And it was in Bandera that the Great Western Trail began, and with it the cult of the cowboy: 300, 000 head of longhorn cattle, most rustled from Mexico, herded through its broad main street every year in the 1870s and '80s, a last staging post to stock up on liquor and chilli brick before the long, hard ride to Dodge City, Kansas.

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The Western Open Studio Art Trail takes place at eight venues around Peel between 9 and 12 May.

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Riding more than 100 miles in seven days on horses and in Western-style wagons, they regularly retrace the original trail rides that former slaves made.

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"For the last couple of weeks and months (Lebanese authorities) have been hot on the trail of individual suspects responsible for attacks on Western franchises, " the U.S. official added.

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Western Europe's employees are also better wired: every new member-state is below the western average for internet penetration, and all but Estonia and Slovenia trail on e-government scores.

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With the mid-term elections only a few months away, he hit the campaign trail in late August for a more than 5, 000-mile swing into the western states that had captured his imagination as a young man.

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He's also showed a trail of Croatian weapons supplied to Syria's rebels by Saudi Arabia with the consent of Western allies -- an investigative expose published in the New York Times.

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