Day 9 - Bucking Bulls and Blazing Saddles

Hot Springs, AR to Fort Worth, TX

The drive from Hot Springs to Texas was as easy a drive as we've had thus far. There's not a lot in West Arkansas, which means no real traffic outside of the long-haul truckers. Ms. Sylvia rolled along Interstate 30 and with every passing mile I watched the outside temperature tick up one degree after another. I realize I've made mention of the heat these last several days. I also realize there's no real catharsis or healing when you're talking about the weather, but when temperatures reach a "real-feel" of 120 degrees, it's worth noting. As we put Hot Springs behind us and passed through Little Rock, that was the expected temperature - a blistering 120 degrees...

Our destination on this day was Fort Worth, Texas and the famed Stockyards. We wanted this stop for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, if I've not mentioned it, Conor is infatuated with animals - alive or dead. He gets a hold of a new creature or dinosaur (which is what I mean by 'Dead') and immediately dives into his tablet researching everything about the animal. He's ten years old and has already forgotten more about animals and dinosaurs than I will ever know. In this case the animal is the famed Texas Long-Horn Steer, and now Conor knows as much about that animal as any 4H scholar thanks to the great Goog and Tik-Tok. (I was also surprised to learn that there are hundreds of Tik-Toks on these animals.) He spent the majority of the four and a half hour ride from Hot Springs researching these animals. Where they're from, what they eat, their purpose as cattle, and more. He was fired up to get to the Stockyards!

The second reason though, was because there is a bit of a family tie to horseback riding, the rodeo, and the cowboy lifestyle.

I mentioned previously my father-in-law, Dick Kindsfater, whom we call K9 thanks to his time in service of the country to the United States Marine Corps aviation ranks, retiring as a Full-Bird Colonel. K9 is not Sara's biological father, he's Sara's adopted father. Sara's natural father, Lieutenant, Daniel "Doc" Dougherty, was killed in his F4 Phantom in an air to air collision in Yuma Arizona, October 1977. K9 later married Sara's mom, Mary Ellen, and adopted Sara to be his own. There are a number of reasons why I respect and admire my father-in-law, and truly, he's one of my favorite people on this Earth, but chief among them was that he made a decision to go from bachelorhood to fatherhood overnight. And just like anything K9 does, it never gets half-assed. We're talking full emersion. He was going to raise Sara with Mary Ellen, and that meant he was going to impart what he knows to her. And what K9 knows (or knew, in those days) is bulls, broncos, and the rodeo.

K9 grew up between Hastings Nebraska and Colorado Springs Colorado. He was a wrestler, and that earned him a scholarship to Western Colorado University, and it also made him as tough as old boot leather. For money when he was a teenager and even into his early 20s / pre-Marine Corps, K9 would break broncos... I believe he told me he would get $0.25 a horse. He also tells a story where he and his brothers were sitting along a four-board fence playing with matches, and accidently set a rancher's prize bull on fire, requiring him to leap from the fence onto the bull's back to put the fire out. I don't know about you, but I'd bet that bull wasn't in much of a playful mood when it was set on fire and leapt upon by a 100lb child... You can only imagine how that all turned out! But good news! He put the fire out and managed to not be maimed or killed. So, little victories.

I explain that because he brought the same expectations to Sara. Not inadvertently setting a 2,000 lb. animal on fire, but working with livestock, riding horses - both English and Western (if you knew Sara, then you know she loved to ride English) - and even a bit of rodeo. When Sara was about 9 years old, unbeknownst to Mary Ellen, K9 entered Sara in a calf roping contest! And she got her calf!! Explaining all this to our ten year old son brought a higher level of intrigue than before, and Fort Worth Texas was exactly the place to indulge in the cowboy environment.

By way of my dad's career, I was born in Washington D.C., moved to Chicago as an infant for 5 years, spent almost 10 years in Houston, TX, and then back to the Northern Virginia / DC area for the better part of my adult life. Our time in Houston was great for our family, and certainly my Dad - who was born and raised in Inner-City Philadelphia - wanted to expose us to the culture Texas brings. I fondly remember the rodeo at the Houston Astrodome... The sights, sounds, food, smells... It's an attraction for all and an experience I would highly recommend. 

The Stockyards at Forth Worth Texas are NOT that. This wasn't a show. It's a lifestyle. I mentioned the heat? No matter. The whole damn town was in jeans, boots, long sleeve Western shirts, and full size cowboy hats. I don't feel out of place in many places - I'm a go along and get along kinda guy - but strolling down the street in the Stockyards in a v-neck tee-shirt, shorts, and Vans, while Conor was in Birkenstocks and a tie-die with a cowboy hat on (at least he had the hat!) saw us stand out like flies in the milk. No matter. We were going to Billy Bobs Famous Honky-Tonk, and we were gonna see some bull riding! Oh, and I absolutely bought a cowboy hat. You know - to blend in...

In summary, Fort Worth was one of the best, most interesting times we've had thus far. Conor called it, "the best day of his life", in fact! Whether or not that's true is no matter, it's exactly the kind of feedback I need; it affirms that this is all worth it. That the Healing Road brings to bear who we are, where we come from, and what that means to those we love, and that we have a lot of fun doing it. 

But Texas does a lot more than rodeo. Texas also does barbecue! And so off to Austin we go!!