What If Game Day

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I’ve been visiting a winery in Tyler. More news to come about that in a blog soon, but I’m here today for a game day what if.

 

 

What if you could meet any western historical or fiction person to sit down for a chat. Who would it be and why? For me, it would be Calamity Jane. I’ve often worried how she held her own in such a male dominated world.

 

Leave me a comment to be entered in the random drawing for the coozie, key chain, and a signed copy of To Love a Texas Cowboy.

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Julie Benson has written five novels for Harlequin American, and her Wishing, Texas series is available from Tule Publishing. Now that her three sons have left the nest in Dallas, when she isn't writing, Julie spends her time working on home improvement projects, rescuing dogs, and visiting Texas wineries with her husband. Visit her at www.juliebenson.net.

64 thoughts on “What If Game Day”

    • Julie, she would be someone fascinating to talk to as well. It would be interesting to ask her questions about the two worlds. Maybe she’d be able to help with some of what the world is dealing with now. Thanks for being here today. Have a great Monday.

    • Debbie, I thought of him, too. I’d love to talk to him about the movie “The Undefeated.” I think I saw it on late night TV when I was in high school. (I fell in love with the Native American character, Blue Boy,) If you haven’t seen it, the movie is set immediately after Appomattox. Rock Hudson is leading a group of Confederates and their families to Mexico. John Wayne, a former Union Colonel, and his ex-soldiers are rounding up wild horses to sell. The Rock Hudson crew runs into trouble and John Wayne’s guys help them out. What I love is that these two wildly opposite groups must learn to work together, and one must make a big sacrifice to save the other. My only complaint is Blue Boy’s stereotypical portrayal. I’d love to ask him questions about that movie and “The Cowboys.” I think those are my two favorites of his movies.

      Thanks for being here on a Monday morning. Ugh! I hope you have a great week.

  3. I drove near Tyler last year. That’s where I saw the oil wells. I’ll be down your way the first weekend in August.

    Annie Oakley or Belle Starr.

    denise

      • I’d love to talk to them too. They were such strong women in a world that didn’t want to give women many options to provide for themselves other than marriage. I’d love to know how they managed to pull that off. Thanks for always being here, Denise! Have a great week.

    • Denise, we stayed at the Bed and Breakfast at Kiepersol Winery. My August post will be about my visit there and all the cool things I discovered. The founder, Pierre de Wet’s story is fascinating.

    • Denise, drop me an email when you’re in the area. If you’re not too far away, maybe we meet for coffee. My mother-in-law is coming that weekend, so I could use a break. 🙂

  4. I would love to talk to a woman who had traveled on a wagon train or the Land Run. Mainly to thank them for their courage in being instrumental in settling this land.

    • Sherry, that’s another great idea! I don’t think we have any idea how strong those women were or how brutal moving via a wagon train was. It’s amazing anyone got anywhere alive. No matter so many hit a spot along the way, said they were done, and settled somewhere other than their intended destination. I know I wouldn’t have made it very far.

      Thanks for being here today. Take care and have a great week.

    • I’d never heard of her so I did a quick Google search. Thank you so much for mentioning her! What an amazing woman. Not only a mail carrier, not easy, but a black woman! I bet she would have fantastic stories to share. The courage she must have had and the strength of character! Women had few enough rights then, but a black woman had to possess even less. I love when y’all teach me something, and Stagecoach Mary is someone I definitely need to research.

      Thanks for stopping by today. Have a fabulous week.

  6. Jesse James. There is so many uncertainties about his life and death that I would like to learn the truth.

    • Janice, so you’re the detective among us out to find out the truth! It would be interesting to see how he viewed his life and what he thinks of everything that’s been said since his death. What a great suggestion.

      Thanks for stopping by today to chat on a Monday. (Sigh) I hope you have a wonderful week.

  7. Becky Boone. We all know about Daniel but I would love to hear the story from his wife’s perspective.

    • Rhonda, as always, y’all are making me think! (And on a Monday no less!) You’re right in that we know so much about Daniel, but so little about Becky. She must have been patient and strong in her own right to be married to such a larger than life man. I said earlier I want to learn more about Stagecoach Mary. Now I’m adding Becky Boone to that list. Women haven’t gotten their due in history, especially the ones married to men like Daniel Boone.

      Thanks for being here today and for making me think. Have a great week.

  8. 7there are many possibilities- John Wayne (principle man), Annie Oakley (strong woman), or women and men who decided to risk everything just to go west.

    • You’ve list some great folks that it would be interesting to chat with. You’re the second one to mention John Wayne and how principled he was. One of my favorite I Love Lucy episodes is the one with him in Hollywood. I also mentioned to someone else how his movies “The Undefeated” and “The Cowboys” affected me when I was in high school. So, I don’t know how I missed the fact that he was so honorable. This is the third thing y’all have taught me today! I need to read more about his life. As to the folks going west. I can’t begin to imagine how desperate or adventurous they had to be in order to risk everything to move out west.

      Thank you for being here today. Take care and have a great week.

    • Debra, what great suggestions. They were definitely two strong women who made it in a world where women had few options other than marriage. It would be fascinating to hear how they managed to do that. It can’t have been easy.

      Thanks for stopping by today. Have a wonderful week.

  10. I’d love to meet a Pony Express rider. I’ve been fascinated by them since I fell in love with “The Young Riders” way back in the late 80s/early 90s.

    • Carrie, when I read your first sentence, my thoughts immediately went to “The Young Riders.” I loved that series and fell in love with Buck! On Saturdays every once in a while reruns of the show are on, and I’ll treat myself to watching the show again. It’s interesting that despite the Pony Express not being around for long, we are still fascinated with it. From what little I’ve read, it wasn’t an easy life.

      Thanks for being here and chatting about “The Young Riders” with me!

      • The Kid was my first grown up crush. I still have a folder full of Young Riders pictures cut out from TV guide and the teen magazines. Good memories!

    • Being a teacher in Texas, I’ve learned some about Davy Crockett because of the role he played at the Alamo. I would love to sit and talk with him about what really happened there, and how they decided to die, rather than give up the Mission. That had to be a gut wrenching decision.

      Thanks for being here today. Have a great week.

  12. Geronimo. I would ask him if he could go back and change one thing what would he do and why

    • Charlene, some say his last words were that he never should’ve surrendered. It would be interesting to see if that was true and why he regretted that decision so much. How did he see things being different if he hadn’t surrendered. (Other than his death, that is.) I bet he would have interesting and possibly helpful comments on what we’re dealing with race wise today. Y’all have given me so much to think about today. Thanks for being here and making me think. Have a great week.

      • So many things went so wrong back then. It was a unfair and unjustified way things were handled. I feel they were mistreated and unfairly treated. I myself wished they had had been treated better. Thank you for sharing your time with us. Hugs and have a wonderful day

    • Sitting down with Sam Elliot would be interesting and easy on the eyes. How can a man his age still look so fabulous?! I bet he has some thought-provoking comments on history with all the historical westerns he’s been in.

      Thanks for stopping by today. Have a great week.

  14. I would love to talk to Annie Oakley. She was a kick-ass Gal that could outshoot most men. Always having to prove herself to men. I grew up in a household of men and I was always trying to get my due like her. Of course, not by outshooting them, but it was always the old double standard in my house.

    • Kathleen, I have 3 boys so I, too, know how hard it can be for a woman to hold her own in a male house. It’s not easy, and we have far more rights and freedom than Annie Oakley had. My mother grew up on a farm, and there was definitely a bigger double standard there when I visited. I’d love to know how Annie found the courage to be so strong in a time that worked against women doing anything but getting married.

      Thanks for stopping by today. Have a super week.

    • You’ve mentioned another great person to talk to that I failed to think of. I’ve often wondered how many mail order brides were happy. Did many regret there decision? How many arrived only to find the man had changed his mind, died, or married someone else? What gave them the courage to leave everything and everyone they knew for a complete unknown?

      Thanks for such a great suggestion and for getting me thinking this morning. Take care and have a terrific week.

  16. I would love to visit with John Wayne. How he prepared for his different western rolls, what he learned from his characters, etc.

    • Melanie, John Wayne has been a popular suggestion today. It never occurred to me to think how he prepared for his roles. I guess I’ve always taken his great abilities for granted. I do believe he was underrated as an actor because he made everything look so effortless. I bet he would have some interesting insights into the old west.

      Thanks for stopping by to chat. I hope you have a great week.

    • Ruth, I don’t know much about Wyatt Earp except that he was at the Ok corral. Just talking to him about that event would be an interesting and informative discussion.

      Thanks for being here today. Have a super week.

  18. I would like to have the chance to talk to Richard Boone. Rawhide was a unique program which I enjoyed. A real man whose courage and principles meant a great deal.

    • Anne, you’ve mentioned yet another person who would be fabulous to talk to. I bet he would have great stories about the westerns he starred in. I wonder if westerns were tough movies to star in considering how difficult living in the west was. Thanks for being here today. Take care and have a super week.

  19. Oh, wow, there are sooooo many!! I guess I’d choose Daniel Boone, because I grew up watching the tv show. Or, maybe my heartthrob when I was five, Jeff Sonnett played by Dack Rambo. I came very close to crying when that show ended!! I remember complaining to my Daddy that it was going off since he and his grandfather caught up to his dad.

    • Trudy, those are both great suggestions of people to sit and chat with. It would be interesting to see what the real Daniel Boone thought of the TV shows and accounts of his life. I wonder how accurate they were. Thank you for stopping by today. Take care and have a great week.

  20. A major character on Bonanza, Lorne Greene interested me since he was a Shakespearean actor in Canada before his success in Hollywood. His depiction of a father of 4 sons in the west was a big departure but I was entranced with this man and the show.

    • April, it would be fun to talk to him about how he went from Shakespeare to Bonanza. Did he feel like the formal theatre helped him performing on a western TV series? Which role was more demanding and why? He was amazing in the father role in Bonanza.

      Thanks for stopping by today to chat. Have a great week.

    • Connie, it would be interesting to discover how he prepared to play such an iconic person. I wonder how accurate the show was and how plying Boone affected Fess Parker. Thank you for being here today. Have a wonderful week.

    • Paula, their history would be interesting to discover first hand. Their lives were filled with ups and downs. Then there’s the fact that he married a woman young enough to be his granddaughter after losing his wife of 50+ years. He must have had quite a personality to convince her to marry him.

      Thank you for stopping by today. Take care and have a wonderful week.

  23. My husband’s grandmother……her family stepped off the train in 1890 in dry treeless Eastern Washington after living in Minnesota. A year later at the age of 16 she married a 30 year old cattleman and was left in a cabin in the scab rock coulee a day after their wedding while he went off on a roundup. How did she cope? By all accounts they became a very happy family.

    • Alice, what a fantastic woman to have in your family tree! It would be amazing to sit and chat with her. I bet the stories she could tell you would be astounding. And you’re right to ask how did she cope? I can’t imagine how women kept the homestead running and the children safe with a husband who went off on roundups or cattle drives. They sure were made of strong stuff.

      Thanks for stopping by today and telling us about your husband’s grandmother. She sounds incredible.

    • I know, Colleen. I would want to chat with everyone y’all have mentioned today. I always think women today are so strong with what we all juggle, and we are. But, I can’t begin to understand the type of mental and physical strength it took women like Annie Oakley and Alice’s grandmother-in-law to not only survive, but thrive in their time. I’m in awe of them.

      Thank you for being here today. Have a great week.

    • Alicia, those are great choices. Lucas McCain in the Rifleman was great. How could we not love a single father in the old west doing right by his son? And I’ve often wondered about the Medicine men too. I bet they were something.

      Thank you for dropping in today. Have a great week.

  26. welcome today. There are a few. But I would love to start with Kate Warne. First female Pinkerton Detective. Im sure she was tough as nails, but had a heart. I would love to chat about how and why the idea first came to her mind and how she proceeded, not to mention the opposition she received quilting dash lady at comcast dot net.

    • Lori, the first woman to do anything like become a Pinkerton Detective or an astronaut has to be extra tough, more talented, and special. I bet Kate could teach women a thing or two today about how to succeed in a male dominated world. I bet saying she encountered resistance is putting it mildly! She also must have been incredibly intelligent.

      Thanks for telling me about her and for being here. Have a great week.

    • Kathy, I know. She must have been a strong, independent woman to hold her own the way she did. I bet she had some stories to tell. I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for dropping in today. Take care.

  28. Women are strong and I think she was very forward and upfront about who she was and refused to take any grief from men. They might give her a hard time once, but I think she would have set them straight and they wouldn’t do it again.
    I would like to have met Tamsen Donner. The book Impatient with Desire: The Lost Journal of Tamsen Donner by Gabrielle Burton, written in journal style, presented a picture of her and the disastrous trip. I related so much to the person represented there. I feel we would have been friends and I likely would have joined her on the trip had she asked. It would be interesting to sit down for tea at the least and have a good visit.

  29. I’m a huge Bonanza fan so I’d want to talk to one of the Cartwrights, specifically Little Joe. Joe is my all-time favorite cowboy and I just love him to pieces! But as for real people from the west, I would probably choose either Calamity Jane, Charles and Caroline Ingalls, or Buffalo Bill. All four of them seemed like very interesting people!

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