacks in this region. It was regularly scouted by Texas Rangers who helped promote early white settlement by strengthening frontier defense. There were many attacks by the Comanches against settlers and Texas Rangers in this area.
The white marker is of The Great Western Trail also known as the Dodge City Trail and The Old Texas Trail. The trail began in Bandera and passed through Abilene, TX. to Dodge City, Kansas, though Nebraska and onto Belle Fourche, South Dakota. It roughly paralleled the Chisholm Trail. The Great Western Trail saw 10 to 12 million long horn cattle and horses that were driven on this trail. The first herd blazed the trail in 1874 and the last herd made the trip in 1894.
In the center of town are public restrooms and they have painted murals on the front of the building. Maybe next time I will take better pictures during the daylight.
On Saturday, May 1st, I headed down to my Weight Watcher's meeting about 45 min. from my house sitting vacation.
I lost 2.2 lbs! I now have lost 32.8 lbs! I now weigh 171.0 and it is official, I way less than Ralph! I am hoping to make the maximum goal WW has set for me which is 164 by the time we leave the Herbert Ranch. My personal goal as I said last week is 150 and I will get there by August.
We will hopefully be "hitching up" on or around June 1st. This will give me 4 more weigh ins. I need to lose another 7 lbs. It will be close and that is a lot to lose in 4 weeks.
I sure would love to make my goal here at this meeting location. My WW leader Karen is awesome and has inspired me with her upbeat personality, experience and confidence that she extends to us. She had lost 50 lbs. several years ago and is so lean and fit looking.
I arrived at our rolling home and Ralph and Hoppy went to a shooting competition. Ralph did well with only a few misses. It was nice to spend time with him. We enjoyed a relaxing evening around the campfire.
On Sunday, May 3rd I did a 5 mile walk in the morning. As I said in earlier posts, this area is some what rural but you do come up on a clump of houses here and there where everyone has pit bull's. Many run lose and many run in packs.
When I walk or ride my bike, my police grade pepper spray is with in quick reach. When I walk, I keep it in my hand with my finger on the trigger.
I passed this one house that is for a better lack of a word is a dump and I see pit bulls there and female pit bull's with several liters.
Well a large white male pit bull came at me at a dead run, across the road and barking, growling, teeth showing and the hair along his back sticking straight up. He never even slowed up as I stood my ground and let him get within 10 feet of me before I let him have it with the spray. I nailed him good. He peeled off in a circle and started planting his face in the dirt trying to rub the spray off. He took his paws and kept rubbing his eyes.
Well he came at me again and I nailed him again between the eyes only this time with a long full one second spray. He took off for his yard and I watched him for a couple of minutes as he tried his best to rub the mace off. He couldn't even open his eyes. His entire face was covered with the red pepper spray.
It was an exhilarating experience and I loved it. I have never had fear dealing with inmates and dirt bags while with the Sheriff's Dept. and this was no different. I have no tolerance for bullies, whether they are dogs or thugs.
When he first charged me, I yelled in a loud deep voice at him a couple of times. I never saw anyone but I am sure the people were home because there were several cars in the yard and most of the people around here don't work and are supported by the State Of Texas. It amazes me that people have dogs like this and they allow them to run free and off their property.
I have been charged by several dogs in my life and at those times I did not have any spray. However I became the Alpha Dog and actually charged at them only to have them turn tails. Although this particular dog I doubt would have turned. He was on a mission to do damage. If I didn't have spray, yes he would have torn into my leg. However I know me and I would have been very capable of choking him to death. I have no tolerance for this!
That afternoon I headed back to my vacation home. So until next time........Happy Trails!!!
