If the story of the Houston nurse is apocryphal, it is nevertheless not hard to believe that more than one female has wandered into the Silver Dollar alone, and left on the arm of Mr Right; or at least, as Garth Brooks would say, Mr Right Now.Bandera, a hill-country outpost 80km north-west of San Antonio, is known for dude ranches and for having produced a disproportionate number of championship cowboys for a town of 877 people. The main street looks little different from the way it did when Bandera was a centre for Texas Ranger patrols in the last century. It has wooden store fronts, a saddle repairer, and a forge where they still hammer horseshoes.For history fans there are plenty of sights. The 1881 jail, where prisoners' initials are scratched into the stone walls, now houses water management offices. The First National Bank, where three bandits once tried to blow up the safe with nitroglycerine, is Harvey's Old Bank Steak House.

(The salad bar is in the vault.)St Stanislaus Catholic Church was established in 1876 by Polish colonists Bandera county courthouse is a Texas historic landmark. And the Frontier Times Museum exhibits everything from Russian sleigh bells to Old West artefacts.That was what we were told, anyway. We were corralled by Doc five minutes after we set foot in Bandera and spent much of the rest of our visit happily drinking Shiner Bock beer in the subterranean, sawdust-strewn environs of the Silver Dollar.Not that Arkey Blue's joint is without its own individual historic charm. Singer-songwriter Arkey came to Bandera 26 years ago and bought the Silver Dollar, one of the oldest continuously running honky-tonks in Texas.