TIME TO GO HOME

THREE LEFT TO VISIT

Finally we headed into Texas through the East Texas Oilfield area, supposedly the largest oilfield in America. The sun continued to shine. It was 28oC/82oF today - heaven!  I keep thinking about cold UK but I am really looking forward to getting home now.

We are now at our final campsite at Lewisville Lake, near Dallas. Roy doing jobs on the trailer then washing and polishing it. I just have to pack, I've done my cleaning inside the trailer, so I think I will have to sunbathe.

We are so lucky to have a niece of my sister in law living nearby, she has been wonderful, we are staying with her on the last night and she will take us to the airport.
So last night we met up with her and her husband and spent a superb evening enjoying their company over a meal and putting the world to rights.

We visited Fort Worth Stockyards, the world's only twice daily cattle drive.
 For the drovers heading longhorn cattle up the Chisholm trail to the railheads, Fort Worth was the last major stop for rest and supplies. Beyond Fort Worth they would have to deal with crossing the Red River into Indian Territory. Between 1866 and 1890 more than four million head of cattle were trailed through Fort Worth which was soon known as “Cowtown” and had its own disreputable entertainment district several blocks south of the Courthouse area that was known all over the West as “Hell’s Half Acre”

LOVELY LONGHORNS

 The Fort Worth Herd was created as part of the city's sesquicentennial celebration. The city acquired a herd of fifteen Texas Longhorns, each steer representing one decade from Fort Worth's colorful past. The city also hired a diverse team of drovers clad in authentic 19^th century clothing and riding horses mounted with period correct saddles.
On June 12, 1999, in front of 15,000 spectators, the Fort Worth Herd made its first cattle drive to the Fort Worth Stockyards Historic District.
Since then, twice daily, the drovers drive the longhorns along East Exchange Avenue, harking back to a time when the great herds rumbled through the dusty streets of Fort Worth on their way to market.
As the herd passed by, it was like a byegone era come to life.

CATTLE DRIVE

GIVE ME A WASH!

CARING FOR EACH OTHER

LEADER OF THE CATTLE DRIVE

LUNCH TIME - ROY WAITING FOR HIS FAV MEAL - A BURGER!

THIS CUTIE WAS LOOKING DOWN ON ME WHILE EATING MY LUNCH

We have spent 100 days here this time, travelled 9,500 miles and visited 20 states -Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Ontario - Canada, Quebec - Canada, New Brunswick - Canada, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana & Texas - 12 new US states and 3 Canadian for us.

I would like to finish this blog with a big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read it and an even bigger thank you to my amazing husband Roy for planning it all and driving me safely around this wonderful country.

Au revoir - until next time.

GEARED UP FOR ENGLISH WEATHER!