​KiwiAm
Tra​vellers
​KiwiAm
Tra​vellers
The Great South West Cowboy Roundup
The Great South West Cowboy Roundup
Inside every man is a cowboy longing for those wide open empty spaces. And inside every woman is someone to make him see reality. Until they join the Great Southwest Cowboy Roundup Tour!
Imagine spending 25 nights/26 days exploring both the myth and the reality of the cowboy era in the parts of America where those legends began and existed right into the period after the first world war..
Texas, whose ability to recover economically from the results of the aftermath of the American Civil War was based on the resources of wild Texan longhorn cattle which exploded in population to feed the beef hungry northern and eastern States, resulting in the driving of herds of up to 3,000 cattle to the eastern railheads.
New Mexico where the Spanish influence on the native American population arts and crafts as well as diet still linger to this very day.
And Arizona, that wild, wide open mining State where the most legendary gunfight in history was fought at the OK Corral.
We start in Houston, where we learn the truth about cowboys and the Buffalo Soldiers, explore the limits of space and visit the battlefield where Texas won the War of Independence from Mexico thereby allowing the conditions that lead to the U.S. westward expansion.
At Waco we will visit the Texas Rangers Museum, the Mammoth National Monument and Mt Carmel, scene of the Branch Davidian standoff.
In Dallas we visit the site of the assassination of President Kennedy, the place where Clyde Barrow, of Bonnie and Clyde fame, the last of the "cowboy outlaws" grew up, and then spend the afternoon at the Fort Worth stockyards seeing an old style Wild West Show as well as a Texas Longhorn cattle drive.
In Abilene we explore Fort Phantom Hill, a genuine frontier fort. In Lubbock we pay homage to Buddy Holly then in Amarillo we drive top the bottom of the second largest canyon in America before learning the history of the cowboy "Quarter" horse, after which we begin exploring Route 66.
We will follow the "mother road" for a few days visiting Route 66 landmarks, heading north to Santa Fe where we will explore Indian art and dine on authentic Mexican food.
In Albuquerque we spend an afternoon at End of Trail, the Cowboy Action Shooting World Championships. The next day we return to Route 66 for the drive into Arizona.
You will experience the tranquility of both the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forrest, whose trees were turned to stone 100 million years before the dinosaurs called the area home.
The next day we visit the Meteor Crater where 50,000 years ago a hunk of iron impacted the earth and where Apollo Astronauts practiced for their moon walks. We will also visit the ghost towns of Two Guns and Twin Arrows before walking around a genuine Native American cliff dwelling village.
We will visit the Grand Canyon and drive through Oatman, an old west mining town before leaving Route 66 and goig to Las Vegas for two nights.
On the way south again we will visit the Hoover Dam before making stops in Phoenix and Tucson visiting the scene of the easternmost battle in the American Civil War. Then it is on to Tombstone, the "town that will not die" and scene of the Gunfight at the OK Corral.
At Bisbee we visit the long closed open cast copper mine before moving on to the ranch owned by "Texas" John Slaughter, famed Texas Ranger and Sheriff of Cochise County and then the Geronimo monument to celebrate the end of the "Indian. Wars".
Back in Texas we spend two nights in El Paso, the title of two Marty Robins songs before making the long drive to San Antonio where you will stand on the grounds of the San Antonio Alamo Mission shop for genuine cowboy clothes, hats and boots, walk the banks of the River Walk and dine at the Buckhorn Saloon, the oldest continually running saloon in Texas and where Teddy Roosevelt recruited his Rough Riders for the Spanish American war.
Finally we visit Austin, the Texas State Capitol after making a visit to Luckenbach and Johnson City, center of the Texas wine making industry.
On our last day we will return to Houston and fly home to New Zealand.
26 days/25 nights
Houston 3 nights
Waco 1 night
Dallas 2 nights
Abilene 1 night
Lubbock 1 night
Amarillo 2 nights
Santa Fe 1 night
Albuquerque 1 night
Winslow 1 night
Williams 1 night
Kingman 1 night
Las Vegas 2 nights
Phoenix 1 night
Tombstone 2 nights
El Paso 2 nights
San Antonio 2 nights
Austin 1 night
Includes:
Accommodation 25 nights
Breakfast 25
Lunch 2
Dinner 24
Price: TBA
Planing underway for 2024
Subject to minimum group numbers and KiwiAm Travellers terms and conditions