Today I visited the Stockyards. It used to be a huge livestock exchange and it's a significant part of Fort Worth history. Now it's the cowboy capital. All the big cowboy boot brands have stores there: Ariat, Luccese, etc.

Here's a billboard I saw for Ariat on the drive there:

The drive there was not at all what I expected. I started in the far south, and as I travelled north to the city center, it became more and more dense. Then I was in the downtown area and there were towers, a historic brick courthouse, etc. But then I continued past the courthouse across a bridge. And the city just disappeared. I was surrounded by sparsely developed, mostly empty fields.

A ways futher was the Stockyards. It's couple blocks of classic Western.

Then I continue on, covering some miles to Denver. A large portion of freeway was closed though, and traffic was routed along farm roads unequipped for this volume. I sat in stop-and-go traffic in the middle of a wheat field for about 40 minutes. It was actually really nice. I rolled down my windows and heard crickets. The late-afternoon air blew though my car and cooled me.

The field:

The cars:

I am sleeping at a truck stop tonight. Texas sunsets are really nice.

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