Adventures of SanTony: TEXAS

After leaving Surprise we traveled south 4 hours on US10 to say at Elks Lodge #2131 in Willcox AZ which was a pleasant, except for the train noise which they mentioned on line. The funny, or not so funny thing is that train track was with us the next 3 nights through New Mexico and into Texas. The 4th night we had trouble going to sleep because it was to quiet...HA..HA

For us, stopping in Van Horn TX and eating at CHUY'S RESTERANT has become a bit of a ritual. It's 138 miles from the NM boarder and this was our forth stop in 3 trips through Texas....Very Good Mexican Food.

One of the places we wanted to go to in this huge state was the ATandT COWBOYS FOOTBALL STADIUM, been past it, but never stopped.

Boy what a place Jerry Jones built. The money that was spent would run a small country.

This is the site for the 2014 NCAA FINAL FOUR and they were very busy getting things ready along with heightened security. We took the VIP TOUR of the whole place and they scanned our tickets on the way in and on the way out to make sure no one was hiding out to get into the B-Ball Tournament on the cheap.

The largest "well it's Texas" sports store, dedicated to one team in the country

They weren't just putting down a basketball floor, they were actually putting in new seating that will flow down to the hard court...AMAZING !

This logo was etched into the glass and huge banners hung from everywhere

The above pic is from inside Jerry Jones's private box and the one below is an outside the box..."so to speak" look of how close he is to the fans. This is a very small area, but the private elevator in the back of his box will take him up to a much larger private suite were he can entertain more than 250 guest.

Jerry..."yes we are now on a first name bases" wanted his stadium to be bigger and better in every way. So only the best became the norm, from hiring the best chefs to prepare the food and not for just the wealthy...everyone! He wanted the food service areas to look like 5 star hotels...and they do. Our tour guide said Jerry had an obsession with TV's and they were everywhere with an estimated 3'600 flat screens you wont miss any of the game while getting something good to eat...or that other thing that takes you away from your seat. When plans were drawn up Jerry's wife made sure there were more ladies restrooms than men's...60%..40%...no waiting in line.

When the architect gave Jerry the choice between accent tile to be used in and around his food courts, the story goes: Jerry we have this very nice black tile with some blue specks in it for 35 cents a square foot. Jerry says OK! Then we also found this rather unique tile that is only found in the Georgian Bay region in Canada, and of course Jerry asked why this tile would be so special to him. The tile has a brilliant blue quartz in it that when the light hits it the blue color twinkles ... and it's a perfect match for Dallas Cowboy Blue. Jerry said you better get that tile on order, even though the price was 35 dollars a square foot. The Dallas Cowboys will never change their colors...

They even have 12,000 standing room only tickets on both ends for the reasonable price of $29.95 ticket.

The hole in the roof was a decision made after the final drawings were submitted and cost Jerry an extra 80 million dollars.

The two massive beams that support the roof and video screens are as long as the Empire State Building is tall.

Like a giant erector set just for 4 games.

There are photos and other memorabilia all throughout the stadium including a separate modern art tour which we didn't take...but we know it would have ben interesting.

Of course we need to mention the monster video screen which was assembled on site and was the largest one in the world until the Texas Motor Speedway built a bigger one and another race track in Texas is building an even bigger one...Only in Texas

But Jerry's probably will never be beaten or duplicated because it's two large screens with two smaller screens on the ends that are larger than most stadiums have.

Of course we had to visit the locker rooms.

Well yes both of them...of course!

This is the door were the Cowboys go to the field from the locker room.

Other interesting facts are the private boxes run over $100,000 ea. and it's a 10 year lease...but they have a couple left, out of 300. The electric bill per month is one (1) million dollars. Jerry and his wife are obsessed with keeping everything as clean as possible to the point of regularly steam cleaning all the seats and even power brushing the basement floor were the delivery trucks and team buses come through. It shows, the place is spotless!

HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE TOUR...WE DID!

We needed to find a place to spend the night so we pulled out the Elkdom Travel Guide and hit a Home Run!!! The Irving Elks #2334 was a welcome place with friendly members that went out of there way to make us feel right at home.

Special thanks to the gentleman... "maybe a little generous" who bought us a beer and turned us on to great steak house. Places like this, we mark with a big red marker, with a note to stay longer next time, and maybe take in a Ranger Baseball Game.