July 19, 2008

Patrick and I decided to make a little detour to the Stock Yards in Fort Worth today. We spent several hours there, saw a cattle drive, looked at the Cowboy Hall of Fame and checked out Billy Bob's Texas. We walked around the Stock Yards in balmy (yeah, right!) 97 degree weather and had lunch at H3 Ranch. The "H" in the name stands for Hunter Brothers and of course I asked the waiter if we get a discount for having the same name as the owner. Unfortunately, we didn't. Oh, well. Patrick had ice cream in one of the little shops and after that we went over to see if there were any animals in the Yard. There were only a couple horses and the Longhorns from the cattle drive. We went back on I-20 and our next stop was Weatherford just a couple miles west of Fort Worth. There we drove to the police station where we met a certain cop who worked at MacDill AFB before he retired and moved to Weatherford. Now he prefers donuts and handcuffs to the discipline of the Military : ).
Tonight we're staying in Abilene, TX. After checking into the hotel I asked at the front desk if there is a good italian restaurant, and the janitor gave us directions to "Little Italy". The restaurant was behind a gas station in a strip mall and didn't look like much. But the food was soooo good! The atmosphere was good and the service was great. So, if you're ever going to be in Abilene, TX, go to "Little Italy" - it's a nice little restaurant with great food and decent prices.

Patrick und ich haben uns entschieden, heute einen kleinen Umweg zu den Fort Worth Stock Yards zu machen. Wir waren mehrere Stunden dort und haben uns die verschiedenen Sehenswuerdigkeiten angeschaut. Danach sind wir wieder auf der I-20 Richtung Westen weitergefahren, bis zu Weatherford. Dort sind wir zur Polizei Station gefahren und haben meinen frueheren Boss besucht, der jetzt in Weatherford als Polizist arbeitet. Leider konnten wir nicht lange bleiben, denn waehrend wir uns unterhalten haben, fand ein Ueberfall statt und er musste weg. Aber es war schoen, dass wir uns wiedergesehen haben. Wir sind dann bis nach Abilene weitergefahren, wo wir jetzt ueber Nacht bleiben. Wir haben in einem kleinen italienischen Restaurant zu Abend gegessen und das Essen war sehr gut.