Imagine the title in my bad Joe Morgan accent…

Well, the tenth Harp Guitar Gathering is over, and the majority of gratified participants have dispersed, leaving a quiet melancholy throughout the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area.

And now, like the struggling rock & roll band packing up their own P.A. after their otherwise faithful fans have cleared out of the now-vacant club, our own sorting and inventorying and accounting and packing and shipping must begin.

Except that we’ve given ourselves an extra morning (tomorrow, Tuesday) to get that done, so we’ve got one afternoon of “free time” and by golly, we’re going to have fun!

And so we join the Morgans and those remaining for one final adventure (Stephen & Nancy Bennett, Dennis & Janice Mitchell, Frank, Benoit, Dave Evans and Martin Leykomm).  We’re off to the Fort Worth Stockyards for some authentic Texas tourism!

We first hooked up with Mike & Nancy (Doolin, Conescu) for authentic Texas barbecue (decadent to say the least – I’m still trying to work it off).

The famous high-end Leddy’s was an eye-opener for a Southern Californian.  I was seriously considering what harp guitar I could sell to cover the $5000 pair of alligator cowboy boots I was coveting.  In the end, I figured that it was too much to pay only to look like an idiot.

It was love at first sight for many of us when we saw “Sir Niles.”  That was the name of the young “pet” longhorn steer we came across, there to greet tourists.  I guess I’ve never seen such a breed in the flesh, and it was a stunning animal.  This particular specimen was a gorgeous brindle color.  And those horns!  The owner said they were 80 inches tip to tip (along the curve).  But it was the latent power in that massive head that was so impressive.  Sir Niles was super calm and gentle, and his head movements were instinctively slow.  I imagine if he got spooked or had a sudden itch, he could inadvertently impale somebody quite easily (Ben, for example).

Of course, having just been knighted “Sir Gregory,” how could I possibly resist a photo with Sir Niles?

They had to pry me off with a cattle prod…

Soon, the daily “cattle drive” came through, with every pattern and horn shape of these magnificent bovines.

After a time, we all headed to Joe & Linda’s for another round of Joe’s Famous Smoked Meats Dinner Extravaganza (it’s better the second time).

I finally got to try out Dave’s mini-archtop HG.  A delight.

I don’t know who was more raucous – the boys or the girls.

It was the perfect end to a great extended weekend.  I’ll spare you the boring details of the pack-up and return home.  The only good thing about returning to our normal life is of course reuniting with the family…

…who as always, are only interested in what we brought them back.  In this case, it was presents from Hiro!

And what of the Morgan pooches?  Eldon on Tuesday morning seems to say it all.

“I thought it would never be over!”

The End

HGG10 blog series starts here