This is STOP 18 and 19, the 56th, 57th, 58th and 59th days of our ten week cross country fall adventure in 2021! Here is a link to our previous stop in Ruidoso, NM.
Ruidoso to Odessa to Fort Worth
The Drive from Ruidoso, NM to Odessa, TX
Our next destination of consequence is Fort Worth, TX, but that is just too far to drive in one day. We decide to break up the trip by staying overnight in Odessa, TX. As we bid farewell to Ruidoso and drive over 5.5 hours, we leave the winding mountains region of evergreen lined roads and begin a decent into the more arid regions of New Mexico as we approach Roswell New Mexico from the west. About a hour outside of Roswell the land starts to flatten out.
Our route takes us along US 380 east where we once again drive through Roswell. We’ve been there 2 times now, but drove in a north-south direction the last times. Now we drive west to east and note this drive has still has a lot of emphasis on its alien claim to fame.
As we head to Texas, the roads are now through low flat land bearing Pecan orchards, oil fields and cotton fields. In Plains, TX we turn south on TX 214, then TX 218 south in Seminole, TX. The oil industry in west Texas is everywhere. Oil wells are scattered sometimes as far the eye can see on ranches and there are refineries every 30 miles our so along the road.
We land in north Odessa around 4pm and will stay at Best Western Plus North Odessa Inn & Suites. We get a free night’s stay by using our accumulated reward points!
Our Hotel in Odessa
We walk from our hotel across several mostly empty other hotel parking lots and a few closed restaurants. We head into the Saltgrass Steak House, a chain restaurant in the TX area, but one we’ve never been to. It is only 3pm, but we skipped lunch (again) today. We grab 2 bar stools and ask our bartender XXX to turn on some college football as we look over the menu. Nancy orders a filet mignon and Harrison orders a southwestern chicken sandwich . We start talking about the drive tomorrow, one of us asking out loud, “How long is the drive from here to Fort Worth” and a voice from the end of the bar says “Four and half hours – we’ve done that drive a lot”. And that is how we meet Eddie and Addie, a couple from right here in Odessa that we end up talking to for 7 hours! They are avid travelers that have been to so many of the same places we’ve been on this trip and over time. Our food was delicious and the conversations with this couple was thoroughly enjoyable.
The Drive from Odessa, TX to Fort Worth, TX
We bid farewell to our fun quick stay in Odessa and decide we are so anxious to get to Fort Worth and that we are going to take the shortest route. Interstate 20 is the fastest route at 5 hours and while it isn’t very congested. We do pass by a large amount of oil wells, wind turbines, refineries and cotton fields. Along the way we get into a number of trucks transporting Nascar cars to their next destination.
As you know by now, we typically don’t stay near urban areas, and as we approach the city of Fort Worth, the traffic builds. The landscape starts to green up, the flat land begins to roll as we reach the onset of Texas Hill country. and we see trees again. We pass by Lake Worth as we approach the city and look for the exit to the Stockyards.
We are arriving on a Sunday so we start negotiating weekend travelers that are departing the area as we switch onto I-30, then I-820 into downtown Fort Worth – then US-287 to our final turn onto East Exchange Avenue – the location of our hotel. Well – welcome to party town!
The traffic is bumper to bumper and people are parked on the streets tailgating. There is a huge sign at the entrance of the main area of the Stockyards welcoming us to the area. Right in front of our hotel, there is a group of bikers just partying and people watching drinking “beverages” from their coolers.
We pull into the valet parking area (turns out our hotel only offers valet parking) and have to make a quick decision as to what from the Brown Beast goes into the hotel with us. Once valet parked, it won’t be easy to get anything else from the vehicle.
Our Lodging – The Stockyards Hotel
The Stockyards Hotel is a magnificent historic hotel right there in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards. The 52 room hotel has been welcoming guests since 1907 and we arrive at 3:06pm (where check-in is at 3:00pm). The gracious hotel check-in clerk is a little frazzled because she has no idea which rooms are ready since she tells us so many people asked for late check-outs. Just as she finishes telling us, the head of the cleaning crew shows up with the list of available rooms. We’ve chosen a room in “the outlaw” class which means we will have a one room king bed and combined sitting area (as opposed to a suite). Every room is uniquely decorated to the elegance and grandeur of the Old West and we luck out that she gives us room 229 (which when we see a hotel layout, looks like the largest of the “outlaw” rooms).
The Fort Worth Stockyards
As observed when we turned the corner and found our hotel, The Stockyards is still rocking late on a Sunday! We decide to walk as much of the area as we can to see where restaurants are. Since we grabbed a quick lunch on the road, we aren’t that hungry yet. We pass a few attractions including the John Wayne Experience and the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame. We learn there is a rodeo every Friday and Saturday – darn, we missed that. We see lots of interesting places to eat and drink. We learn there is a “longhorn cattle drive” down the main drag twice daily at 11:30am and 4:00pm – and we figure we will catch the 4:00pm drive tonight. At 3:30pm a scenic train arrives slowly on its return – and we learn that only runs on Saturdays and Sundays – darn, we missed that too. All reasons to come back some day.
Around 3:45pm, they have shut the main street down to vehicle traffic in preparation for the cattle drive. They are making announcements for people to gather on the curbs and to stay out of the street – you know, just in case one of the animals decides to go rogue, you won’t have to step up onto the curb to scramble out of its way. A group of horseback riders return from their trail ride down the center of the street and head back to the stables where we see the cattle gathering. Promptly at 4:00pm, about 19 longhorn cattle come sauntering down the road with 5 or 6 cowboys on horseback leading the and herding the cattle along. Supposedly after the drive there is a mock gunfight show in the streets (Saturdays and Sundays) and while we hear a few shots in the distance, we don’t see it.
We buy three over-priced beers from a street vendor and decide to sit for a while and people watch. We see stage coaches, old wagons, people dressed up in their western outfits, people showing off there antique and custom cars cruising on the street. We see a small group of young girls in old west style long red dresses.
For many weeks now, we’ve been in settings where if you aren’t wearing hiking pants and hiking boots – you are out of place. Well here – so many folks are wearing flannel shirts, jeans and cowboy boots. We also see many 20-something women who appear dressed up for some honky tonk and line dancing (most likely going to Billy Bob’s – the largest honky tonk in the world – more on that later when we go). We later learn that last night country singer John Langston was in concert at Billy Bob’s and tonight, Aaron Lewis is performing.
Hunger finally gets the better of us and we go searching for a place with bar seats to have dinner. We stick our heads into at least 5 places but country music is blaring so loudly – and not only don’t we want to have to talk over loud music, country just isn’t our favorite genre. Additionally, most places are full but we finally luck out as we head into Booger Red’s, the bar at our hotel, where 2 people are leaving their bar seats. Every third bar seat is a saddle and we luck out and our seats are just regular old bar seats. A guy jumps up on the saddle next to us and soon decides it is too uncomfortable to sit on for any length of time. We order their large appetizer combo that includes three servings of five different appetizers and it fills us to brim. It is so busy we don’t even catch our bartenders names. This place has tons of Old West ambiance including a Buffalo Butt proudly mounted over the back of the bar (their signature beer is called Buffalo Butt Beer). Their other signature drink is the Anita-Rita served out of an authentic still atop the bar – it contains not only premium tequila and lime juice, but secret ingredients including extract from selected Sarrano peppers.
Day 2 in Fort Worth Stockyards
Today we plan to do a little more exploring and experiencing of what the stockyards has to offer. Now that it is Monday, the crowds have seriously thinned out compared to late yesterday, but there is still a fair amount of visitors. This is one of the few hotels we are staying at that does NOT offer a complimentary breakfast. We stop in at Booger Red’s where the hotel restaurant offers a full breakfast menu – it turns out that Booger Red’s is the bar side of the hotel restaurant called the H3 Ranch, Live Hickory Wood Grill…and at breakfast time, they are one in the same. Nancy orders the “2 eggs any style w/hash browns, bacon and toast” and Harrison orders Huevos Rancheros (which is basically the same thing but it is topped with wood-roasted salsa, pico de gallo and sour cream.
After breakfast we stop in a shop to look at t-shirts and other items. Of course, they have a small bar where you can by beer while you shop. We both find that such an interesting regional culture thing (we also saw this in Fredericksburg, TX).
After a couple of small purchases, we set out to find the Trinity Trail so we can get in some steps. We consult Google Maps and we go around the backside of the Stockyards and see a trail of horse poop – and we piece together that the available horse trail rides basically follow the same bike/walking route along the Trinity River. Along the way we pass the entrance to the enormous Billie Bobs entertainment center and we then stumble on the Iron Mountain Park that offers lots of historical information about the settling of this area and The trail heads towards downtown Fort Worth past some of the ruins of the old meat packing plants. After a short bit we head back on a different route and find that the trail heads down and under the main street of the stockyards. This explains why it was so hard to find, We didn’t expect the trail (or the river) to go under main street.
Next we decide to go through the John Wayne Experience – a museum that just opened in December 2020. The museum honors the life and legend of the iconic western movie actor, John Wayne. Through photographs, entries in journals and personal letters the family has contributed to the museum, we get an intimate look into his early life and career. Born in 1907, his given name was Marion Robert Morrison, he acquired the nickname “The Duke” in high school (the name of his dog). He went to USC where he played football. His coach gave 6 tickets to Tom Mix in exchange for a promise of stage hand jobs for 6 players. Marion got one of those jobs, working as it turned out for the famous director John Ford who started giving the rugged and handsome boy bit parts in some films. When Ford was casting for The Big Trail (1930), he wanted an unknown actor – and the rest is history. He was given the more rugged stage name of John Wayne. Over his career he was in 179 films and TV productions. The museum plays snippets of movie & TV appearances as well as displays of hats and cowboy outfits he wore in his more famous films. We highly recommend this museum. Trigger, who was Roy Rodgers horse is also in the museum.
Already time for lunch, (we missed the morning cattle drive), we head to the legendary drinking establishment: The White Elephant Saloon. This place has history going back over a century to when it was located in the Hell’s Half Acre part of Fort Worth before moving to the Stockyards in the 1970’s. It turns out it is “only” a bar, but they do serve food from the restaurant next door, the Love Shack. We order a quick appetizer, then mosey on down the street. This bar is full of hats from famous cowboys, rodeo stars and other western personalities.
We walk down East Exchange street to Mule Alley – which we walk up and down wandering through a few shops. Back on East Exchange we stop at Risckey’s BBQ for another quick bite, a more modern place to eat.
We now explore West Exchange Street and realize that riding horses in this area goes beyond just the main center of the Stockyards.
We continue exploring West Exchange Street and stop in Filthy McNasty’s Saloon for another beverage or two. Cute name for a bar that doesn’t have much of an old west look and feel.
More walking and a little shopping, we land next in Stockyards Saloon for yet another beverage or two in a place with a little more old west atmosphere.
We briefly go back to the hotel to grab a jacket. Just as we’re leaving the hotel, Nancy gets a text about suspicious credit card activity – so it takes us the next hour to contact the bank and explore which charges are ours and which are fraudulent. Someone has purchased pizza 7 different times throughout the state of Maryland! It is only Monday and we won’t be checking out until Wednesday, so they agree to overnight us a new card here at the hotel. FYI – the card does NOT arrive before we check out. This is why we carry 3 different credit cards from different banks – where it is actually 6 different credit cards numbers (joint account holders each get their own number).
Credit Card Issues!
We miss the afternoon cattle drive and the sun is starting to set outside. Time again for food, we head back down East Exchange road and up Mule Alley, ending up at The Biscuit Bar. Primarily a breakfast place, this local chain of 6 restaurants is trying to capture both the morning breakfast business, but also capitalize on the evening dinner & bar experience. Their tag line is: biscuits, tots & beer. It is an interesting mix that must be working. Our bartender Michael is also the general manager. We meet our bar buddies Loni & Andy, a couple staying in their RV on the edge of Stockyards. They came for the weekend for the concerts. We order some “fully loaded” tater tots to fill our bellies.
Day 3 in Fort Worth Stockyards
Today will be another day in the Stockyards. We return to the Biscuit Bar for breakfast and the place is far busier than it was the night before. The breakfast biscuit sandwiches are really great!
We plan to go for another several mile walk on the same Trinity Trail. Outside of the Biscuit Bar is a young girl on horse back guiding a small pony towards the stockyards. Now that we know where the trail is, we are able to walk longer on the trail. Once again, we miss the morning cattle drive.
Back in town, we do more souvenir exploring stopping in almost every shop. It was definitely more exploring than shopping. We want to have lunch at the infamous Billy Bob’s Texas, the largest honky tonk in the world. What exactly is a honky tonk, you ask? According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary, it is “a usually tawdry nightclub or dance hall especially one that features country music.” Located at a historic open air barn built in 1901, this huge establishment (3 acres) opened in 1981 and hosts concerts almost every weekend. Most of the performers are of the country variety, but such famous entertainers as Ted Nugent and Huey Lewis have graces these halls. It looks like anybody and everyone the least bit famous in the country music business has performed here. They also offer line dancing lessons and are known for their large Texas sized wooden dance floors. We arrive around 11:30am and are a little taken aback that there is a $3 per person cover charge to get in the door even though there is no music. We do learn the cover charge is “far more than that” in the evenings. We enter and the place is vast. No mechanical bull-riding here – but they do have a full size indoor rodeo ring for professional bull riders (every weekend). There are NO chairs around any of the 30+ bars (aka beverage stations) – and probably if this were the evening and the place was full, it would make sense to have that layout. There is a “wall of handprints” where performers have let their handprints be captured in concrete…you can compare your hands to many famous folks like Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and even Ringo Starr. There are over 75 guitars on display. There are also numerous video games including the world’s largest Pacman. I guess it reminds us of a Hard Rock Café – for Country.
We are probably 2 of 20-30 people inside the place. This is definitely more of an evening party place than a daytime destination. There is a small place to get food – surprisingly small for the vastness of the place (maybe 15 tables). We place our order for 2 sandwiches and Stefan brings it to our table when its ready. They have 15 to 20 yummy looking cakes and desserts in the display case by the register – but we pass them all up. Our sandwiches exceed our expectations – finger licking good!
We head back to the room for brief while to catch up on some blogging. Around 3pm, we head back out to see what others places we can check out. We’ve passed by this one place several times, and now it is time to enter. This is The Basement Bar which prides itself as the smallest honky tonk in the world. We head down a set of steps to underneath the main street and are surprised to see a cute little dark place that is intimate and inviting. Our bartender Emmalou quickly captures our attention and with few people here, we get a lot of time to chat with this woman who has only recently moved to Fort Worth. She tells us the story of why there are dollar bills tacked to the ceilings and walls. It seems that when the gold and silver rushes came along, men would put their name on a bill and tack it to the ceiling so in case they went bust, they could come back and at least have enough money to get back home. (We later confirm this story via the internet). Harrison strikes up a conversation with Brian, a construction inspector in the area. Nancy chats it up with a woman who has apparently had enough to drink that she offers information about her issues with early menopause (that includes way too much info about her dildo collection). Sometimes you just have to listen. We had a great time here (and missed the afternoon cattle drive again).
Time for dinner, we look for somewhere we haven’t yet been and we find the Second Rodeo Brewing. It isn’t really what we’re looking for – they call themselves a “bar garden” and it is more modern than old west, but people rave about the place. And they do have an outdoor patio that is buzzing with some decent music. You purchase beer separately from where you buy food. Harrison grabs a bucket of Bud Lights while Nancy orders peanut butter, bacon and jalapeno chicken wings. They are interesting although we both agree we don’t taste the bacon. We have a great opportunity for people watching and finish out our evening here.
Our Verdict
Fort Worth is a fun party town with a lot of rich history. There is definitely enough here to keep yourself entertained for several days. Just know that weekends, this place is packed – so plan your own trip accordingly. We do see this as a place to return again someday.
Here is a link to our previous stop in Ruidoso, NM.
Next Up
Our next stop will be 2 days in Natchez, Mississippi (a place we passed through back on stop 5).
[…] This is STOP 20, the 60th and 61st days of our ten week cross country fall adventure in 2021! Here is a link to our previous stops in Odessa & Fort Worth, TX. […]
Great stories! Definitely will plan to visit Fort Worth….and the biscuit bar!