Day Trip to Sweetwater 🐍 (FULL EPISODE) S9 E6

all right guys so we are headed back into the big country and I promise you there will be big Skies there will definitely be big eats but there will also be big Sweet Water [Music] come on this episode was made for y'all with the help of our awesome Partners check the caption for more info Sweetwater Texas sits in the big country right along Interstate 20. about 100 miles to Midland and 200 from Fort Worth it's the land of roaming coyotes Buffalo and Rattlers so tread carefully Tripper but it isn't just what's hiding in the dirt that can catch you off guard the skies hold their own dose of unexpected are you seeing all these wind turbines this is crazy and what's Wild is that at ground level you have these really old oil pump jacks and then up in the sky these you know Green energy wind turbines it's like two completely different worlds coming together right here in Sweetwater Poland County has more wind turbines than any other part of Texas as this brown land looks toward a very green future especially right here in Sweetwater so far as modern as the windmills are downtown Sweetwater still feels kind of like rugged and old except for the courthouse which is Big Shiny and new and with the County's large collection of wind turbines inside the courthouse visitors will find the largest collection of antique Winchesters in the world check it out it's the J Paul Turner Winchester collection over a hundred rifles some so rare that this is likely the only place you'll ever see them in your lifetime when these were donated Jay Paul Turner required that they be taken out and cleaned quite often so that at any moment any one of these could fire man this is cool the Winchester 1873 44 lever action rifle known as the gun that won the West foreign so there's a lot of history out here in Nolan County and Sweetwater and as you might expect most of it has to deal with like you know the frontier Cowboys Indians Buffalo that kind of thing but there's a story about some women who were forging a different kind of Frontier out here the frontier of the Skies to learn all about it we're headed to the National wasp World War II museum dedicated to the women who stepped up when our country needed the most and this is Museum president Sandra Spears some of you may think that a wasp is a little flying insane during World War II they were the women Air Force service pilot members of a super secret U.S training program teaching women how to fly military planes scandalous for its day as during World War II only men were allowed to such duties but one major problem is that there weren't enough men for the jobs and so the WASP program was born I think this is a story not many people know at all because it was a secret and then when the program closed in 1944 their records were sealed oh really yeah our leaders thought the country wasn't ready for female Pilots but that didn't stop over a thousand Brave women from answering the call to serve it was a civilian program that had to pay for their own or a dollar 65 a day was deducted from their pay for room and board they had to pay their way to get here they had to pay the way to get home and if they were killed and there were 38 that were killed the girls usually took up a collection to send the body home on the train this was so totally under the radar because women didn't look like they were on payroll or anything and for every wasp that signed up well their Journey started in Sweetwater at the only all-female training base in the country male Pilots couldn't even land here oh yeah be amazing how many Pilots had engine trouble and just had to land yeah what do you know you know check out all these good-looking girls beautiful smart Brave and tough serving our country at jobs others didn't want like ferrying planes from factories to Bases or Worse some of them were tow Target Pilots that towed targets for Gunnery practice it was a very good job live ammunition wow wow look how far behind would the target be well about 150 feet oh yeah not very far not far at all now you hear the men talk about being B-17 Pilots or B-24 Pilots or whatever right but the women had to fly them all because they never knew from one day to the next what plane they might be delivering wow had to be ready for anything today there isn't much left of the old base and most of what remains out here are just the stories and for Sandra well this is more than just history this is family as her father was a primary wasp trainer Sandra remembers a day when wasp women would come to her home likely feeling a bit homesick and mother said the main thing they wanted to do was lie down on a real bed take a bath and play with my sister and me because a lot of them left children I think that's a pull to serve that we don't see nowadays they love their country and they love to fly and that's how they conserve their country amazing and it's because the SE these women forged the path the female Pilots are now a critical part of our military and with a great museum like this well their service and sacrifice will not be forgotten on the other hand I have almost forgotten about one very important part of tripping lunch so let's fix that by paying a visit to the big boys barbecue that is run by Pit Master Galen Marth big boys has been ranked as one of Texas's best the dining room is decorated like an old Wild West Fort which is appropriate considering the barbecue Traditions you'll find in the back we're all direct teams oh okay all right most people use offset smokers yeah we're old school ones kind of the old cowboy tradition right yeah yeah my dad and Granddad are Germans and I grew up cooking on these type of gifts really so uh I didn't know any difference direct heat means the meat goes directly over the coals cooking the barbecue hot and fast briskets are done in a blazing six to seven hours and around big boys well that's only over Mesquite coals Firebox out there is my original Firebox from outside really 17 years old and it looks like it does hard it looks like it's about 75 years old yeah yeah but it does its job and what kind of temperature you're going to maintain in one of these they're going to be about 250 degrees 275 okay and maybe up to 300. you see no thermometers on them so it's all kind of by touch and feel proving once again that barbecue is as much art as science all right so what should I have for lunch what do you think for you maybe we'll just get the child's plate for you I come to Big Boys barbecue I get the child's play that's for Big Boys oh okay this is a different this is a Sweet Water style chocolate because big boys are still children at Heart Right how's that for a lunch right there all right so in a place that's famous for its ribs I had to get both kinds these are called your ribs no they're not your ribs they're my ribs but they're your ribs too yeah oh no you can order your own your ribs these are my ribs wait no wait wait no these are my ribs these are your ribs confused most are but my ribs are galen's favorite your ribs are his wife's favorite and so the fun begins and this is my rib which looks nothing like a rib because well it's not it is actually a piece of pork butt dude that was good that's really good good seasoning it's super tender man I really like my Reds let's see if I like your ribs too oh dude it's been sauce during cooking so it's kind of got this little glaze going on top of that that's phenomenal I am confused about the my ribs I mean I have no idea why they're actually called ribs when they're not but I'm not gonna argue when they taste this good these are your ribs so I guess I should give you one right but I'm also gonna give you some of my ribs because I like you we now interrupt this programming to remind you to like And subscribe now back to the road all right Trippers so we've gotten about halfway through our trip and haven't yet discussed the main reason folks all over the world know about Sweetwater Texas and it has everything to do with rattlesnakes as this town is home to the largest rattlesnake roundup in the world and conveniently well it's happening today the Roundup is Sweetwater's largest Festival a time when folks come together to celebrate Crown the new Miss Snake Charmer and round up as many Rattlers as they can now the main party takes place on the rodeo grounds but before we get there well I thought we'd participate in the full tradition so we're going on a guided rattlesnake hunt with the Sweetwater Jaycees and since I've never done anything like this I thought I'd call in another TV favorite host let's hope he's better with snakes than he was with alligators [Music] mate rattlesnake chat here out in Texas and today I'm going to be showing you some real live snakes rattlesnakes take this oh great I love s'mores no no no that's for rattlesnakes well why would anyone want to roast a rattlesnake um that's for catching rattlesnake War would anyone want to catch a rattlesnake you Americans think that anyone with an Australian accent can just go willy-nilly and touch a rattlesnake let's keep moving so rattlesnakes are everywhere everywhere well let's hope we don't see some okay so here we have a very typical rattlesnake din lots of places for them to hide and right about now I wish that I was back in my mum's Den in Sydney so I'm gonna go this way wait so rattlesnakes are actually The Descendants when a T-Rex mated with the sea monster wrong not a snake not a snake not a snake phew okay a lot of people don't know this but rattlesnakes are actually changelings and can look not a snake oh this is a joke don't make me do that again police producer so once a snake lays eggs inside of your intestines it can bulge out and cloth no I know that one's true you're not going to fool me on this you're trying to make me look like an idiot you're pathetic yeah never mind this guy is terrible good thing we've got some real rattlesnake experts out here like JC Cliff Jones so explain to me a little bit about why you guys do this out here well it started uh 59 years ago and it's kind of turned into a big fundraiser for the Sweetwater area and we do it with guides and they know what they're doing and we do a pretty good job of that so well let's go catch some okay how are we gonna do this though explain to me before we get out there and there's you know live rattling rattlesnakes around me well we're going to go down to this Den around the corner here and we're going to see if they're having to be laying out okay got to be a little careful where you walk other than that well I think we'll be okay I've never been more careful where I step every stick looks like a snake and Cliff estimates that this Den alone has 200 to 300 rattlesnakes in it this is it huh this is it obviously this should only be done with the professional and with great great safety we have this a hand here a mirror we use that for light we take the sunlight shine it back into the den that's why you gave me this thing these guys aren't nearly as scared as I am right now whoa whoa the first one we catch isn't a rattlesnake but a coach whip the non-venomous roommates to the rattlesnake but next up oh we got one oh you got one here he comes oh my goodness nice note that's a good sized snake whoo your heart race still when you do this no not unless I slipped down then I might not be alive when I hit the bottom yeah that's true [Music] I got one I got my first rattlesnake on a hook there you go man that was a little bit easier than I expected that's the benefit of doing this in March a time of year when the snakes are just coming out of hibernation and still staying close to their dens and just like me well it seems they're also a bit grumpy after long naps oh oh he says that oh you see the Venom dripping down the GoPro whoo [Music] my forearm has never been tighter but I am not loosening up on this how far do you have to stay back from these guys let's talk about half his body length maybe a little more oh but they really are not going to want to strike you unless you make them you don't get the business in unless you just ignore the morning rattlesnakes are incredible but they are nothing to be played with and will strike if provoked and in West Texas well it's not if you encounter one it's wind all right so Cliff now I have a striking rattlesnake at the end of my hook what do I do with it what are we turn it loose as long as I can do it and run wherever I'm going I gotta clean you don't have to run this guy is really angry he's really nice there you go oh he's so mad he wanted to leave quick he disappeared into the Shadows the shadows of my nightmare the Jaycees lead public hunts all throughout the Fest and now that we've done the Roundup part well let's head to the big Fiesta part [Music] man this place is hopping if being out on a ranch and seeing a couple snakes terrified you you probably shouldn't come anywhere near this Coliseum but we're about to jump right to the middle of it hey can you hear it I mean actually like on the other side Arena it sounds like a distant waterfall that's the rattlesnakes let's go check it out this is the largest Roundup in the world attracting more than 25 000 visitors all here to see one thing snakes lots of snakes purchased from local Wranglers who were paid by the pound and now this event draws lots of criticism but to The Sweetwater Jaycees chance to educate the public and give them an up close and personal lesson on the incredible western diamondback rattlesnake it's also the chance for the public to purchase every snaky item your slithering heart could imagine add this to my mad science lab oh look Miss Snake Charmer there she is royalty she is the queen of all rattlesnakes crowned just last night the Snake Charmer pageant is just one of the many Traditions here and the Jaycees put on everything as a way to further and fundraise for their mission of community service and Leadership and what better place for an interview than the pit this is JC Rob McCann welcome to the pit ah so Rob let me start I'm glad we're in this pit and not that one well the pit over here we you just don't want to be in there that's where all the weigh-in snakes that come into the Roundup they go into the big pit first then uh they take a short trip over here this is where we weigh them and measure them this is where all the action starts at the world's largest rattlesnake roundup wow and what's probably most surprising is that none of these guys have ever been bit Terry's been doing this 26 plus years I've been doing it 23 plus years I'm not scaring the rattlesnakes but I have a very very healthy respect for this animal what we do this whole show for is educating the public if we could keep one kid from getting bit everything we do through the whole year has become worth it that's well said and in this pit Terry Hollywood Armstrong runs the show weighing and measuring each snake so the research can be sent to Texas Parks and Wildlife to make sure the Texas rattlesnake population stays strong and after the snakes are researched it's on to the Milken pit with Dennis Cumby yep I just said milking rattlesnakes oh boy we're here in the Milky family you know what this entails don't you maybe but I'm going to let you explain this is where we extract the Venom from the snake all right all right it does we're going to take them out of the bucket over here we're gonna get one up here on the table and paint him get proper grip on him and then we'll put him on this glass bottle and we will milk him not the kind of milk that goes in your Morning cereal he wouldn't want to drink this one now I know what you're thinking why in the world but rattlesnake venom has many uses including the creation of Anti-Venom and it's used in scientific studies for everything from heart attacks to Strokes we got him this is when you got the absolute death grip right that's pretty much okay so his fangs retract they fold under he's doing that himself now I'm going to give him a little help wow so you're just milking those glands pushing that up in here on both sides of his head and we squeeze those clamps that looks like enough to kill a grown man very much so really we'll average about a half a milliliter per pound of snake half a million so if we do 2 000 pounds of snakes we'll get about a liter of Venom how is that about how much you do every year a little bit more than that got it Dennis is offering to teach me how to milk Venom now I'm not sure when I will ever need this life skill but okay anyone else nervous you sure about this I'm positive okay right hand right hand corner finger on top of the head right here get a grip chat no literally and it better be a good one I think I got him tight enough I think so too all right oh holy moly I got one guy all right now put him up here you have him right there and we're milking a snake if your first one's the scariest I'm terrified now so I hope it gets better all right now what to do I got a live rattlesnake on the hand down this is the floor band both hands did it thank you guys ladies and gentlemen I'm gonna go take a moment and change my pants now you may be wondering what happens to all these snakes now my job is to show you Texas but if you have a weak stomach you might not want to see this you see 60 years ago when the Roundup started local law enforcement had become overwhelmed with nuisance calls on snakes in homes and school yards so they started this event to help control the population and even to today Jaycees are very careful with how many snakes they kill each year and by some accounts the overall population is only getting stronger now this event definitely draws criticism and can certainly feel barbaric to Outsiders like some old Vestige of the Wild West that should also go the way of the Buffalo especially to those who don't live around snakes however there's no denying here in West Texas it's more than just a Fest it's part of their cultural heritage and staying true to the rules of the Wild West while no part of the snake is wasted because if you're gonna kill it you better eat it and that's exactly what they do a Sweet Water delicacy and this is Chef Cheyenne Parks alright so you find that this is most people's first time to ever eat rattlesnake a lot of people yes we do have those that come every year just for the snake yeah but we've had people from Canada Japan all over the world what a lot of the times they're expecting fish they're expecting chicken so they bite into expecting one thing and it's totally opposite what they were expecting it was deep fried rattlesnake it's a lot like frying catfish and does it taste like catfish it tastes like snake It's A Taste of its own there's there's no taste like anything it's snake Cheyenne is now the unintended king of fried snake they gave me the recipe and said you can play with it do what you want and past four years I've had the best snake according to everybody else best rattlesnake cook in Texas the only rattlesnake cooked in Texas no it's a bone in it's bone in and that's actually one of the harder Parts about eating rattlesnake is because you've got the rib bones sure so the best part is right down the backbone that there's a good chunk of meat okay right down that back stretch I had a gentleman last year he went through like 10 boats of snake so it is a bit of an acquired taste but once you're hooked you're in for the Long Haul all right man well then I gotta try some for myself time to order a boat a snake there it is snake thank you all right gotta find a place to eat this all right winner winner rattlesnake dinner I got I don't know maybe a half dozen pieces of rattlesnake here and look at all this look you got the full rib cage bones right there I shouldn't think about this too much I'm just gonna go here well my friend tastes like rattlesnake you know what it's seasoned really well there's those big top parts of meat that Cheyenne was talking about [Music] chicken like frog leg like it's clean tasting like chicken but it's it's chewy but you know what it most reminds me of eating alligator oh that's a good piece of meat never run my mama told me not to leave anything on the bone I'm not sure what's bone and what's me I must say that when you're at the rattlesnake roundup this right here is at least one mandatory meal that you have to eat when in Sweet Water you must dine like the Sweetwater turians [Music] what a day we definitely rounded up Rattlers Rattler knowledge and even rattlesnake meat but in Sweetwater we rounded up so much more like barbecue traditions and hidden history that are all part of a community that may seem a bit strange to Outsiders but round yourself up for a visit during the Fest or not and you'll quickly realize that here in Texas normal was never our strong suit certainly not in Sweetwater so I picked up a few souvenirs I think it's pretty tasteful so I'll see all y'all out on the road by a County oh he doesn't look very good you know I think I got angry more fear of snakes you know after the 20th marks not so bad let's go let's go Blue oh Vicon dios Amigos can we get some Ems for this guy where's the ambulances back this way [Music] are you seeing all the number of windmills everywhere all the number all the numbers and it's a tremendous number I'm speaking I speak in the figurative languages I speaking figuratively yeah you know like an ostrich can I touch that rattle I wouldn't okay that's all you have to say that's why I asked [Music] holy moly did it thank you guys ladies and gentlemen howdy y'all follow along with my Adventures at chat Tripper on Instagram and at the daytripper TV on Facebook and YouTube or head to the daytripper.com for travel guides past episodes and info on our mobile app and team Day Tripper this episode was made for y'all with the help of our awesome Partners check the caption for more info how do y'all check the Day Tripper here thanks so much for tripping with us uh remember while you're here like this video subscribe to our channel so that we can stay out there on the road and keep on tripping did we miss anything in this town leave us a comment let us know we love finding out about new stops with all your tips and if you love epic Texas day trips remember to check our Channel we got a lot of them on there also don't forget if you want some sweet Day Tripper merch or another cool Texas made product come see us in Georgetown at the daytripper world headquarters you can also shop online if you check the link down there in the caption all right y'all by con dios Amigos

Channel: The Daytripper

Views: 18,912

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Id: -FSyyLTcfUQ

Length: 25min 55sec (1555 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 08 2023