Fort Worth - Day 6

Day 6 of our trip was a special day. We were headed up to Dallas from San Antonio. On the way, we got to drive through the areas in Fort Worth where Brian served his mission. None of the hotels we stayed in while on our trip offered free breakfasts, so we had to go out and find breakfast. This morning we ate out and I was so excited when they brought me my waffles. I LOVE waffles, and we haven't had any since being in New York because we didn't bring our waffle maker with us. We might just have to break down and buy one, but for now I'm appeased because I enjoyed them on our trip. 

Our first major stop that day was in Killeen, Texas. Brian served nine months here. As soon as we drove into the area, he started smiling and laughing and was just so happy and excited. He kept saying how weird it was to be back, and to have me there with him. I got to see the apartments that he lived in with his companion and some of the places that they would visit. I saw the Korean barber shop where he said that he would go to get his haircut because they always gave him a sucker afterwards. I saw the army surplus store where they would go sometimes on their P-days, and the Shipley Do-nuts that they would stop at every now and again. We drove through the surrounding neighborhood a bit as he told me stories about investigators they taught and adventures they had. It was so wonderful to get to see him so excited and nostalgic and get to learn more about this part of his life. Some of the stories I had heard before, but it was nice to be able to put a place to the tales.

Before leaving Killeen, we drove over to the Ford Hood Army base. Brian taught a lot of people stationed at the base and said that the security guards at the checkpoints around the base grew to recognize him and his companion and would eventually just wave them through. I loved the names of the roads around the base. Tank Destroyer Blvd was one of our favorites.

They have a museum on the base of old army vehicles and such that Brian wanted to show me. We tried to get on the base, but because of all of the electronics in our backseat, we weren't allowed to go through. I don't know if we would have gotten through without the phones because when they were checking our information out, we realized that we were in a car with Michigan plates, our ID's are from Idaho and we have a New York address. Boy do we sound like nomads! Our life is just a little complicated right now. hahaha

While we were driving around the area, we saw lots of four door, sedan-type cars with suped-up wheels. They looked so ridiculous with the big wheels and flashy rims! It made us laugh, a lot. We wanted time to see more of his mission, so we headed back on the freeway. As we were taking the exit, we saw some missionaries waiting to cross the street. We waved, and they waved back. That made Brian really happy. Along the way we saw a funny billboard. It reminded us of the restaurant in NY called Dirty Birds To Go.

Texas was so flat! It was weird not being closed in by buildings, skyscrapers or otherwise. There were no ring of mountains around the perimeter of the valley. Everything was just flat and you could see for miles and miles. I have never been anywhere that flat before and it was such a contrast from the city we had just come from.

The median between the freeways and gutters were filled with tall grass and weeds and it reminded me of driving the highways in Idaho. All of that was golden, yellow though and it looked like Idaho in August instead of Texas in May. I saw lots of balers in fields along the way baling hay and straw. That was weird for me, because my dad always does that in July. After a few areas of driving through flat land, we finally neared Fort Worth.

We saw quite a few Texas flags along the way, most of which were flown at the same height as the U.S. flag.

Brian wanted to show me the Fort Worth Stockyards. We got stuck in very heavy traffic that was backed up because of an accident. The 30 minutes we had left of the drive quickly became an hour as we crept slowly along the road. Finally we saw the sign for the stockyards and were so happy because we were ready to be done with traffic.

I loved the stockyards. The area surrounding the stockyards reminded me of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was very touristy with lots of western themed shops and restaurants.

While parking, I noticed a couple of longhorn steers walking down the middle of the road. Upon further inspection, I noticed that they were being ridden by a couple of girls. It made me laugh. The only longhorn steers I've seen have been at the Idaho State Fair, and they didn't look like they'd be comfortable to ride. But these ones were saddled, so I'm sure they were fine.

Because of our delay on the freeway, we didn't make it there until after everything had closed. We got to see the outside of the Cowboy Museum.

The Fort Worth Live Stock exchange is part museum and part auction house. They still auction off animals here during the weekends.

My dad had given me names of a few cowboys that I was supposed to find in the Cowboy Hall of Fame, but again it was closed and we didn't get to go in.

We had dinner at Riscky's Bar-B-Q, which was delicious.

Brian had some ribs that were the size of his hand and I had a brisket sandwich. Our food was served with a side of coleslaw, a jalapeno pepper and slices of fresh onion. My sandwich was super tasty, and not that big. It was just the right amount, considering we had just had BBQ the day before.

We split a small bowl of peach cobbler for desert. My mouth is watering just thinking of it again. It was some of the best peach cobbler I had ever tasted.

It was late enough after dinner that the rest of the shops had closed. We walked around for a little while longer to see the area. I liked this quote hanging on the side of a building.

 

There were stars inlaid in the sidewalks with names of famous cowboys and cowgirls along with western poets and writers. We found stars for Wyatt Earp, Calamity Jane and Mark Twain among others. I was looking for one with Lucas McCain's name on it for my brother Luke McKay, but we couldn't find him.

We drove through the Richland Hills portion of Fort Worth, where Brian served for 6 months.

He showed me the church with the giant Jesus fish on it that he and his companion would ride their bikes by almost everyday. They nicknamed it "la Iglesia de la grande fishy."

We drove over to Dallas to check into our hotel after that. It was really wonderful to get to see some of Brian's mission and get to share his experience of revisiting the area.