Replica of the family dining room of Roy and Dale Rogers.

It's sunset and time for the cowboy to ride into the sunset, strumming on his guitar as his steed takes him onward into another tale of adventure that will be coming same time, same station next week.

Roy (Dusty) Rogers Jr., grew up watching his dad ride into the sunset each and every week, onward and upward to another great adventure that captivated audiences of kids from coast to coast and border to border. Dusty thought that it was natural for his dad to do that because he had never known any other life than that of the Roger's household. It wasn't until later in his life that he realized there actually were a butcher, baker and candlestick maker.

Dale Evans-Rogers was his mother, one of the most famous women of her time and was quite possibly the most admired woman of that era. The era we are talking of was the Saturday morning line-up of westerns that most baby boomers and WWII babies, such as myself, cut our teeth on.

The Saturday morning line-up had Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette, Hopalong Cassidy and his trusted horse Topper. From the flourishing pen of O. Henry came the classic "Cisco Kid," starring Duncan Renaldo as the Cisco Kid and Leo Carrillo as his ever present, English munching sidekick Pancho. Others on the line-up included a new kind of cowboy, Sky King. Kirby Grant Hoon, a concert violinist and WWII aviator, as Sky King, scoured the western skies in his 1946 Cessena T-50 Bobcat, named the Song Bird, searching high and low for all the bad guys.

Then, of course there was Roy, Dale, Trigger, Buttermilk, Bullet the dog, Nellybelle the Jeep and an assortment of sidekicks; Gabby Hayes, Smiley Burnette and Pat Brady. Smiley was in the first two Rogers' films and Pat Brady was in more than 100 episodes. An interesting side-note is that once during the first two films that Rogers was in, Smiley Burnette, after watching Roy's horse perform said that the horse was quick as a trigger. Voila,' Trigger was born for all the ages to enjoy.

For many years in the fifties, (1951-1957), and years of reruns, Roy and his trusty crew kept the streets of Mineral City clean of the robbers and bad guys that plagued the west. Kids all across America approved, the sponsors approved and moms and dads everywhere knew their kids were in good hands on Saturday mornings with the Saturday morning western TV lineup.

Of course over time Roy would become more noted and more famous than all the others in the lineup. He was eventually to become known as the "King of the Cowboys" and as such was Grand Marshall in many a parade and was noted throughout his lifetime as a spokesperson and hero of children's causes, family life, a champion of the second amendment and a great patriot for our country.

Roy, Dale and the rest of the original gang are gone now. Lost to the ages and to us, but fortunately we have Dusty Rogers, Roy and Dale's son, right here in Branson, telling us what life was like in the Rogers' household and what it was like to grow up in one of the most famous homes of their time.

When you go to the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum, you will want to visit the Museum, the gift shop and attend one of two daily performances of the Happy Trails Theater.

The museum will teach you all about Roy, Dale, Trigger, Bullet, Buttermilk, Nellybelle and the life and times of Roy and Dale and their family as shown in displays, photos and such. The gift shop will let you take home a piece of nostalgia in the form of something unique that you cannot get anywhere else. For example, I collect unusual Christmas ornaments and I managed to pick up a couple of unusual cowboy ornaments that adds a lot to an already special tree. Incidentally, my tree is up and lit with chili lights year round. Christmas every day of the year in my home. That's a special story for another time. Ok all you drugstore cowpokes, keep reading on to the next exciting installment of The Cowboy and the Senorita, part 2.