Ride to Southfork Ranch - Who Shot J.R.?

Yesterday was such a beautiful day, my son and I went for a little ride on his Triumph Tiger 800 XC and my CB1100 DLX. We lunched at a great Cajun restaurant in Plano and rode to our intended stop.

Our destination was Southfork Ranch; the set and fictional home of the Ewings on the Dallas TV Show. This TV Show was a huge success and was known Worldwide as the show that put Dallas on the map. If you are old enough to remember, Dallas ended one season on a "cliffhanger" entitled "Who Shot J.R.?". The whole country was talking about the fate of the character Larry Hagman played.

The Southfork Ranch is a tourist destination now and you have to pay to visit it. We, being the cheap riders we are, opted to take our photos from across the street.

On the way back, we got "lost" and ended up way north completely out of our way, However, when you are riding and having fun, getting lost is just a little more riding time to have fun.

What did you think about riding there. Sometimes its worth a roadtrip to see some tourist attraction,.... Hearst Castle comes to mind. And sometimes its a bust.

Were the roads worth it and worth a visit if you are old enough to remember the show? Or when you got there and stopped to take the pic, was it a complete waste of time,...except for being on the bike of course.

I expected Southfork Ranch to be way out in the country down a scenic ranch road. However, urban sprawl is creeping up on it. If you weren't looking for it, you could easily miss it.

My goal was to just photograph the bike in front of the "Big House", but you can't get close to the house without visiting the Gift Shop and paying admission. I decided to pull off the road and just include the House in the background.

If you are a big "Dallas" fan, you might enjoy doing the whole Gift Shop/walk the grounds thing. If you are in the area it is worth the stop and look, but I wouldn't ride/drive for hundreds of miles to visit unless I was a big fan.

All in all, I enjoyed the ride, the route, the weather (especially) and just taking a nice ride. We did Plano, Southfork Ranch, Lewisville and back to Grand Prairie.

My father really liked that show but I missed it due to the job I had. Missed about 4-5 years of prime time TV. Watched a bunch of late news and reruns it seemed at the motel.

Never would look at the Show but been past the house for years. Used to ridae around there before the house too. The bike and the house makes a neat pic.