Transition to Texas

Saturday the 17th of March marks one month on the road for Team Breitmann!  One thing we've struggled with a bit  is getting the kids to do their school work.  Fighting past the "vacation" mentality is a challenge.  Like us, they too have to get used to this new way of living over this next year.  With respect to our traveling, we stayed a bit longer in Oklahoma than we had planned due to all of us getting wicked sinus colds and generally fighting off feeling in poor health.  We all seem to be on the mend now and are grateful to be out of the incessant Oklahoma wind and wild temperature fluctuations. We've been in the Great State of Texas for about one week and the weather has been very nice.  It's been in the mid to upper 70's and partly sunny.  By the way, the word "Texas" is based upon the Indian Caddo Nation word of "Tejas", meaning "friends or "allies".  So far, our Texas "friends" have been very accommodating.  We've been here in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area and have visited Stacey's brother and sister-in-law, taken in the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas and visited the Fort Worth Stockyards.  We've enjoyed our stay and are hopeful to be able to get on down the road in the next day or so to the state capital of Austin.  

Our last night in OKC we took this picture with the girl's Great-Grandma Garrett, their Grandad Richard Garrett and Stacey

The Lone Star Flag

Hailey, Me, Heidi & our Dog Molly as we enter the Great State of Texas!

Heidi & Hailey in Dallas at the Sixth Floor Museum where we learned about the Kennedy Presidency and his assassination.  One thing I learned was that at the time of JFK's assassination it was not a federal felony to assassinate the President.  There was a heated dispute between the local law enforcement, the US Secret Service and President Kennedy's staffers over taking the President's body to D.C. that same day.  The locals pointed out that the crime was a local crime and was under their jurisdiction and would conduct the autopsy.  The US Secret Service forcibly removed the President's body anyway. You can learn about the museum at this link: The Sixth Floor Museum

Hailey at the corner of the Texas School Book Depository Building where Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly got off 3 rounds from an Italian-made bolt action rifle from the sixth floor, killing the President and wounding the Governor of Texas.

Dinner out at the Mesa Grille with Stacey's brother and sister-in-law.  From left to right:  Trish, Jeff, Me, Stacey, Heidi & Hailey.  It was very nice to see them and share in some upscale Tex-Mex.  

Heidi, Hailey, Stacey in front of the Fort Worth Stockyards.
From 1866-1890 Fort Worth was the last civilized stop on the Chisholm Trail.  With the advent of the railroad, Fort Worth became a destination for livestock rather than a mere thoroughfare.  It was a flurry of activity for more than a half century and was dubbed the "Wall Street of the West".  The Fort Worth Exchange Building was the hub of the cattle trade.  The biggest volume of sales were recorded in the Exchange in 1945 when 1.6 million head of cattle were sold here.  The new era of "Cow town" arrived in 2008 without the sound of a single moo or clomping of hoofs in the stockyards as the Superior  Livestock company broke the record and moved 1.9 million head of cattle "electronically".  Cattle are bought and sold on-line. You can learn a bit more about all their is to do in the Fort Worth Stock yards at this link: Fort Worth Stockyards

Hailey visits with a "Cowboy" in the Stockyard!

Hailey stands in front of a plaque explaining the formation & the positions the cowboys would take on their cattle drives.  Typical drives involved 3,500 head of cattle and over 150 cowboys under the supervision of a trail boss.

Heidi & Hailey enjoy visiting some other livestock exhibits at the Stockyard.  Here they feed a 3 week old goat.

Hailey tries here hand at mastering the mechanical bull!  She was surprised as she got thrown off!

Ride 'em cowgirl!  Heidi goes 8 seconds and the mechanical bull operator had to pump up the juice to toss her off!  Way to go Heidi!

Cowboys re-enact a cattle drive up the streets of the Stockyards and into the corrals.  

Too bad we were here on a Friday.  It would have been interesting to attend this service!

Okay...we know our family is weird and "non-standard" but...a pig for a pet in a motor home?!  Just sayin'!