Nashville, TN cont…

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Monday – Today before hitting the road back for OK we went back to the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park before it got too hot. We found under the railway trestle, running between the Tennessee Map Plaza and the Tennessee Rivers Fountain, a fantastic Visitor Centre which currently has a small Civil War display which was really interesting.

We spent nearly an hour looking at that and talking with the Park Rangers, one participates in Civil War re-enactments. Found out some great info regarding the buttons for the uniforms and found a US Navy uniform from that time! Very interesting!

The Rivers Fountain is a wall with the history of the rivers and creeks across the state. The states major hazard is flooding for obvious reasons!

The fountain consists of a jet for each river and around the base the name carved into the stone. At each end of the fountain is flag poles with the central taller mast having 3 stars, like the flag, indicating East, Middle and West Tennessee.

Walking back through the mall the granite walls are carved with information starting from the forming of the planet, through the founding of the country and it's development, Indian Territories and inhabitants, the shift of civilisation, civil war and separation of the north and South, presidents etc, etc etc.

At the far end of the mall are 52 pillars, representing the states, containing 95 bells, representing the 95 county's of TN and they chime the state songs, I think 5 from memory the tour guide said. Didn't get decent pic of this due to a reality game show had gear set up there.

There is also a beautiful memorial for the World War II veterans as well. Very nicely done Tennessee.

From there we went round past the Antique Archaeology, this is the Nashville store of the famed show 'American Pickers'. Housed in an old automobile factory building.

Onto Centennial Park and the Parthenon – closed! Oh well, got some pictures of the outside but would have been nice to see the large sculpture of Athena inside.

Made our way back down town and to the Country Music Hall of Fame, wow! This place is huge! Everything from bluegrass beginnings to current stars. Fabulous displays, stage clothing – lots of great B-Western costume ideas in there.

There was a feature display for Glen Campbell, the Rhinestone Cowboy. I tell you what though, there were plenty of earlier singers who brought country into the mix that were blinged up just as much!

A huge display of Miranda Lambert's gear as well but I still think I enjoy the earlier displays more and maybe that's just because of the country music that Mum used to play when we were growing up.

After that we found Cooter's – do you remember Cooter's garage and the Dukes of Hazzard? We just had to see the General Lee 01. We both remembered watching this show on tv. It's a small free admission museum of memorabilia and products that were made back in the early 80's, maybe even earlier. There is Daisy's jeep, Rosco's patrol car as well as photos from filming etc.

We hit the road then and made it as far as Lonoke, AR for the night. We will be back in OK tomorrow. yee haa!

That my friends was the eventful Monday, July 21st.

Kat xo

 

 

How-dee! From Nashville, TN

Posted on by kathousekelli70

The Country Music Capital! This place is jumping, it's exactly what we see and hear about. Every second place is a bar, saloon or eatery where up and coming songwriters, musicians and singers can show their talents and hope for that ever elusive offer to become something big!

We found some parking and walked down through Printers Alley (known for it's printing of many many bibles and other literature) on down Broadway, where it's bar after bar after cowboy boot and clothing shop. We did venture into some had a beer at Doc Hollidays ……and no I wasn't allowed more boots! There were some gorgeous and unusual ones that I had not seen before.

We got on the Trolley Tour down at the Riverfront which took us around all the main highlights and is a 'hop on, hop off' arrangement for 24hrs. Taking us up Broadway through the district the tour guide gave us information along the way. The Trolley Tour goes past Ryman Auditorium, The Arcade, Musicians Hall of Fame, Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, Nashville Farmers Market, Antique Archaeology, The Parthenon/Centennial Park, Spirit of Nashville, Music Row, Frist Centre for Visual Arts, Bridgestone Arena and Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

We visited the Ryman Auditorium, known as the “Mother Church of Country Music” and in short was built by a riverboat captain and Nashville businessman Thomas G. Ryman. He had planned to heckle a preacher who gave the word out of a tent, instead Ryman was converted and decided to raise funds for a permanent place and in 1892 it was completed as the Union Gospel Tabernacle. It was renamed Ryman Auditorium after Captain Rymans death in 1904.

From then it served as a venue for events such as religious revivals, jazz, operas, ballets, political debates and boxing matches until 1943 came the Grand Ole Opry.

It then became the souths premier performance hall. Saturday nights were for a popular radio show that had outgrown other local venues. It rarely had an empty seat for the Saturday night Opry. Performers such as Hank Williams, Patsy Cline and Bill Monroe helped shape country and bluegrass music from the Ryman stage.

In 2001, after major renovations, the Ryman was named a National Historic Landmark and today is open for tours and still attracts world-class artists.

The oak pews were salvaged during the restoration and it was said the instruction was remove the chewing gum from underneath and leave everything else in tact, like scratches, markings etc.

The recreated decorative detail on the front of the balcony, the stage backdrop, the reproduction stained glass windows and chandelier lamps give the feeling of grandeur and why it must be so exciting for so many who have performed here.

Of course one of the most celebrated continuing regular performances was the radio show and 'country cousin' Minnie Pearl and the famous opening line of How-dee! With her $1.98 price tag on her hat it was a signature part of her performance.

I think she may have fitted in with our Redneck Sista's and might be a long lost relative of Mary-Lou June's! She likes price tags or labels on her gear!

We also visited the Johnny Cash Museum which has the largest and most comprehensive collection of artefacts and memorabilia in the world.

He was a tall man standing around 6'2″ and took a large 13D boot! There are stage outfits of both his and June Carter's, original song scripts, some pieces of furniture from his estate, walls of records, movie pieces etc.

Thoroughly enjoyed it, was packed with people but it was great listening to the famous opener, “Hello, I'm Johnny Cash” and his songs as you wandered through.

Along the trolley tour we also stopped briefly at the Bicentennial Mall where there is a huge Tennessee state map and information of the history with a spectacular view up the hill to the State Capitol. We will go there again tomorrow.

For more information, opening hours, concessions visit the websites below. Some are a little pricey and I would recommend finding one of the visitor information centres first as you can get coupons for most places that will give you 1 or 2 bucks off.

Kat xo

Sunday July 20th

http://www.nashvillesightseeing.com/?event=offer.type&productType=TROLLEY&mpt=2621&name=Trolley%20Tours%20in%20Nashville

http://ryman.com

http://www.johnnycashmuseum.com

 

 

National Corvette Museum

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Time to hit the road and make the trek back to OK and make a stop in Nashville and soak up the country music atmosphere.

Along the way and needing a break we see a sign for the National Corvette Museum, being the rev heads we can be, we decided to go check it out.

Wow! Wow! As soon as we get in the door their are “special orders” sitting awaiting their new owners pick up this next week.

Jack gets to take a ride in one, haa haa haa! Check out some of these prize draws as well and no, we didn't buy a ticket 😦

So we head to the counter to pay and we have to sign some indemnity form for a sinkhole or something. Now not really paying attention and keen to get in and check out the cars we really didn't take in the whole 'sinkhole' thing!

Do you remember on the news in February of this year about the sinkhole that dropped 8 corvettes into the hole, a tragedy we thought and saw it even back in Australia, well this is the place!

The cars that unfortunately went into the sink hole? A classic 1962, one owner – it survived pretty well, “Ruby” the 40th Anniversary edition, not too bad but the 1millionth and the 1.5millionth are messed up and the devastating mess of the 2001 Mallett Hammer is now about a foot wide having taken the most damage from boulders and dirt, the first to go in the hole.

Some will be restored and a couple will be left as is – they truly are a mess.

Harvey Earl was the Head of GM styling. He started toying with the idea of a sporty concept car in 1951, having gained approval in 1952 to make the concept car a reality and be ready for display at the 1953 New York Motorama.

This is when the best engineering help of Maurice Olley came into play as well. Chevrolet employees were asked for name ideas and one of their PR photographers Myron Scott is credited with suggesting Corvette after the British Navy class of fast-pursuit ships. Now, Corvette has long been known for Motorsport and there are many racing and pace cars on display in the Museum as well as all the history – from it's foundation, branding, progress, model changes etc.

The history of the change in Corvette is an interesting one in itself, with Zora Arkus-Duntov (born in Belgium, raised in Leningrad and led a very colourful life) having seen the Corvette on display in New York, wrote the company and came to work with GM in 1953. He was an amazing engineer and had also raced and won in his class twice at Le Mans. He is the man who changed Corvette from something gracious to one of the most respected sports cars in the world.

A fantastic museum, would recommend visiting for sure. If you are into cars and ever get the opportunity it's huge and drool worthy. Rest of the pics will be on Facebook.

Anyway there is so much to learn, go see it! Check out the website below! A visit on your way through Bowling Green, Kentucky is highly recommended and will need a couple of hours at least!

What a ride!

Kat xo

Sunday July 20th

http://www.corvettemuseum.org

 

 

Black Gold Shootout 2014

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Wow! What a sensational weekend.

Thursday started out good, sunny and warm shooting 4 stages of Wild Bunch in the morning before lunch and then the afternoon for speed events and warm up stages.

Into the evening and they held Cowboy Olympics. This involved a whole heap of fun and laughter amongst drinks!

Game 1 – Cans hanging from a frame, shot with a slingshot, now you can choose to shoot Traditional, meaning rocks off the ground or Modern with marbles.

Game 2 – take your pea shooter, a straw, and load Traditional with spit wads of paper or Modern with frogs eyes (the BB gun pellets).

Game 3 – then go a round with Hilary and Obama caricatures. Take your bow and arrow and shoot through their smiles, then ‘chunk coal’ through their smiles. Oh and you had to wear an Indian head dress (feathers in an elastic band, fruit of the loom off yer underpants!) and have an Indian name, so mine was Fanny Fosters Walkabout from the Crackatinni tribe!

Game 4 – was golf with a walking stick and ball pit balls. Hit into a flowerpot or you can try for the mason jar.

Game 5 -the final one you had to lasso a steers head on a bale of hay.

Hilarious, good times and nearly everyone there had a go.

The evening was finished off with a little too much drinking and dancing. The table and I met a few times going by the bruises on my leg and wish I had a picture of Whiskey Creek Johnson and Jackaroo doing a slow dance! Fun in Kentucky!!

Friday, feeling a little seedy to say the least was main match, 5 stages, now it really pays to listen when you don’t have a shoot book in the guncart. I can’t remember the last time I had a procedural but got one today much to my sheer horror! Jack had a sensational run!

The rain set in after we finished shooting and didn’t really let up into the night. That put paid to team shoots for the afternoon and instead we opted for the Motel and a Nanna nap.

We headed back out for dinner and the band. They had 11 entrants for the lying contest, a brownie and cake bake off and side match awards. And then came the band. Wow! These guys are a sensational Bluegrass band (Virgil Abolis?). Duelling banjos style!! Awesome!

A much earlier night getting back around 11.30pm.

Saturday, saw more rain on and off and the final 5 stages. Two train wrecks and a miss for me, shotgun re-engagements, pistol round the world and a miss. Hey! Had fun though! Jackaroo had a great match and finished clean!

We had team match in the afternoon when it wasn’t raining. Our team consisted of myself, Jack and Let’s Go. We shot a few times, switched up with other’s but at the end of the day no one could beat our sensational run! All plate knock downs alternate between static, run tip the other person onto the guy at shotgun and Texas star targets. 24.97 we ran!

Anyway Jack finished 3rd in category, clean shooter and finished 9th place overall! Congratulations to 2nd place Knob Creek Drover, and in 1st place Fast Eddie!

Congratulations to Lady Wranglers 1st Place Sue Render, 2nd Place Anita Margarita and Kathouse Kelli 3rd place.

Overall champions for 2014 Blackgold Shootout were Ladies – Dixie City Gal and Men’s – Missouri Lefty.

Saturday night finished off with Blackwater Desperado and Milkbone, their band out of Nashville. They played Lynnard Skynard, Joe Cocker and a whole heap of other stuff. Opened with ‘who stopped the rain’ seeing as it had been raining a good part of the weekend!

Thanks to the Jarvis family and Ponderosa Pines for a great weekend! To all of those who put in effort before and during, we take our hats off to you!

Kat xo

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Kentucky

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Kentucky, home of unbridled spirit the sign says and birthplace to Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the US and famous for his Gettysburg Address.

Some 17 hours travelling time later we have made it to Kentucky. I can't help but think 'Justified' here seeing as I just finished watching all 5 series again, and wondering what's up in them hills!

Moonshine? Old whiskey runners and stills? Are the Bennett's running weed and are there really any bodies down mine shafts here? Just my over active imagination at play.

BUT there is coal in these parts and we are headed the next few days for Ponderosa Pines – Black Gold Shootout. Sitting right in back of what seems to still be a working coal mine.

It's gorgeous through Southern Kentucky up here to Manchester, it's winding roads, hills and an abundance of trees, and the weather is perfect. Well for today, next to no humidity and sitting around 79F/26C.

We found Ponderosa Pines and ventured in, coming out to a clearing, green grass, covered entertainment areas, a stage, a pond and then beyond the pond is the ranges. This looks like party Central and as 'Blackwater' said, “this is a party with a side match of a shoot!”

Too funny, this should be a ripper, looking forward to it. Pic's of the range tomorrow.

Cheers! Kat xo

 

Lynchburg, TN

Posted on by kathousekelli70

We arrived in Lynchburg at lunchtime, we are in Jack Daniels country. Moore County …….a dry county! No drinking where Jack lives!

We went to the Visitors Centre and grabbed some info and headed on up to the Jack Daniels Distillery and booked in for a “Tasting Tour”. This place is gorgeous in itself, sitting amongst trees and creeks.

A short walk back to the town square so we could grab lunch at The BBQ Caboose Cafe before walking back and viewing museum type displays before getting on the tour.

Whilst in the square we checked out the old Moore County Jail. Probably the last and most infamous dealings in the jail was the last Sheriff, Ronald Cunningam had to leave as attempts on his life were carried out as he was hot on the trail of runners of drugs and smuggled guns.

The men's jail cells are upstairs and later cells were added downstairs for women. In 1856 The Pauly Jail Building Co commenced and made jail cells and thought to get patents out on their designs. They still make components for detention centres now.

On to THE Tour. So much history and interesting facts about the Jack Daniels distillery and I hope I was listening attentatively.

We started with the learning of how they get the coal for the mellowing process. Enter the Rickyard, using Sugar Maple trees, they create these stacks and put them under the hoods. Spraying them down with Jack Daniels – because you don't want to use anything else that can distort the flavour or adds petroleum products etc. – the rick's are then burnt for 1 – 11/2 hrs to create charcoal.

Charcoal is used in the mellowing process and takes out acids and fusel oils allowing the whiskey to mellow and make it smooth. It even smells good in the charcoal bay! To get it even and ensure a precise filtration the charcoal goes through a grinder to get consistent 'pea gravel' size charcoal.

The building on the hill? 7 stories high and is one of 80 barrel houses. This building alone houses $13.5mil of whiskey. Local, state and federal taxes equate to approx $13 per gallon to get it out of the barrel. Australia ranks 5th biggest consumer of JD.

They have their own fire brigade in case of fire and have not lost any whiskey to fire yet!

Iron free, cold water from the spring to make whiskey. When Jack was 6 he move out of home and moved in with a neighbour who was a minister, preached on Sunday made whiskey through the week. Jack found Cave Springs running and all whiskey made from this water since 1866.

This is what ya call, Jack On The Rocks! Haa haa haa not my line but Josh the tour guide! And that IS the name of the statue.

The marble statue in the Visitor centre is correct in height but his shoes aren't correct he wore a size 4 men's shoe and it would have toppled over so they carved it with size 12's. The bronze statue foot is correct but height is 5'7″ 5″ taller than Jacks actual size but the sculptor liking Jack Daniel honoured him by making him taller.

The mash – A mixture of corn barley rye is brought in as whole grains, it's ground down on site and then mixed with cave water and yeast, set down for 5 days and then is run through the still to get the whiskey out.

Stills run constant and run 35-40gal of whiskey a minute. There are 64 mash tanks 40,000 gal mash per tank. that produce 8000gal of whiskey from one tank every 5 days. Takes 5gal of mash to produce 1gal of whiskey!

Spent mash is around 28% protein and is sold off as by product for cattle growers in the region.

Charcoal mellowing, 75 vats of 10ft of charcoal makes JD Tennessee sipping whiskey. The smell is sensational!! All JD starts the same, it is the ageing in the barrels that changes it.

(Side note here only some areas can you take photos, and could only type this stuff out when not in those buildings, any spark from phones camera flashes etc because of fumes could ignite!)

Barrels are made from white oak. A good/experienced cooper can raise 250 barrels a day. Then they are toasted to caramelise the flavours that come out of the wood. Vanilla, caramel, oak all comes from the toasted charred insides of the barrels. Hence giving those oak and vanilla tones to the whiskey.

53 gallons of whiskey in each barrel and are stored in barrel houses. None are climate controlled it's controlled by Mother Nature, hot, the oak expands and soaks up the whiskey as the weather turns cold it releases the whiskey again. The expanding and contracting allows the scents from the barrels to infuse into the whiskey.

Barrels are used once and then tested to see if they still have traces of liquor in them if they do, they will be sold off to other whiskey makers for their ageing process. If they don't make the cut, they are sold down town in the square for use as furniture, pot plants etc. and they do have some sensational items made from the barrels!

The traditional black label is done with around 170-200 barrels of whiskey mixed in together.

Single Select however will be one barrel, and bottled purely from the 1 barrel approx 240 bottles!! Each barrel can taste different as well. There is a single barrel society and for around $9000 you can buy your own barrel, the gold barrel tack means they have bought more than one, when they have bought 7 they change the badge to a gold barrel with a red 7 on it.

The revenue office (opposite the bottling plant) housed 2 officers up until 1986, when the liquor industry was deregulated they were removed from site and it was made into a nurses station, since 1988 it is now the sampling room and the black JAck Daniels flag flies on the day someone is tasting their own purchased barrel.

It was bottled in a square bottle “a square deal” as it became known – getting a square deal on his whiskey as they were used to clear moonshine or whiskey. The 7 still unknown, lucky number, his height 5'2″, 7 lovely ladies he supposedly had.

Select barrels are used for single barrel select and are stored in the very top floor of the barrel house. 90% are rejected even after being selected to be a “select”. There are of course 7 taste selectors in the distillery.

Sensational!!

All bottling is done in Lynchburg, no bottling is done anywhere else. All here and then exported all over the country and indeed all over the world.

During prohibition time Lem Motlow and his wife owned and ran the hardware store on the square. When prohibition ended Tennessee remained a dry state. Lem, not happy with this ran for election in legislature and was elected to office and managed to get prohibition raised for the state and could therefore start producing Whiskey again.

Aren't we lucky Jack Daniels nephew continued the tradition and pushed for this? We would be without some sensational whiskey that's for sure!

This was an awesome experience, thoroughly enjoyed visiting Lynchburg.

Cheers and here's to Jack! Bottoms Up!

Kat xo

PS more pics will be posted on Facebook, but you get the drift if you are a Jack Daniels fan or just want to see how things were back in the day and how some places, company's and people refuse to give up traditions!!

http://www.jackdaniels.com

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynchburg,_Tennessee

 

 

On To Lynchburg

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Slept through the alarm this morning which puts us slightly behind but anyway, a glorious start to the day with sunshine and clear blue skies.

There are some very soggy looking crop paddocks this morning on the way out of Arkansas.

Heading into Memphis area, I thought we may have been in Egypt for a minute! (What is that pyramid building?) Welcome to Tennessee as we come onto the bridge. Normally we have come across the twin bridges down the Mississippi River as we've headed South, can you see them in the distance?

We're taking the 64 he says, despite being slower speeds, this is beautiful – green, green as far as the eye can see. Fields of corn and not sure, but may be cotton, it's wet enough for it. (Cotton or soybeans)

These towns are beautiful, very patriotic and church going communities through here. Bolivar, Adamsville, Crump and Savannah to name but a few, if we'd have had more time it would have been nice to stop in Savannah and check out the Tennessee River Museum and the Savannah River Trail. There were a couple of gorgeous old homes as we came in and a monument of canon balls that said US Grant Headquarters.

A bit of research tells me that Savannah was the site of the Battle of Shiloh during the Civil War where US Grant commandeered the 'Cherry Mansion' for his headquarters during this battle. (Also known as 'Battle of Pittsburg Landing') ohhhh that means the first gorgeous house that I missed getting a pic of was Cherry Mansion.

On the eastern outskirts are large logging and quarry industries. This is a big place.

Near Waynesboro they are making some new road, call me crazy, but the site of Moxy's, excavators and a 'blast zone' sign still excites me a little, just a tiny bit.

That's it, done, a temporary moment of weakness, I love my life!

Pressing on we travelled through Lawrenceburg and Fayetteville.

 

Fayetteville, looks like another town steeped in history, established in 1810 and part of civil war history – in 1815 the County Courthouse was built and was used to house Union troops during the Civil War. Beautiful plantation style homes with well kept grounds through here.

We are only 15 miles from Lynchburg now and the Jack Daniels Distillery!

Cheers!

Kat xo

PS. The pyramid in Memphis? Is an arena, a 60% replica of the The Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt. At 32 stories tall is the third largest pyramid in the world and is clad in stainless steel. So there you go!

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Arena

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah,_Tennessee

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fayetteville,_Tennessee

 

 

Brinkley, Arkansas

Posted on by kathousekelli70

We hit the road before lunchtime today looking to make it, NOT at Conway, but somewhere between Memphis (Hi Marty and Gina! And Erik and Michelle!) and Fayetteville, TN. Plans change quickly, gotta keep up! Me included! Haa haa haa.

Anyway so we shared driving and were tracking okay but just past Little Rock we headed into a storm which had been skirting around us for some time. Wooooo what a ripper!

I gave up hat making, we were in the midst of eating snicker doodle cookies – thunder and lightning, very very frightening! Galileo, Galileo……… Sorry having a Queen moment. It was a pretty impressive light show, managed to get a pic.

 

However, the torrential rain after, was not cool! We were down to 40-50mph, everyone going slow, hazard lights on as we travelled the road.

And here we are. Stopped at Brinkley, AR, sitting the storm out. Sounds like Little Rock got hit with some very strong damaging winds after we went through there too according to the weather report on the tv now.

Stay safe Cowboys and Cowgirls.

 

Kat xo

 

 

 

 

Get The Heck INTO Dodge

Posted on by kathousekelli70

As the billboards display, it’s into Dodge, not outta Dodge.

After a good nights sleep in Colby we headed down the 83 to Garden City. Kansas has a lot of fertile farming land and it’s no wonder they call it Plainsmen country as it is just that – very very flat. Full of corn fields and feed lots, and then more corn fields and oil derricks.

On the outskirts of Garden City seems to be a large industrial hub and also a manufacturer for wind turbines. These things are huge when you see all the parts laying in a plant yard!

Onward we went heading east to Dodge City arriving around lunchtime.

Dodge City town burnt down twice in the 1880’s, front street as depicted now at The Boot Hill Museum (some buildings or facades were moved to the site, the rest was replicated in 1958) is a replica of what it looked like back then, however was originally about 2 blocks away.

Dodge City was dubbed The Wickedest Little City in the west. Now it seems to hold the history and the spirit but is a booming cattle industry/meat producing town amongst corn, wheat and other crops.

Other interesting facts to note, (there was so much information to take in on the Trolley Tour I couldn’t keep up!). Other than the famous and infamous cowboys, lawmen etc that travelled through and worked in Dodge City.

– Fort Dodge was established in 1865, originally a campground of sorts for wagons travelling the Santa Fe Trail.

– George Hoover established the first saloon in Dodge. A sod hut erected in 1872, he later became Mayor.

– First burial on Boot Hill was in 1872 (named Boot Hill because people were usually buried with their boots on) and the Alice Chambers, a dance hall girl reportedly to be the only woman to have been ‘planted’ on Boot Hill, however supposedly by natural causes.

– Dodge City was known as queen of the cowtowns until the Kansas quarantine law came into effect in 1885 when the longhorns carried a tick disease that infected local cattle.

– there were 2 front streets, the more ‘decorum’ North side where no firearms or dance halls were allowed (north of the tracks and on the side where the reproduction street is), and the South side which was the main business block of the 1880’s popular with buffalo hunters and cowboys, saloons, gunfights and ruckus! Separated during the times of Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson trying to bring order to the city.

– The Long Branch Saloon was the most popular. Owned and operated by Beeson and Harris, later made famous by the television series ‘Gunsmoke’. Regular entertainment was given by the Dodge City Cowboy Band and was known for gambling and fine whiskey.

– between 1866 and 1872 it is said the population was around 1000 citizens that reportedly consumed enough alcohol to the equivalent of 150 miles/ year!!!

– it was also known during that time that only 13 people were Christians. Gospel Hill becoming know for it’s churches, the St Cornelius Episcopal church still has the original building from 1891 the stained glass windows are still original. The Presbyterian church that is there now is built on the original site, the gable being where the first church was and the bell in the courtyard is from the original Presbyterian Church.

– The Mueller-Schmidt house is original and listed as a historic landmark today and you can take tours through it.

– The Santa Fe Depot once a famed Harvey Hotel was one of the finest depots. The building at the end of the depot is the original Harvey girls dormitory.

– The first Marshall for Dodge was in 1875. The famous Wyatt Earp was an assistant Marshall or Deputy in 1877 and had a quite way of enforcing law. Bat Masterson also embodied the colourful tales of the Wild West. He was one of the first citizens buffalo hunting with his brother and a friend. Bat’s brother Ed was a Marshall which was a short tenure when he was shot by a cowboy in a saloon as he attempted an arrest.

– Butter & Egg Rd was originally used as a street for farmers to bring butter and eggs into town to be sold. The county here wanted to change it for 911 upgrade purposes to Laryette but the community got together and protested keeping the name of the road as it’s original. It sits out in amongst the feedlot heartland.

– There are huge feedlots here with up to 1.3million cows capability. 85% cow hides are used for leather goods like shoes and car upholstery. Nothing is wasted, even the manure is used for fertiliser on other crops.

– Dodge City is one of the richest wheat and cattle industries in the world.

– When Francisco Vasquez de Coronado came through on his quest for gold in 1541 when he gave up looking for the City of Gold they left the horses here which in part is how the Indians became proficient horsemen and they became the ride for cowboys to navigate the plains.

– 3 years of intense buffalo hinting nearly eliminated the buffalo by the end of the late 1870’s. Prior to the hunting a buffalo herd could be a mile long and one and a half miles in width.

– at Fort Dodge, the Custom House original building was the original commanding officers quarters. The wooden building housed military men.

– The museum library is situated in the original store house.

– The quarters for the men, two stone barracks and one of Adobe. All now sits inside the Military Kansas Veterans and is a state soldiers home, like a retirement home.

– 1500 trucks a day service business in Dodge, for meat processing and other major manufacturers.

– There are two major meat processing plants in Dodge, employing around 2 thousand people each. The Winter Livestock lots is the biggest privately owned and runs auctions every Wednesday.

Phew! A history bombardment, fabulous! Hot day too, 106F/41C. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

We decided to move on at around 4.40pm and not do the wax museum. Tonight we spend in Pratt, KS, homeward bound to Edmond, OK tomorrow.

See you on the trail again next week as we head to Kentucky! Yee haa!

Kat xo

http://www.visitdodgecity.org/index.aspx?NID=157

http://www.boothill.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CO State Championships Main Match

Posted on by kathousekelli70

It was clear skies heading to the range Saturday morning after a spectacular fireworks display over Fort Collins last night for Independence Day celebrations.

We could see the mountains, a gorgeous sight with some small patches of snow still on the tops of the “Fourteeners”.

Second day of shooting was done on Saturday ending up with 4 misses for me and a clean match for Jackaroo! Well done man!

Thank you Posse 5, great work! And to all those who helped out with this shoot for some 165+ Shooters, good match, thanks Pawnee Station and to The Full Moon Saloon for shutting down their bar to host a bunch of cowboys n cowgirls for fun, frivolity, banquet and games on Saturday night.

This morning, Sunday, was another hot start to the day with many throwing their name tag in the bucket and being drawn to see who’s going head to head in the Top Gun Challenge. We had a crack at it but small mistakes mean it’s anyone’s game for this! Congratulations to Painted Filly who came in for our round when I dropped a shot and to Shaky when Jackaroo was ahead then fumbled with his last two rounds, theirs was a very close match!

When it was all said and done, the final winners of the Top Gun Challenge were Lefty Jo and Gateway Kid! Yee haa!

Out of the 165 odd shooters there were 11 of them that had a clean match including our Aussies, Jackaroo and Sam Balin.

When it all came out in the wash, there were a lot of very happy shooters – myself and Jack included.

Jack finished 1st Place Senior, Cat Tracker 2nd Place and Colorado State Champion, 3rd Place Mountain Mike (?). Yay! An unexpected win for Jackaroo as he truly thought he had mucked up on a few stages that would have cost him a placing.

In Lady Wrangler category I finished 1st Place, Turquoise Queen 2nd Place and Colorado State Champion, 3rd Place Ivy Wild.

While I was taking photos of others and not paying attention, I heard Red River Wrangler announce they were going to read out the top 10, (thinking top 10 combined) when I sat back down they were going through some ladies names and next thing I know, Lefty Jo is standing with her hand extended and me wondering what the hell she was doing when they called my name as 1st Lady overall!! Wow, very much a surprise!

So a good weekend finish for both of us. Had a ball!

AND I need to mention that the 2014 Colorado State Champions are Cobra Cat and Lefty Jo! Our very hearty congratulations to two fantastic people.

Cheers

Kat xo

P.S. An outstanding year for Cobra Cat, Cowboy National Champion, World Champion and now State Champion. A true young gentleman to boot – just sayin’! 🙂

 

 

 

 

Â