Bandera Texas Cowboy Capital of the World

We drove about 60 miles from Fredericksburg to Bandera Texas the Cowboy Capital of the World. This is something big for a town with a population of only 957 to say but it's true.

Bandera was founded about 150 years ago and it is well suited to grow all sorts of crops, raise cattle, goats and sheep. The soil is fertile and the area is blessed with several clear clean rivers to provide water for crops and drinking water too.

We came to observe the famous Bandera parade which is held each Labor Day weekend. This one began about 9:30AM and ended about 4:00PM.

Comfort Texas Parade Page Two

Comfort Texas is more of a farming area than ranching, therefore they have more farm equipment in their parades than other towns. They have been farming the region since the mid 1800's.

Comfort Texas Parade

Since my last journal all we've been doing is working at the park. I didn't want to bore you with all the details about our work schedule.

Today we are going to a little town south of here called Comfort. I hope the town lives up to it's name and is comfortable. They are going to have a parade today and we've been told it's something to see.

More Sight Seeing

We decided to travel around on the "Farm to Market" roads and see what we might find of interest. The Texas Farm to Market roads are real good roads and are far better than some of the major highways we been on in some other states.

A herd of Goats

Some of the Ranchers raise goats or sheep rather than cattle because it's less expensive. You might find a herd of them with either a donkey, lama or emu to protect the herd .

A small herd of exotic animals

Texas Long Horn

Herd of Long Horns in a Parade

San Antonio Rodeo

Talk about "Presenting the Colors"

We had a chance to go to the Rodeo in San Antonio. This is a real sure nuff Texas Rodeo. We went on a tour bus so we didn't have to worry about driving to San Antonio, parking in a big lot and driving back home late at night, YEA.

Bracketville Texas Day Two

Old Funeral Home

There is so much to see in and around Bracketville that one day just isn't enough. There have been lots and lots of movies filmed at the Alamo Movie Studio over the past several years.

The old town of Bracketville has a lot of building that have been used in the making of movies. Fort Clark Springs is an old Army Fort that was used when Texas was fighting the Comanche Indians in the 1800's. It has been used to house actors making movies and also served as a background for some of the movies.

Old Hotel

Movie Wagons

Old Jail

Comanche Indians

Bracketville Texas Day One

John Wayne's Alamo

We had heard a lot about this town and we just had to drive down and see it for ourselves. We can't pass up a chance to walk on "Hallowed Ground".

In 1960 a movie star came to Bracketville to build a movie studio. He had been approached by a rancher there to use his "two cow ranch". He said it was a two cow ranch cause it only covered 35 square miles.

After a lot of thought, construction began on what became The Alamo Movie Studio. The movie star was none other than JOHN WAYNE. He built a very detailed replica of San Antonio Bexar during the time just before the battle of the Alamo.

The only difference between his Alamo and the one in San Antonio is that his faces west and the San Antonio one faces east. His faces west for maximum sun light for filming.

Side view of Alamo

Main Street of Alamo Movie Studio

Inside the Cantina

Church

Inside Hotel