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