Catching Up

It's been a long time since I have written anything, no reason other than I just have not been motivated. We have done a lot that I should have written about in this journal so I will try to catch up now.
In late October I took the kayak out to explore part of the Trinity River near our home, it was like I had left the city and was on a wilderness river until I came to this intake which I found out is for a water purification plant. About 5 miles upriver is a sanitary landfill that borders the river, You would think this might not be the best place to get water for the City of Carrollton but what do I know. I know I would not eat fish caught here even though it is beautiful from a kayak. We also took the Surveyor to Fredriksburg TX to camp out and ride our Trek Tandem in the Fall Foliage Frolic. This was a nice rally through the country side and passed through ranch country with cattle guards on the roads and cattle running free in parts that were open range with no fences. It was cold for the start but warmed up nicely and we rode 65 miles and the Hill Country Touring Club put on a great lunch.
We met our friends Gary and Lugay there and after the rally we visited Becker Vineyards for a tour and tasting and of course made a few purchases to help spur the economy. This was a really nice trip, but not nearly long enough. After a nice German food meal it was back to the house.

Michele and Lugay having barrels of fun and wine.


I also took a trip to the LBJ National Grasslands to scout for deer for the shotgun season. I did see deer and I have found this meadow on native prairie grass that is beautiful and seldom visited since you can not park close by and it's a bit of a hike to get there. This 20 thousand acres of public land is 58 miles from the house and is free to hunt, fish and camp on. We plan on taking the RV there in the spring and do some boondocking since dispersed camping is allowed.

After Thanksgiving we took the camper to Dinosaur Valley state Park where we explored the hiking trails and I spent a good bit of time riding my mountain bike on some nice but difficult trails. I also came up on a number of deer on my rides through the woods and rocks.

We met some really nice people camping next to us in a big 5th wheel that plan on living and traveling full time in the RV in about 2 years. I took some pictures of some dino tracks in the river bed, You are not supposed to get very close or walk on or near the tracks so I can't give any scale to the pictures, just think a lot bigger than they look.

Bobby and I were able to slip away for an afternoon sail on a cool breezy day and almost had the lake to ourselves, I think this recharged me as much as the red rocks of Sedona AZ did.

This weekend I was lucky enough to get invited to go on a management hunt on a 3 thousand acre Ranch and harvest a deer. No gory pictures, just a freezer that was almost bare is now well stocked with lean healthy venison that will not go to waste, and a deer herd that is healthier because of it.

Cold weather has settled on us and no trip is planned, if it changes we can be ready in just a few minutes to hook up to the trailer and explore more of this great country.

Dennis

The Grand Canyon and Bright Angel Trail

This trip to the Grand Canyon would be the first for both of us and we have wanted to visit this part of our country for a while. After arriving in Phoenix we drove to Sadona and got our spirits recharged by the powers in this vortex of Red Rocks and mystical Ways. Bring lots of money if you stop here.

We also stopped in Cottonwood and Jerome before stopping in Flagstaff for the night. I really liked Flagstaff and its historic downtown that has plenty of 2 for one happy hours, a good selection of independent dinning establishments and shopping. Bicycles are everywhere and bike lanes are included in the new roads.

I went for a run the next morning and could feel the lack of oxygen, for some 4 or 5 thousand feet is nothing but when you come from 400 its a lot

The drive from Flagstaff to the canyon was great, we explored some of the Forest service Roads and found some really nice places to return with the RV and boondock for free. The mix of pine and aspen and mountains was nicer than I had expected and we took a couple of short hikes before moving on to the Canyon.

We drove to Bright Angel Lodge and checked in, this picture was taken then just below the rim right outside (100ft) our room. We explored the Park via the free shuttle buses and rested for our hike to Plateau Point.

We made to hike down the Bright Angel Trail all the way to Plateau Point with no trouble, we stopped at Indian Gardens by the Creek for a break, at Plateau Point we had our lunch and watched a group of rafts on the river. As you can see it was a clear day with moderate temperatures, all that would soon change

Storms started building on the north side of the canyon and we hiked fast to try and beat the rain, its a good thing I had rain gear for us both in my pack, we needed it.

While it did rain on us we missed most of the rain and it soaked into the ground quickly, however after we finished the hike it rained the rest of the day and most of the night. It was nice to see the canyon in all the different modes and also scary to see the lightning strikes while you are still in the canyon.

We headed back by using the east exit and drove through some of the Navajo reservation, I had wanted to see some of this after reading some of Tony Hillermans books. What a great trip that was over to soon.

Disaster at Faifield Lake State Park

On this trip to Fairfield State Park we found the place almost empty and scored the spot we had always wanted but had never been able to get. We shared the Park with only 8 other camping groups and were in a pull through close to my fishing hole. The weather was perfect and I headed out for a fabulous mountain bike ride. The Dockery trail, also called the perimeter trail is a nice ride with some tough climbs and an out and back distance of 14 miles if you also ride the primitive campsite loop at the far end. I really like the section in the pines and the quiet of riding on pine straw.

Now for the disaster part and the reason the Park was almost empty, a major fish kill has happened with over a million fish involved. Somewhere around 50 thousand of these were large mouth bass, which is almost all of the bass in the lake, in fact I am surprised it held that many bass. The reason for the fish kill was a lack of oxygen in the water, since this is a power plant cooling lake the water got very warm and an algae bloom consumed almost all of the oxygen. What a tragic event that will take many years to recover from, if it ever does.

Last weekend we visited Lake Mineral Wells State Park with our friends Gary and Lugay where we camped, saw numerous deer and rode 40 miles of rails to trails along with surviving a major rain storm before the ride.

This is a very nice Park with sites spaced far apart and with good vegetation between them. The facilities are also nice.This Park stays booked up and I can see why, with good fishing, hiking and biking and is less than 2 hours from the house.

I will have another post soon, we just returned from our first ever trip to the Grand Canyon and I need to look over this Flagstaff Arizona real estate guide.

Dennis

Hottern Hell Hundred 2010 and other wanderings

On the last Friday in August we headed for Wichita Falls and the H3 bicycle rally, we got in early and almost did not get a place to park the RV. It was another record attendance year with cooler than normal temperatures predicted, we were also glad the Tandem and recumbents got to start in front of the main rally.

In the picture above we are lined up in the first row of the tandem/bent group, starting shortly after the race starts. The group just in front of us each paid $150 each to ride with support like a tour de France ride, team cars, domestiques to get you food and drink from the support vehicles and if you start to drop off they would even push you back up to the group with a hand on your back and a lot of effort.

We had a great ride and a very fast start with a 24.3 mph average at mile 30, but it was not to last. we went to hard early and paid the price. We finished slower than we had wanted but had 2 flats and Michele had a little overheating we had to stop for so we took it easy after that and had a fun ride. Michele recovered quick and we were able to visit the Wichita Falls Vineyard and Winery for a tasting and to replenish the Wichita Red supply. We stayed camped through Sunday afternoon and watched all the races and runs and the little RV worked perfectly.

We had nice bicycle rides on Saturday, 65 miles, Sunday 25 miles and were going sailing Labor Day Afternoon but 30 mph winds put an end to that, we could sail in that kind of wind and have done so, but it is not fun and is very hard on the rig and sails.

We have seen but never visited the Arbor Hill Nature Preserve, so we spent Labor Day Morning hiking the trails with Sprocket. This is a nice little 200 acre escape in the middle of the Metroplex.

On this holiday morning we had a lot of company, but most of them walked and ran on the paved trails and the perimeter dirt trails were shady, quiet and not at all crowded, we are still hiking every chance we get in preparation for our trip to the Grand Canyon.

We are getting some much needed rain Today and for the next several days it is forecast to continue, not yet sure what the weekend will bring, another RV trip, dinner with the starving cyclist face book group, a hike in the LBJ National Grassland about 65 miles away, or nothing at all.

Cedar Ridge Preserve / Melon Patch Rally and a trip to a farm.

The last couple of weeks Michele and I have been able to get out to a place we just found and get some good hikes early in the morning, Cedar Ridge Preserve just south of Dallas is a nice hiking and birdwatching spot with 9 miles of trails. To break in our new boots and get ready for our Grand Canyon trip we have been doing 4 or 5 mile loops on the more difficult trails, while you will not be alone it is nice, clean, dog friendly and for foot traffic only.

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The little lagoon I fish has been producing some big Perch and small Bass, this lagoon is about 4 miles from the house but I have discovered a way to incorporate it into my runs. I found a way to get there on foot in less than 2 miles, so a stashed rod and reel gives me a 2 mile run 20 minutes of fishing recovery and another 2 miles (or more) home.

We went to Deleon Texas and rode in the Melon Patch Tour Bicycle Rally and did 72 miles of hard rolling hills, a big bonus was when we were invited to spend the weekend on a nice 160 acre farm about 12 miles from the Rally. This was a nice ride on the tandem, due to chipseal it might be a little rough on a road bike but the rest stops and Boy Scouts made it fun, great HHH training.

Michele also made some new friends at the farm, these donkeys were pets and a lot of fun. When we went walking or for a ride in the Jeep they went with us, always following a little ways back.

Lake Mineral Wells Trailway Ride

Michele and I had planned a trip to ride the Lake Mineral Wells Trailway on Saturday the 17th, the weather forecast was for hot, hot, hot, and we were glad when Marla and Rick accepted our invitation to ride with us. We met at the trail head to find the gate locked even though the sign on the gate said open sunrise to sunset. We noticed another cyclist parked at the city park about a block away and going under the gate with his bike, he told us the Weatherford end is opened by the local police when they get around to it. We followed his lead and did as he had done.

At the halfway point we passed through the town of Garner and posed at this cool sign, there is also a convenience store with a diner, we kept going and stopped there on the return trip for cold drinks. Above left to right Dennis, Michele, Marla, Rick, the intrepid cyclists training for the hotter than hell rally at the end of August.

This was an over the shoulder shot going down the trail, some areas are open and some are like a tunnel of green with welcome shade on a hot summer day. We saw fewer than a dozen people on our round trip of 40 miles, we did assist two women with changing a flat tire.

Along the way we stopped several times to snack on wild grapes growing along the side of the trail.

This is not a good picture but we also stopped and snacked on wild plums like these that were so plentiful they are bending the trees down. The plums were just getting ripe , the ones not fully ripe are bitter while the ripe ones are sweet. In about a week they will be great.

We really enjoyed this ride and hope to do it again soon, we would like to once again camp in the new RV at the State Park and combine this with some hiking and fishing to prepare for our upcoming Grand Canyon hikes.

Dennis

First trip and the Peach Pedal

We took the first trip in the new RV and drove to Weatherford to ride in the Peach Pedal bicycle rally. We drove through some of the hardest rain I have ever seen on the way but arrived at the Serenity Ranch as the storms ended. We spent the full weekend here as did several other campers that were riding the rally. Everything worked out well in the RV, it pulls great and we were dry and comfortable.

The morning of the rally was dry and cool for this time of year and we had a great 62 miles of rolling hills and beautiful country side, we followed up the rally by taking the free shuttle to the Peach festival. As the day progressed it got hot at the festival and with the record turnout it was a little to much for me, I think I enjoyed last year more.

Sunday we took a nice long 4 mile hike on the Mineral Wells trail way, it was like a tunnel of green in some areas and is a great summer morning hike. We plan on taking the mountain bikes back this weekend for a day trip and to ride the full 40 miles (20 out and 20 back).

Bobby called me Tuesday night and told me it was going to cloudy and breezy Wednesday morning and with no arm twisting we decided to meet at 7:30 am to go sailing, what a nice way to spend half of a day. We had gusty winds a 3 ft swell running and the lake to ourselves, with the clouds keeping it cool and filtering the sunlight we hove to for a lunch beak and called it a day

Last night I drove out to watch some of my friends race in the Thursday night crits in Sunnyvale, my riding buddy and sometimes personnel trainer Heath Lambert won the cat 4/5 in only his 3rd race. Well its back to work for me with the summer heat turned back on 98 to 101 for the next 5 days.

Ready to ride the trail

Dennis

New addition to the family

The month of June has been hot, averaging 10 degree's above normal and almost no rain. The heat has caused my business to be good and I have had little time for sailing with Bobby or even riding the bike. When I got to ride it was a sweat fest.

July has arrived and with it cooler than normal temperatures and rain, a much welcomed relief from the temperature and from work. The garden has responded well and I have undertaken a new project to make room for our new toy.

When we bought this house it had a 40 year old 30 ft wide carport that was in bad shape and it would not allow anything tall to be parked in the driveway. It did have some nice benefits but we decided it had to go.


One piece at a time we took it down and saved the pieces for a friend who wants build a small one from the parts, the job went faster than planned and we were done in about five hours.
Well, now that we can park larger items and the cooler weather has allowed me to shop, look what I brought home.

This our new to us Surveyor SVT210 travel trailer. This trailer is a 2006 model that was very lightly used and everything works perfectly, it also fits nicely in our driveway.

We now plan on setting things up to our liking and planning some short trips, more to come as we move in.

Dennis

New wheels for the Tandem

Since we bought our tandem the wheels have been an area of concern, the front wheel was warped and the manufacturing weld was a problem area causing a bad pulsing when applying the brakes.
We bought this bike used and it had been stored for many of its years in unknown positions, this may have caused some of the trouble with the wheels being out of true.
We purchased this set of custom wheels made by a friend of ours, and I think they look good and from the little I have ridden them they also seem to perform. The most important gain is they are true and smooth and greatly improve our stopping power, not to mention they are 2 lbs 10 ounces lighter than our old ones and are tandem specific wheels.

The search for a nice small travel trailer continues, we find them available but we have been unable to strike a deal I am happy with. With the continued heat I have been busy with work and would not have time to camp anyway, but come fall that should change.

Dennis

The Garden/ The Wall/ No camper

The garden is going great guns, however we are in an extreme heat wave for this time of year, and very dry. The rain barrel is empty and the garden cries for more water.It is still yielding green beans, potato's, lettuce, spinach and squash as well as peppers. The snow peas are done in this heat and the leaf crops are now just about toast also, we love our fresh food.

This morning, Memorial day I went on a nice little run and visited the traveling wall of the Vietnam Memorial. This was a moving experience as people placed flowers with name tags and traced the names of lost loved ones. I was fortunate to be born just late enough for the draft to be over, I did have to register but there was no active draft. Today I thank all of our veterans for their sacrifices and service to allow me the freedom I have.

Saturday we went to Liberty Fest in our little town of Farmers Branch where 20 thousand people listened to a band from my youth, REO Speedwagon as we celebrated our liberty here in the USA.

As for the no camper situation, we sold the pop up and are now shopping for a nice fairly small hard sided travel trailer. We have looked at new and used ones and today we found the one we wanted and I negotiated a very nice price. This deal never happened, when I asked about the title before putting down a deposit it was signed and ready to go except the seller was not the person named on the title. You have to be very careful about these things and I demand a drivers license for proof, well they did not match and out pours a long story about his friend who signed it over to him and does not want to be involved in the transaction, nor do I. This could be the truth but I am not willing to gamble with that kind of money.

Still looking

Dennis

Fort Richardson State Park Trip

We had a full weekend at the end of April, we started by taking our Treck tandem to the German fest bicycle rally in Muenster. This is a great rally and your entry includes admission to the festival and 2 drink tickets for soft drinks or beer(Shiner Boch). We were going to ride the 65 mile route but with extreme winds and the many challenging hills we wussed out and rode the 42 miles, the upside being we got to the festival early. After the Rally we took the pop up camper to Fort Richardson State Park, we were pleasantly surprised, I thought it was just an old fort site, it is that and much more. We toured the fort that dates to the 1860's, took hikes and rode the mountain bike trail.
We stayed Sunday night and in the lower camp ground we had only one other camper in the valley. we picked a spot that backed up to a limestone bluff with this little spring fed creek gurgling right by our trailer, nice to sleep by.

We rode our bicycles on the 9 mile off road trail to Lost Creek reservoir and back for 18 miles of nice improved trail with great views and a few challenging area's. At the Lost Creek Park where the ride loops through the park and then returns we met the camp host. This guy lived in a nice motor home and said he started as a host working about 12 hours a week for a free campsite for a 3 month term. Some 2 years later he loves this place and now works part time for the park system receiving a free full hook up campsite and a small pay check for doing work he likes.

On our bicycle ride around the park at dusk we saw 24 deer like the one in this picture.

We also took Sprocket on a hike to Rumbling Springs where he drank and splashed around and seemed to have a great time, a short video follows, or is supposed to, my first try at this.

I caught bass in the quarry pond, hiked all the trails, had a great bike ride and will return again to this park less than 2 hours from home.

Who knows where we will go next.

Dennis

Caprock Canyon State park Texas

We loaded up the pop up and headed Northwest to caprock canyon, nice weather was expected along with a little wind. A little wind was a big understatement.
After setting up camp on Friday we decided to hike to Fern Cave, I noticed the map had a little note that said extremely steep and rough but downplayed this to Michele, as the photo show it was extremely rough and steep. We made it to a point on the trail that required inching along a ledge with nothing to hold on to and a huge drop if you fell. With the ledge being buffeted by gusty winds we decide to retreat and just make a really nice hike.
Saturday morning we woke to wind gusts of 55 mph trying to rip our pop up apart, we took it down and decide to do the lower canyon loop. The lower loop is fairly well protected in the bottom of the canyon, as we parked another couple pulled up with the same game plan. Doug and his wife are from Canada and are two months into their RV trip, they had a dog named Miles that was about the same size as our dog Sprocket. We all hiked together for the 7 miles and since it was obvious no one else was around the dogs got to hike the entire trail off the leash. We are very careful to keep our dog on the leash even though he is a friendly 20 pounds but in this case they had a blast. This canyon is full of incredible geology and Doug was a very knowledgeable man making for a really special hike.

The wind had most of the wildlife hidden in the box canyons out of the wind but I did spot these mule deer and got a picture before they ran off.

We kept waiting for the wind to die enough for us to set up the trailer but it was not to be so we decided to head home Saturday evening instead of Sunday. For the first time ever i drove through a dust storm in which I could not see and had to slow to 20mph.

Even though our trip was cut short and we did not get to ride the rails to trails on our bicycles and go through the 750 ft. bat tunnel we had a great time and will return to ride the trail and visit Fern Cave.

While we really like our pop up and it tows very easy with good gas mileage we may look at a 20 something foot hard sided travel trailer.

Well that's it for now since I need to recover from my 60 mile bike ride this morning with a group of hammerheads.

Some of the pictures are clickable, some are not, I don't know why.

Dennis

Some of it's majic, some of it's trajic

I made it to the lake again with Bobby and as we left the Marina it became obvious someone wasn't going to have a good day. Observing the police boat and divers working a site with grappling hooks started our sail off in a somber mood. We motored by at a safe distance and may never know the story of someones tragedy. I did catch a very nice fish while trolling and it picked my mood up but still I was reminded to never forget safety on the water, sailing can be inherently dangerous, especially with cold water.

We were in for a treat as this small plane with pontoons made two landings and takeoffs near us, It is hard to take a good photograph from a rocking sailboat when using a 10x zoom (even with image stabilization) so this photo was the best this amateur could do.

Michele and I are returning from a trip to Caprock Canyon and I will journal on that next, it became a real adventure and we met some really good people and a dog named Miles became best friends with our dog Sprocket.

Lake Bob Sandlin State Park

This is my good friend Bobby, the owner and salty skipper of the SV Bobcat. Bobby is the same age as my father and he and I have sailed for years and I really enjoy spending time with him, we have sailed and raced on area lakes and gone on coastal cruises as for as 20 miles offshore and up and down the inter coastal waterway.

I took this picture last week when the weather finally let us out for a nice day on the lake and we sailed and then hove too and enjoyed pb&j sandwiches.

We had a great sail and as the next picture shows we were at or above theoretical hull speed for his 26 footer, man I love sailing with Bobby.

Over this weekend Michele and I loaded up the camping trailer, bicycles and the kayak and headed to Lake Bob Sandlin State park. We had a great time at this park hiking, cycling and fishing from the kayak. While on a hike I spotted the tree with a large hollow and it reminded me of one of my favorite reads from my youth, the story of My Side of The Mountain in which a young boy ran away from home and lived in a large tree. The story now seems a little far fetched but about 1970 I could see myself doing this.

While kayaking I caught a few bass and one nice 17 inch one that got in the bottom of the kayak and starting thrashing me, for this it paid the ultimate price and made a great poorboy sandwich which I will remember for a long time.

We like to tour winery's and found the Los Pino's Winery in the piney woods of east Texas and thoroughly enjoyed a tasting as well as a glass of wine and some appetizers to make for a great long weekend, just look at Michele.

Springtime is finally here, get out and be active.

Dennis