Texas

On the desk beside me is a sort of a 'coffee-table' book entitled ''Heroes , Heavies and Sagebrush '' subtitled '' A Pictorial History of the "B" Western Players ".
Since the 1940's I have been a fan of all westerns . The "B" westerns were my initiation into these films . Most people will have heard of Roy Rogers , maybe even of Gene Autry , but who now remembers Allan 'Rocky ' Lane or Monte Hale , Lash La Rue and a myriad of other cowboy heroes , all of whom had their own comics ( some Dell , some DC ) , Bill Boyd who was the actor who played Hopalong Cassidy had a comic in his own name as well as the Hoppy character .
So I always wanted to be a cowboy , well at least see the real western landscape ( lot of these "B" westerns were actually filmed in and around a ranch on the outskirts of Hollywood in California , which , having fallen into disrepair , was used by the awful Manson Family in the 60's , as a hangout during their murderous forays....not a lot of people know that ...as my former co-star Michael Caine would have said....)
Where was I .........?.
My eldest son met and married a girl from Texas and I eventually saw some of that state .
I wanted to see the Alamo of course , so I caught a Greyhound (?) Bus from Austin to San Antonio . Alright , alright all the scenery in the state is not remarkable , except for its sheer vastness , so on the trip I evesdropped on the conversations of my fellow passengers , who seemed to be mostly women . We stopped at a small place , I think it was called San Marco , a dusty Sheriff's car (the car and the Sheriff were both dusty ) was parked at the bus-stop , the sheriff was obviously seeing off a man who stood beside him ...as the bus continued on , with the new passenger on board , he gradually started a conversation with some of the women at the back, still eavesdropping , I gradually learned that most of my fellow passengers were travelling to El Paso on the Tex.Mex. border to visit their husbands/partners in the prison there and the newcomer was a 'good-will' prisoner in transit....I turned up my collar and scrunched down in my seat and stayed deadly quiet for the rest of the journey...
Despite my uneasy introduction to travelling in the state I found the people and the countryside when I got to know it fascinating . San Antone , for example , has the famous old Alamo Mission slap-bang in the middle of a thriving city , like St.Stephen's Green in the centre of Dublin....I had visualised it being out in the desert among the cactus.... , the Riverwalk in the city is actually below street level and the shops and boulevards are lined on either side of the river while the hustle and bustle of the city goes on above .
I was taken on a trip to the Hill Country to try horse-riding .I was introduced to a beautiful quiet horse called LBJ , except when some young horses escaped from the corrall and caused him to get a bit skittish he behaved perfectly.The strange thing about that part of Texas is that everything seems so tough and harsh , ready to scratch or scrape or bite , both landscape and animals....no tall cactus...just small prickly stuff , the branches of the trees , which LBJ easily avoided by putting his head down , caught me full face , look out for rattlesnakes they said ,,,,,are they just jokng ? No ...this is Texas...small loose rocky shale underfoot....now I know why they wear leggings , high heeled boots , denim , and wide brimmed hats , not for show ....just practical clothing for an unforgiving landscape.....in Ireland when driving in the country one often sees roadkill , like rabbits , crows , sometimes badgers.....in Texas roadkill consists of ...armardillos....( slow moving creatures like badgers and armardillos are not made for modern roads .) It was WB Yeats who first used the expression 'no country for old men' , I think he was talking about Byzantium or somewhere but he really , really meant Texas .
At another time we visited the Big Bend on the Rio Grande , camping in the open , with little wild ( and apparently dangerous ) pigs running about all night , but Don soon told us how to deal with them ....who's Don , I hear you ask ......well somebody else will tell you that story....
Since George W Bush was elected president the USA and Texas have been getting a bad press around the world , some justified , a lot unjustified . One example Texans driving huge gas-guzzling cars......the history of Texas is oil , anyone who has travelled on the vast , seemingly endless highways through the state will immediatly visualise that travelling on those same highways in farty little cars designed for shopping , would be a nightmare .Sometimes people outside the USA complain that comparativly few Americans have passports , however if you live on a continent of 350-4oo million people covering various timezones , same language , same legal tender , same government , where you can literally find a place 'where the weather suits your clothes ' at any time of the year , why go to the trouble of travelling 'abroad'when you can find all that you need at home ?
On visiting a 'souvenier' shop in Fort Worth , which was' manned ' by retired people , willing to tell us the history of the city and incidentally sell a few souveniers. Exceptionally friendly , they reminded my wife of the retired men and women who did similar voluntary work at St.Albans Abbey in England , their friendliness and interest ......the one tiny difference was that when we were leaving the shop in Fort Worth , I saw a beautifully made WINCHESTER RIFLE , for only $99 .......the Womens Institute still only sell warm scones......