Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?

Statue found in the Cowboy Hall of Fame Museum

The idealistic American West of my childhood highlighted many characters ranging from lawmen to outlaws, but none featured as centrally as the iconic cowboy.  On Saturday afternoons, it was hard to turn on the TV and find a movie that did not feature such names as Billy The Kid, Jesse James, or Annie Oakley conquering the untamed wild. 

Leather Saddle

Images such as stagecoaches, barbed wire and shoot outs in the street were fuel for the juvenile imagination and became key in forming an admittedly unrealistic idea of a utopian pioneer world where the bad guys always wear black and the good guys always win in the eleventh hour.



So I admittedly had a silly and slightly romanticized idea of what I would discover in Texas, but was beyond surprised to find that the Capital of the American Cowboy was shockingly devoid of any cowfolk at all. 

Ride 'Em Cowboy!!

This is not too surprising as in the last few decades the superhero has slowly replaced the heroes of the wild frontier as a focal point in the media and cinema blockbusters (Although it is heartening to see them trying to make a comeback in the form of such films as The Lone Ranger and A Million Ways To Die In The West!).  But still, what the mind knows and what the heart accepts are often two completely different ideas and my heart had been set on finding the classic western hero sitting high upon his white steed.  Ok, perhaps I am exaggerating, but you get the point.

I had begun to believe that I would, in fact, not see a single Stetson during my stay, but was rescued from such disappointment by the appearance of an honest to goodness post-modern cowboy. I was enraptured and probably scared the daylights out of him when I asked for a picture, which he graciously (southern gentleman, after all. Never refuse a damsel in distress!) agreed.

 Below is a copy of that moment that brought such joy and will live in my mind for years to come as the day I found my own John Wayne to rescue me from ho-hums of modern cookie-cutter normalcy. 

My Hero!