The folks at the Waco Hilton say watch out for snakes in the grass

They sold out of summit souvenirs of Tony Blair and George Bush at the Red Bull store in the President's home town of Crawford, Texas. Souvenir mugs of the two leaders were being snapped up at $9 a piece and there was brisk trade in T-shirts with the slogan "The British are Coming".

Mr Blair came an extraordinary way to spend a long weekend with the Bushes but, in their smalltown ranch in the Texas Bible Belt, Mr Blair was having an impact that went far wider than the 631 population of Crawford.

A chat show host last night said Mr Blair was a better leader than Mr Bush, and was far brighter too. The image of the Cowboy President saying "Howdy" to the Limey PM while plotting a crazy war in the Middle East was not dispelled by the meeting. Mr Bush arrived at the wheel of a white pick-up truck with his wife Laura to collect Mr Blair from the helipad at his ranch.

Mr Blair arrived in the Presidential chopper, Marine One, with Condoleeza Rice, the President's national security adviser, still wearing the black tie and the dark suit he had worn for the Queen Mother's lying in state ceremony. Mr Bush wore cowboy boots, jeans, and a short rancher's jacket in dark brown cow hide.

The press covering the event were told to look out for snakes in the grass, and they meant it. After the neighbourly photo call, Mr Bush got back in his truck, and drove the Prime Minister off to his ranch for dinner and a fireside chat after dinner.

The menu was not disclosed but ham and beans around the camp fire would not have been out of place.

The White House team were holed up in the Hilton in nearby Waco. The Downing Street boys – Sir David Manning, the Prime Minister's foreign adviser, Sir Christopher Meyer, the Ambassador to Washington, Jonathan Powell, Mr Blair's chief of staff, and Alastair Campbell dropped by for dinner with Ms Rice.

A thunderstorm and continuous rain, interspersed with lightning across the plains, put a damper on the hopes of seeing Mr Blair doing a hoe-down with the Bushes to the President's favourite hillbilly band, the Tumbleweeds.

A local radio station had called journalists in the UK to ask whether Mr Blair was good on a horse before the visit but the weather put paid to any prospect of a ride on the range.

The thunder boomed like a warning when Mr Bush, at the joint press conference, gave his most stark warning of the fate awaiting Saddam Hussein if he refuses to toe the line. Then it was back to the ranch for lunch with the Bushes, and Cherie, who had arrived with the younger Blair children, Kathryn and Leo, after a week's holiday in Miami.

They would have had trouble finding a table in town. Crawford has only one restaurant – the Coffee Station, which has become a favourite with the President's security men. And like most restaurants in this corner of the Bible Belt, it does not serve alcohol. The town is also dry, which should keep the children out of trouble.

Crawford appeared to be taking the arrival of the Prime Minister and his family in its stride. Before this, the biggest news on the town's web site was the arrival of a new bank which a businessman from Waco is promising to open on a vacant lot. The most arresting photograph on the site is a picture of the Crawford town water tank.

Mr Blair was shown a different Crawford in the privacy of the Bush ranch. He was taken on a walk to see the wide open spaces of the prairie, and the Texan flowers, the Blue Bonnets, that are blooming everywhere in the Spring rain.

Mr Blair today will visit the George Bush Senior library in town to deliver a tough speech attacking the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and supporting the US President. As Mr Bush would say, that's right neighbourly of him.