When I was 22 -- I don't remember why -- it became the style to wear Frye boots.

I bought a pair and wore them for the next couple of years. I was about as much of a cowboy as I was a Chinaman, but I enjoyed my boots until the heels wore down, they went into the back of my closet and eventually disappeared when my first wife and I moved to Vienna for two years.

I always wondered what had happened to those boots. They had cost me $100, which when you figure in cost of living changes, remains the most money I have ever spent for anything that goes on my feet.

Now that I'm actually doing a little bit of cowboy stuff -- mucking out stables, riding horses -- I've been thinking about maybe getting myself another pair while I'm here in Texas. But unlike when I lived in the Washington, D.C., area and wore my boots to work with a suit, there are a lot of different kinds of boots in South Texas.

There are work boots, riding boots and a number of other kinds, all the way up to the sort of boots J.R. Ewing would have worn to the Cattleman's Ball. I saw some of those today at a store called Ranch at the Rim, which sells dressy cowboy duds at prices that are definitely upscale.

[caption id="attachment_409" align="alignleft" width="203" caption="Crocodile belly leather boots"]<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/yhst-13741280055283_2101_13701507.jpeg"><img class="size-full wp-image-409" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/yhst-13741280055283_2101_13701507.jpeg" alt="" width="203" height="300" /></a>[/caption]

I had never heard of Lucchese boots, but there was a rack of them in every color, the most incredibly beautiful boots I had ever seen. I didn't think they were in my price range, but I had no idea how far outside it they were until I looked.

The cheapest ones on the rack were $899, and there were some that were well over a thousand dollars.

At that price, footwear ought to do something more for you than just let you walk on it.

I know I'll never own a pair of Luccheses, not even the ones pictured that were available online for $749, made from "crocodile belly leather," but I'll probably pick up a pair of much cheaper boots sometime during my two months Deep in the Heart.

I'm changing my life here. I might as well do a little bit for my image as well.