Texas: Cowboys, Rodeo's and 6 Flags

Day 1: We packed up the tent, left Graceland RV park and made our way to Fort Worth Texas, a 7-hour drive through Arkansas and Texas. We are really getting used to the long drives, time just seemed to fly by. On the way we stopped off in Texarkana at a Harley Davidson store for another pin and poker chip.  The sales assistances were super friendly and had a great chat with us before we continued on our way.

That evening instead of driving into Fort Worth we stopped off at a campground about an hour away, a cute little KOA campground.

Day 2: Up early, we made our way to Six Flags Over Texas for the day!! Being a  Saturday the traffic was not too bad. An added bonus we had purchased our tickets for only $22 each because of a promotion they were having to celebrate the ‘Texas Giant’ being nominated as the best new ride of 2011.

After parking the car the crowds didn’t appear to be too bad for a Saturday, we made our way to the ‘Texas Giant’ first to try and miss the crowds. The ride was amazing; a hybrid coaster made from wood and steel, it did not look too crazy but looks can be deceiving. Not only did the ride scare Marc it also took my breath away, some of the banks and turns were out of this world. It was by far the best coaster we had ever been on. 

The rest of the day we managed to ride nearly every ride in the park. The other stand out favourites were ‘Mr. Freeze’ a crazy ride that shoots you out really fast then next thing you know your going backwards along the same track back to were you started, AWESOME! The titan, Aquaman splash down and Batman the ride were also excellent. By the end of the day we were exhausted from all the adrenalin, but we decided to go back to the Texas Giant for one last ride. By this time in the day the line was much longer and after an hour wait we had the time of our life again.

We had organised to couch surf in Fort Worth with Laura for the Saturday and Sunday night. After leaving 6 flags we made our way to Laura’s place. Laura lived in a community about 15 min from Fort Worth and had a spare bedroom for us (bonus!!). Laura was a German teacher and had traveled to over 40 countries. It was really nice to meet her and let us stay at her place. That night we had planned to go to the Fort Worth Rodeo and Laura was off to a comedy night. After some showers we made our way into Fort Worth.

It was an easy drive to get to the famous 'Stockyards' after following Laura’s instructions, we even managed to find free parking thanks to our local advice. For dinner we stopped in for a quick bite of BBQ before heading into the Rodeo.

The Rodeo was loads of fun, it is held every week on Friday and Saturday nights. We got to see lots of action; Bareback, Bull Riding, Barrel Racing, Saddle Bronc, Steer Wrestling and Tie-Down Roping. There was even an event where little kids chased a sheep around the arena to try and catch it!

 

After the rodeo we made our way back to Laura’s as we were exhausted after such a massive day.

Day 3: In the morning we went for a run a long the Trinity River, which was near where we were staying. A very warm day so we only ran about 5km in the hot sun. There was a cowboys game on the Monday night that Marc wanted to go to, Laura was not a football fan but said we were welcome to stay a third night so we could catch the game. After some showers and trying some home made grits for breakfast we made our way into Fort Worth with Laura for a tour of downtown.
We started at Fort Worth Water gardens, which were incredible. A man made garden of mainly concrete and water. There were three pools; aerating pool, the quiet pool, and the active pool with water tumbling down a series of terraces down to a small pit. We were both amazed by the architecture and so pleased that Laura had taken the time to show us. 
 

  

After the gardens we made our way downtown, learned why Fort Worth was known as the panther city (News writer published story in Dallas that said Fort Worth had become such a drowsy place that he saw a panther asleep in the street by the courthouse) and had a look around. Laura needed to head off early afternoon so we parted ways.

Next we made our way to a market for lunch then back to the stockyards in the afternoon. We really liked the stockyards; lots of western stores to browse. At 4pm some long horn cattle were herded down the street, the cows were really cool especially with there super long horns.
 
 











That night Laura took us out for dinner to a little Mexican place basically by the side of a road; another awesome local experience not only was the food awesome but super cheap as well.

Day 4: Last day in Fort Worth, we were going to go to Dallas for a look around but decided to have a lazy morning instead. After some lounging around in the morning, we made our way out to a western tack shop ‘Teskey’s’ about 40 mins out of Fort Worth to find a western saddle to send home. On the way we stopped in at the Fort Worth Harley Davidson.

Teskey’s was amazing, a huge shed full of everything you could possibly need for horse and rider. There were about 100 saddles on the floor and another 200 out the back. After talking to a sales rep we found out that I could get my own custom saddle built… did not take me long to say yes, then the selection process began. It was so much fun picking out all the different trimmings for my very own saddle. It would take about 8 weeks to make before it would be sent back to Australia!

After the saddle purchase we made our way to the cowboys stadium for the game. We had purchased some tickets through stub hub and had to pick them up on the way, we found some parking then made our way into the game. Marc was very excited; we parked a little bit away from the arena so parking was cheaper. On the way we stopped in at the ‘Rangers’ stadium for a quick look, then we walked past the tailgate parties in the car parks outside the stadium. The fans were crazy and fully decked out in Cowboys gear.




The Cowboy stadium was huge, we had a walk around checked out some merchandise then went to our seats to watch the game. Our seats were pretty high up, but due to the biggest TV in the world we could see everything. The game was loads of fun as there was heaps of stuff to do and see. The cheerleaders where hot but pretty funny too as there were so many of them. The fans around us were pretty loud and drunk; I even had beer spilt on me. All good as in the end the cowboys won and as we were leaving the stadium the fans were going crazy with loud cheering.

Day 5: Up early today to say good-bye to Laura who left for work at 7am, we thanked her very much for the hospitality and hope one day our paths may cross again.

I had organized a trail ride at a dude ranch about 2hrs away up north so we needed an early start any way. The drive was really nice through Texas as we passed lots of ranches and livestock on the way. The ranch was in a nice setting and had an awesome setup. I was hoping for a real cowboy experience but unfortunately our guide was the furthest thing, only taking trail rides to make some money while at university. The ride was still good; we rode some lovely quarter horses with another couple from the UK who were beginners. The ride went for just under 2 hours, we climbed up a mountain to a point over looking a river and the countryside then we rode back down again. After the ride Marc had a go at practicing bull riding with a trainer barrel I was controlling, amazingly he stayed on!

After our dude ranch experience we stopped off in a town called Graham for some lunch in the park. It was a lovely place to stop, our favorite part was seeing hundreds of butterflies that were congregated in some trees and every time you walked past they would fly around you.

The afternoon we made our way toward Amarillo for the night, a 5hr drive through north Texas it was a really nice drive as we made the transition from farmland to desert.

We made it to Amarillo late afternoon, had a quick look around the historic Rout 66 town before stopping in at an RV park for the night. Both pretty tired after another big day we decided to eat at the park’s café for dinner. We ordered a pizza to share and oh my god it was one of the best cheapest pizzas we had had in a while, great find for the night too!     

Day 6: After a bit of a sleep in we left the RV Park and made our way back to Amarillo to the Harley Davidson store for another pin and poker chip (our collection was huge!). On the way out of Amarillo we stopped at Cadillac Ranch, a public art installation and sculpture. There were 10 Cadillac’s with their nose burred and their tails pointing towards the sky. Created in 1974 part of the art was for people to stop look and tag one of the cars with spray paint. The paint on the Cadillac’s was amazingly thick. We really enjoyed Cadillac ranch, as we had never seen anything like it before.

I'm going to Graceland, Graceland In Memphis Tennessee

After our plantation tour in Louisiana we made our way towards Memphis (5½hrs away). we left late afternoon so were just going to try and drive as far as we could. The drive was actually really nice following interstate 40, an elevated road over the swamp lands was crazy and covered a long distance. That night we made it about 30mins outside of Memphis and stopped at a rest stop for the night, sleeping in the car.
Day 1: The rest stop was a little noisy last night as the truck drivers left their trucks running, but overall a pretty good place to stop for free! In the morning we stopped off for some supplies, then made our way into Memphis.

First stop in Memphis was the visitor center to find out about the Memphis area and Graceland. We ended up buying a discounted package from the center, which got us into the rock n roll sights around Memphis at a discounted rate. So we had lots to do over the next two days.

Next we made our way to the Graceland campground that was owned by Lisa Marie Presley and conveniently located right across the road from Graceland. Set up the tent and had some lunch before making our way to see Elvis’s house. The campground was awesome all the little roads were named after Elvis songs and Elvis radio was played throughout the park.

For the afternoon we decided to go and see Graceland, which was only a short walk across the campground. The attraction had more of a theme park feel not a house. After getting our tickets we lined up for the shuttle bus to take us to the actual house that was just across the road. There was an audio tour included with the tour so we put on the headsets and were on our way. We drove through the famous musical note gates and pulled up to the house, not huge by today’s standards but still a beautiful house.

The tour through the house was really cool; we could only see the first floor and the basement, as the top floor was kept private. The rooms were all very extravagant and state of the art design for the time. Our favourite rooms were the bright blue and yellow TV room in the basement and the jungle room that had green carpet from the floor to the roof.

We also got the see some of the grounds around the house, rooms filled with Elvis awards and memorabilia. Before we left we passed the meditation garden where Elvis and his parents were buried. It was so awesome seeing and learning about Elvis. It was even more crazy when we realized that he had passed on before we were even born.

After seeing the amazing house and hearing all about Elvis’s amazing achievements we were even bigger fans. Next we were shuttled back to the main entrance where we continued to look at the sights; the car and fashion museum, Lisa Marie private jet and the Elvis today exhibition.

 

We stopped in at the Graceland Harley Davidson before making our way back to the campground. There was an Elvis Presley Harley Davidson in the store that I sat on and took a picture with some Elvis sunnies.

That evening we made our way to the famous Beal Street, on the way stopping for some Memphis BBQ at A&R for dinner. The restaurant was very basic and the smoker was out the back you could smell the deliciousness as soon as you entered. I had a pulled pork sandwich and Marc had some ribs, the food was really good, probably the best BBQ we had ever had mmm.

Both extremely full we continued onto Beal St; found a park and went for a walk. Beal St. was very busy for a Wednesday night and to make it better there were hundreds of bikes up and down the street. It was really cool walking around the street checking out the bikes, stores, live music and enjoying a beer or two. We really liked Beal St. and can only imagine what it would have been like back in the day.

Day 2: We went and saw the rest of the sights we had tickets for; first stop ‘Sun Studios’ where such stars as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison were discovered. It was awesome to learn about the history and to actually stand on the spot where Elvis stood and recorded his first song.

After an awesome tour with a great tour guide, we made our way to Stax museum. Stax or ‘Soulsville USA’ originally a recording studio, now a museum and school we read about such stars as Memphis Horns, Staple Singers and Isaac Hayes. All very interesting however we did not know the music as well so we could not relate as easily.

By this stage we were getting hungry so made our way to another BBQ place for lunch. Payne’s BBQ was a little bit of a drive but well worth the effort, we both got a pulled pork sandwich and hands down we had found a new favourite for the best ever. Payne’s was only open for lunch and the smoker was actually in the restaurant, it was very smoky inside but totally worth it (drool)

For the afternoon we only had 2 places left to visit, Gibson guitar factory and the Rock n Soul museum. We hit the guitar factory first; you were not allowed to take any photos but very cool to see how the guitars were made. Each guitar took about 6 weeks to make and the production was crazy with about 50 guitars finished a day. Guitars were only made when ordered and were made in an arrangement of styles and colours.

The Rock n Soul museum was a good way to end the day; the entry cost also came with an audio tour you could listen to as you made your way around the exhibits. We really enjoyed seeing the over all history of music in Memphis and how the music came about from farming families who had run out of work and needed to move to Memphis to find work. It was crazy reading more about the black and white divide and how Martin Luther King Jr. was actually murdered in Memphis. 

That night was pretty quiet for us, we just relaxed at the campground and had an early night.