So far I had seen 4 of Texas` 5 big cities. What I really wanted to see, however, I had not: cowboys. Fort Worth filled this need. In the historic "stock yard" area of the city one can see a true cowboy town, complete with cows. A couple of times a day the cattle are driven though the Western-looking town over cobbled roads. It wasn`t quite what I expected (which was a hundred head of cattle running through the streets), just a handful of cattle walking down the road. But very cool.
I went to several cowboy shops and was fitted for a proper cowboy hat. I am pleased with my purchase as it will provide all round sunshade without blowing off. I will upload a photo when I can have someone take one of me. Also in the shops were beautiful cowboy boots. Sadly those in my size were too expensive, particularly as I can`t really think of a time when I`d wear them. Despite not being Texan I could certainly appreciate their beauty.
One of the reasons I Dallas was because we studied JFK in year 10 history class. So of course I wanted to go to the museum and solve the mystery for them (the FBI couldn`t find the WMD either, could they?!). I have worked it out, but I fear the world is not ready to hear, so I`ll not publish it here.
The morning was spent in the JFK museum, which is actually on the sixth floor of the book depo, and features the window itself. I was fascinated by the analysis of the audio recordings, which took the primary and then the many echos of the gunshots and modelled the paths of the sound from the source (or sources) to determine where these sources were. The different studies could not, however, agree upon whether there was a second shot on the grassy knoll. (The knoll, by the way, is the first thing in America which is SMALLER than its counter part in Britian - the knoll is more like a tiny bank about 4` from the kerb.) On the road is an X marking the position of the fatal shot.
As I write I am at the home of the father of my friend Heather, in Plano, just outside Dallas; who is very kindly hosting me tonight. They live just 5 minutes from the ranch that was the setting for the soap opera `Dallas`. More on that tomorrow.