Chapter Five Apr 30, 2001 May 1, 2001 Dallas (Monday and Tuesday)   Lyn and Jesse had planned on this being their "out day" in Dallas, with a trip to the livestock exchange and the "Cattle Rustler's Museum" already planned. Lyn had driven Dave to work and had gotten back to the hotel before Jesse was even up, an example of the pace that would be set for the rest of the day. Lyn and Jesse eventually made it into the car, and were off with the aid of a map and the NeverLost. Once we reached the edges of the old stock yards, we were greeted by a little town that looked like it had just jumped out of a time warp from a few decades previous. Lyn parked the car at the far end of the yard, in the "free parking", figuring the walk back was only about two blocks. Both Lyn and Jesse were surprised to see a schoolbus full of kids playing on the front steps of the visitor's center. When we reached the visitor's center however, our hopes of a fun-filled experience sank. There were no attractions to be heard of, only the shops we had seen on the way to the parking lot and a museum/gift shop inside the old stock exchange building. It turned out to be more proficient with the latter, the museum part being one pedestal with miniature civil war figurines and a few old cattle items strewn about with "do not touch" signs taped to them. After their disappointing experience at the gift shop, Lyn and Jesse decided to poke their noses into the strip-mallesque shops that now occupied the old cattle stalls. Unfortunately, we found nothing to fit our miniature icon shelf that symbolized Dallas, as the shops were all geared more toward popular toys like "Beanie Babies" rather than postcards and key rings for the tourists. Lyn and Jesse left the Stockyard resigned, knowing the only information we had gained was about their next stop. Lyn and Jesse had found out the source of the difficulty in locating the "Cattle Rustlers Museum" at the visitor center at the stockyard. As it turns out, the unlisted rustler museum was actually the "Cattle Raisers Museum", a simple error in Lyn's recollection. After plugging in the new name into the NeverLost, we immediately got an address and were on their way. The museum was in a three story building, the museum located on the first floor with offices on the floors above it. The "Raiser" museum proved to be a much more educational and entertaining experience, with interactive diagrams and narrated scenes. We were actually let in at a reduced price as a number of the exhibits were under renovation, along with some portions of the building. There was a scene explaining how cattle rustlers started and another whole room devoted to important people in the big cattle era. There were walls covered in all of the different symbols people used to brand their cows, and an interactive display with information on the cattle overseer of each county. When we left the museum we were provided a little packet with propaganda from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. After the museum, we went to the Will Rogers Memorial Center, where we then learned that the actual Will Rogers museum was in Claremore, OK, and his birthplace was in Oologah, also in OK. We were sufficiently bummed, and left the Center with only one more stop left. On the way back to the hotel, Lyn and Jesse stopped by the Arlington Ballpark and picked up some tickets for that night's game. After a late lunch at a little Italian restaurant near the stadium, we headed back to the hotel room for a quick nap before heading back out to pick up Dave. Lyn and Jesse left the hotel after about an hour to go pick up Dave from work. We ended up at the ballpark after a short stop to pick up some Jack-in-the-box tacos. Our seats were on the second floor, and offered a fine view of the game. The stadium was rather new, but was built to look like older stadiums from the 20s. The game was interesting, and included a home run from "A-Rod" with a mini light-show at the scoreboard. After the game we all headed home, already full of hot-dogs and tacos. Lyn and Jesse went to bed expecting a slow day tomorrow, while Dave would be back at work. Original Web Upload May 2001 Last Update: December 18, 2001