Texas cycling and sailing with Dennis

On blog Sabbaticall

2011-05-23T07:19:00.001-07:00

While we have still been traveling, cycling and sailing I have just not had the desire to post or read blogs recently, I hope to start again but I am not sure when. Thanks for following.

Dennis

Pedernales Falls and Texas Hills Vinyard

2011-03-21T13:12:00.001-07:00

With a couple of free days we decided to head fro the Texas Hill Country and towed the RV to Pedernales State Park. We explored the park and hiked and biked the roads and trails in this large park. Here we are sitting on the falls overlook, the falls are small now as it has been very dry here and the county is under a burn ban. Somehow the Park got permission to allow small fires in the fire rings, walking the campgrounds at dark it became obvious that small has many meanings. It was still nice to have a fire. On one of our longer hikes the map showed a river crossing so we packed our water shoes and Michele was a trooper and made the cold crossing twice. Sprocket however had to be carried across. I'm lucky to have a wife and partner that likes this stuff.

We saw a lot of deer and I put out a bird feeder that attracted birds, I mean lots of birds and birds I could not identify. I think I will get a bird guide to keep in the Surveyor.

We also visited The Texas Hills Vineyard for a tasting and bought some kick butt cab, that's the real name of the wine. We also drove to Wimberly and visited the famous pie shop. There was a big flea market type market that was going on and all the small land owners nearby wanted five bucks to park and no dogs so Sprocket said let's move on!

Well that's it for now Bobby will be here @9:30 and we are going sailing today, need to hurry and get a fishing pole and my ditty bag ready.

Fort Parker State Park and the North Shore

2011-03-07T08:41:00.000-08:00

We made a trip to Fort Parker State Park to spend a few days hiking and biking and to look around at the small towns in the area for shopping, dinner and discovery.

This is a fairly small Park as far as the number of sites go but it has good hiking and cycling, and sits on its own good sized lake. This looks like a good fishing lake but only from a boat as the shore has a ring of tall reeds blocking access to casting from the shore. I would have brought the kayak but the water was to cold for me.

Michele and Sprocket at our site on the lake
On the far side of the lake is a 2.5 mile each way out and back trail that we biked one day and hiked one day. There is a small spring back in the woods that is in its natural state and bubbles up sparkling clear water, it looked so good but I would advise not drinking from it.
Each evening this was our view from under our awning where we spent some happy hours doing nothing.
When we travel we also like to visit small towns and look for unique shopping and dining experiences, on this trip we visited Worthham and Mexia Texas but we did little to spur the economy there.

I also spent an afternoon on the North Shore Trail at lake Grapevine. It had been several years since I had ridden this trail and I found it much improved with more of a loop route than the all single track 2-way it used to be. It is still a very challenging ride for me and I did take a spill by doing a forward somersault over the handle bars while still clipped in to the bike, nothing but my pride hurt(lucky).

Next post is about Pedernales Falls.

Dennis

Brazos Bend

2011-01-07T18:00:00.001-08:00

After Christmas the weather turned colder but we still had several days off and it was warmer in the south. We headed to Brazos Bend State Park for our first time. While it was still coll here it was 7 degree's warmer than home. This park has 35 miles of trails that are flat and have a good surface like the one pictured above,it also has good roads in the park you can cycle on.
We did a lot of hiking and riding the bikes, some areas had meadows with the tree's draped in Spanish moss and numerous deer that were skittish.

Some of the tree's in this 5000 acre park are ancient with battle scars like this one, we had a great RV site and enjoyed this trip a lot. Not a lot to post about on this trip we just hiked, biked and ate around the campfire for three days.

Yesterday afternoon I met Bobby at the lake and we had a nice 4 hour sail, we had relocated blocks for the jib sheets to allow a closer trim and change the shape of the 100% jib and it worked great. A member of his yacht club with the same model of boat came out of the Marina and contacted us and we had a little competition, we sailed well and walked away to windward.

Tomorrow we will try to get in a nice ride on the Tandem before the weather turns cold for the next week, real cold for this area.

Catching Up

2010-12-07T14:48:00.000-08:00

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

2010-10-12T05:38:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-08T14:06:00.001-07:00

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

2010-09-07T13:40:00.000-07:00

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.

2010-08-12T13:19:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2010-07-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-16T06:05:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-07T15:23:00.001-07:00

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

2010-06-09T06:57:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-31T14:04:00.001-07:00

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

2010-05-05T05:49:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-29T07:41:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-15T15:51:00.000-07:00

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

A look at Meridian State Park / review

2010-02-24T07:11:00.000-08:00

This was our first trip to this Park, here at home we have been cold, grey and covered with snow so when a window in the weather opened up we jumped on it and headed southwest.

This is a nice park with only 8 sites for RVs which gave the RV section a cozy feel and we visited with almost everyone staying in this area. The park also has screened shelters and tent campsites as well as primitive sites.

Saturday after getting set up we mapped out about 5 miles of trails and had a great hike. With the recent snow melt the creeks were flowing and we saw numerous waterfalls, fossills from the old sea floor and even had to add a few stones to one crossing to make it. Sprocket needs no stones, he just splashed through living large off the leash.
Sunday started off cool for my bike ride, there is a one way scenic section of road that makes a loop in the park and I rode 6 laps on the course without seeing a car. This road has a new smooth surface, tons of short steep climbs and its fun to take all the turns on the inside since its a one way.

We also hiked to this overhang in the limestone and I could picture myself years ago finding shelter here.

It warmed up to be a shorts and t-shirt day and we headed to a local winery named the Red Caboose Winery and were lucky enough to get a tasting on the flagstone patio and a tour of the facility, we had a great time here and I think they may have also by the time we checked out.

While cooking over the fire Sunday evening the north wind picked up and by Monday morning we had the heater cranked up in the camper. With the change in the weather we just lounged around and drank coffee before taking the back roads home.

Today is our anniversary, 21 years, each better than the one before it.

Dennis

The Texas Half

2010-01-31T17:47:00.000-08:00

27 degrees, 20 mph North wind, 13.1 miles, 2:10:48

Goose Island /The Big Tree

2010-01-29T14:29:00.000-08:00

Michele once again had a long weekend over the New Years Holiday and we took a trip to the Rockport area and stayed in the camping trailer at Goose Island State Park. I know that was a while back but I have not felt the urge to post here in my public diary.
With a cool spell in North Texas it was 15 degrees warmer on the middle coast of Texas and we have fond memories of this place from a trip a few years back. since some of our friends bought a home here we took a look around to see if it was as we remembered. We first headed to OUR coffee shop we rode our bicycles to on the last trip and it was out of business, bummer, but we did find another shop that was OK but not the same.
In the photo below we are backed into our site and with thick brush on all sides it was very private and had a fire pit in our little hollow in the woods, this is a nice small park that this time of year was full of snowbirds.
You can see we brought the kayak and mountain bikes so our first side trip was to Aransas National wildlife Refuge where we rode our bikes on the 20 mile loop through the refuge, we saw birds a-plenty and talked to several birders, we also saw whooping cranes, deer and several big wild hogs. This was a nice place to take a bicycle ride.
We also visited The Big Tree, this a coastal live oak that is over 1000 years old, also a nice ride you can do from the Park.
We still like Rockport even though the economic downturn has put a little hurt on this artsy enclave. The travel has been on hold due to the record setting cold weather we have had and our lack of ability to string several days off together. As soon as it warms up we would like to go to Caprock Canyons and ride the 64 mile rails to trails path and do the old 1000 ft tunnel.

I have been in training for a half marathon on my birthday, due to my late start I have condensed the 16 week program into a 5 week plan and of course now it will be icy and 27 degrees for my first distance race, I don't care, if the race happens I will run.

This is going to hurt
Dennis
,

Make the best of it

2009-12-15T09:04:00.000-08:00

The weather has been bad for outdoor activities for a while, I did ride 60 miles on the bicycle Saturday but I had on 4 layers. The forecast for Monday called for a one day respite with a high of 70 with sunshine and light winds, not enough wind to sail but I wanted to get out on the water.
A couple of weeks ago one of Michele's cycling friends Marla asked if she could store her Kayak at our house, since we have tons of storage and I had always wanted to try out a kayak, you bet. The removable ladder rack went back on the truck and the kayak fit like a glove, soon we were off on our maiden voyage at white rock lake.

After unloading the yak I climbed in, adjusted the foot rest and played with the rudder. This model of the Dagger has a rudder to help steer and move straight in a cross wind.

I chose White Rock Lake because of the many piers and protected coves where I could get in and out hopefully without getting wet. This was a lot of fun and a good upper body workout and I did not get wet. What a nice day to learn, now I plan on trying to fish out of it but will first need more time to develop balance and become more comfortable with the small low sitting craft.

Are you ready for Christmas?

Dennis

Enchanted Rock and Cross Moutain

2009-12-02T12:53:00.000-08:00

The week of Thanksgiving was a busy one for me, I had another chance to go sailing with Bobby and David and we had a romping day with 20+ winds and large rolling waves. We exceeded hull speed a spent a lot of time dodging spray and trying to get each other wet.

After a great Thanksgiving Day of food and family at my brother Bart's, Michele and I headed for the Hill Country and Fredericksburg.We spent some time shopping in the Historic part of town and I got a nice gift for Michele for Christmas, It was busy as it was the weekend of the Lighting of the courthouse.

On Saturday we went to Enchanted rock and climbed to the top as well as hiked the perimeter loop trail. Enchanted Rock is a giant granite rock about 400 feet tall and was a sacred place for the American Indians.

A distant look at the granite monolith.

At the top Michele, Sprocket and me left a long shadow on the windy barren top.

We then went to a winery near comfort Texas and drove through open range land with loose cattle, herds of deer and beautiful fall color to sample a nice estate grown Merlot on the deck behind the Winery. I highly recommend the Singing Waters Winery, great people and good Texas wines.
On Sunday we found that the local walking club has a walk box at a local hotel where you can get maps for some local walks. We chose the Cross Mountain Walk and set off through a neighborhood for a mile or so and got this glimpse of the small mountain.

We continued our walk to the top of the mountain and the base of the cross, the story is a man purchased this land in the 1840's and while exploring the mountain he found an old cross probably left by early Spanish explorers. He put up another cross and had Easter Services there for many years and the cross was eventually replaced with this current one. We had a true moment of thanksgiving while here for how blessed we have been, and I finally realized that I can stop looking for the place where the grass is greener because I AM STANDING IN THE GREENEST GRASS THERE IS.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and holiday season.

Dennis

Fairfield/Palestine

2009-11-18T06:11:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday the 11th Bobby and I went sailing again on a perfect day with 12 to 15 mph winds,we tied a reef in the main and off we went. While discussing sail trim with his new main we made a little adjustment to the jib trim by relocating the anchor point for the sheets allowing a 3 inch tighter trim angle and a much tighter leech. We were pleased with the results and were able to get the Mac 26S to sail 35 degrees to the true wind without giving up any speed.For a long weekend we once again went to Lake Fairfield State Park, we had wanted to go to the Hill Country but could find no campsites. Who could complain when Fairfield has roads like this one and a 14 mile mountain bike trail called the Dockery Trail.

I did make a tire change on the GT mountain bike, the 26x2.25 knobbys are great on the trail but are heavy and not the best for the road so I put on a set of Tom Slicks in the 26x1.4 size and what a difference. Now I just change back and forth depending on the circumstances, a 10 minute job and worth it.Of course I rode the mtb to my favorite fishing hole several times and pretty much wore the bass out, I took this angled photo with the timer and by wedging the camera in a small tree.
We also took a day trip to Palestine and shopped the historic downtown area and a nice art gallery, the art was a little out of my price range with pieces up to 30K, we also visited a new to us winery, the Texas Vineyard and Smokehaus. Michele raced me to the bar for the tasting and complimentary wine glass, a really nice couple owns this new venture and while it may not look like what you would expect after looking at their website the wines were in my opinion good.

On the way home we stopped and had lunch at the Collin Street Bakery that is famous for its fruitcake that it ships all over the world. After lunch we got back on I-45 and I was passed by a giant weenie flying down the highway.

This past weekend I got in over 100 miles on the road bike in really good weather for November and I have been invited to a ranch in Brady next weekend. We also have reservations at an RV park in Fredricksburg for the Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanks for stopping by

Dennis

Galveston Oh Galveston

2009-10-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

With the shorter days and lots of rain this is what some of our bicycle rides look like and have taken place in the garage. On the bright side it's safer and no helmet required, it also stirs up more of our addiction to travel.

Galveston Island has always been a place I like to visit, sometimes a little seedy but you have to like a place with a newspaper named the Twisted Parrot. Michele and I loaded up the camping trailer and took off for three days to see how things are in the wake of last year's hurricane.

" Sippin" on the dock of the bay is where we spent Saturday after a morning bike ride along the bay and on the hard packed sand of the gulf beach. The event was a wine and food festival that was our first of this kind, we sampled some of over 60 wines and lots of cheese, pasta, cured meats, and a really good Blues band. The event was hosted by the South Shore Harbor and this is a really nice upscale Marina, I could see us living on a sailboat here (not gonna happen).

The State Park is where we stayed and we met a nice couple retiring in a few months to travel full time in their 5th wheel travel trailer. The park is still suffering from the damage inflicted by hurricane Ike and was not exactly what we were expecting, but the ocean is still the same. This was sprockets first trip to the beach and he loved it, he wore himself out chasing gulls and investigating all that the sea washed up.

The Island itself is recovering from a lot of damage and the beachfront homes look nice since most of them have been repaired and have fresh paint and roofs, of course a lot of them are missing too.

I had one of my best runs ever when I did 6 miles from our campsite to the beach and watched the sun rise over the Gulf as I ran along the waters edge and had the place to myself. The hard packed sand is a perfect surface to run on.

The rain and shorter days has limited our cycling somewhat but last night we started our night ride season with the bicycle club and had a nice hard ride, much nicer than riding the trainer.

Dennis

J22 North American championship/ Niagra falls

2009-10-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday Bobby, David and I went sailing, the plan was to install a new Boomkicker boom vang on the sailboat. Bobby had been wanting one of these popular boom supports that eliminates the topping lift line from the boom to the top of the mast. He found the kit locally for $239.00 plus tax and asked me to see what I could get one for, the manufacturer wanted $199.00 plus shipping but a little more research and P-Yacht delivered it to my door for $167.00. I told Bobby for an extra $20 I would tell his wife it only cost $100.00, it looks good and performs too.

When we left the Marina and hoisted sail I noticed a lot of sailboats on the South end of the lake and we sailed the Bobcat down to take a look, what a treat and nice surprise to find the North American J-22 Championship in progress. These sailors are pros, the fleet stayed in a very close group and the sail handling and spinnaker work was impressive. The picture is not the best but we stayed a respectful distance away and with a stiff breeze the boat was anything but still.
We also had a busy weekend in Buffalo New York attending Michele's Nieces Wedding, it was an extravagant event in a Beautiful Church from the 1820's and the reception was in a Private facility also from the early 1800's with frescoes on the ceiling and large Marble columns, the open bar was nice too.

While we were there we also bagged another Lighthouse, The Buffalo Lighthouse marks the entrance to the harbour and the Erie canal. On this stormy night we caught the light as it came on.

Of course we had to visit the Niagara Falls, no photo can do justice to the power, size and magnitude of these falls. For a little perspective the boat in the basin is the Maid of the mist and is maybe 80 feet or more long. Of course we took a trip on the Maid and got a good close look and also got wet, even with the poncho's they give you, to wet for a good pic.

I even had a chance to run with the Buffalo, well we stayed with Michele's friend Leisamarie who lives close to Delaware Park where I went for a 6 mile run, the trail just happens to pass by the Zoo and the bison enclosure, it was nice to have the fence between us.

Bagged a Lighthouse and one of the seven wonders, even saw a world class sailboat race, sweet.

Dennis

Lake Murray State Park

2009-09-29T11:48:00.000-07:00

We have returned from our annual Lake Murray trip, I had a good but very difficult ride to Turner Falls and back for about 74 miles which included climbing the "mountain" to the top of the Arbuckle Mountains. Our local Dallas club met up with the Ardmore Oklahoma Cycling Club and the testing began, well I did not do so good but I did finish the ride and was not alone at the finish. The Ardmore folks were great, they took us on a nice route with back roads and little traffic, some even stopped for a break in Gene Autry Oklahoma at the Gene Autry museum and got pictures taken with Ellie May Clampitt who was there for a festival.
Sunday morning I woke up in the old CCC bunkhouse and walked down to the lake, had my coffee and watched the sunrise, (photo above) I also fished for a little while but caught nothing on a very beautiful morning. We had reserved the 2 bunkhouses at the State Park and they were nice and rustic, built with thick stone walls and indoor/outdoor fireplaces. These cabins are from the 30's, built by the CCC and do show their age, however they are comfortable and handle large groups well and are very private and far removed from any other cabins. We will use these cabins again next year

Below is my Mountain bike with the new fishing rod holder I made for it, I use it to ride to my secret fishing hole about 3 miles from home. I found this spot while looking for a shortcut home after finishing a Saturday group ride. It should also be nice on our Camping trips and a planned trip to Galveston State Park.
Last week I was working in the garage and took a break for lunch, I came back out to find this little box turtle checking out the bicycles. When I was finished in the garage I left the door up for another couple of hours and he disappeared.

Proud people don't litter

Dennis

HHH 2009

2009-09-03T14:08:00.000-07:00

Before we headed to Wichita Falls Bobby and I got in our usual weekday sail, this time we went on Wednesday night and became the spectator fleet for the Night races. You can see the fishing rod in the picture and when the drag started screaming my hands were full trimming sails and steering while reeling in a nice Hybrid Striper about 19 inches long, it worked out well as Bobby came up from a project he was working on in the cabin and took control of the boat.

Michele and I had another good ride at this years HHH, thanks to Paul on his bent for taking this picture of us as he caught and passed us, we of course were reunited at the 98 mile outlaw beer stop. The rally set an attendance record with over 14,000 riders and the Tandems had to start with the mass start, which got us off to a slow start. The temperature was 64 at the start and all went well until just after the 80 mile mark when the front tire developed a blister and would thump on every revolution. I had to reduce the pressure down to about 35 lbs to smooth it out and nor wear a hole in the blistered spot on the tire. We also slowed down and limped the last 20 miles and still averaged 18.8 for 103.51 miles. With a failing tire there were no more 35 mph descents.

We took our camping trailer and camped with a group of friends at the rv lot close to all the activities and had a great time there, kind of a rally the wagons atmosphere.

We watched a lot of races and my friend Aaron took 2nd place in the cat 2 mountain bike race, he then took me out Sunday and we rode the very technical course along the river and greenbelt. This is a nice mountain bike trail and also has a multipurpose trail, I think we might go back and camp and ride this again.

The grass is indeed greener on the other side of the fence but I think I am finally halfway up the fence and closer to crossing over. Hey Gary enjoy New Mexico!!!

Dennis

TGIF

2009-08-09T07:14:00.001-07:00

The last 2 Fridays have been really nice for me thanks to my friend Bobby and his nice sailboat the Bobcat. We have met at Lake Ray Hubbard in the mornings and prepared the boat while taking short breaks to fish the docks and I caught bass each time. Gentle breezes, dead down wind wing on wing, notice the rod and holder

This was an unusual sight, from a distance it looked like a man walking on the water, jibe to starboard tack and sheet the sails and on closer inspection it looks like a paddle board of some sort.

This Friday we sailed into a giant school of surfacing sand (white) bass and I was catching a fish every cast for a while. When I had no fish for 3 consecutive casts we moved on and left them biting.

On the cycling front I have been getting in my basic 100 miles a week, consisting of 2 club rides and usually a ride with just Michele and Me. Other than The Tuesday evening ride which has been really hot we roll out at about 7:30 am to beat the heat. We have got to get at least one long ride of at around 70 miles soon because the Hotter Than Hell Hundred is just around the corner and we are not well prepared.

Team off the back

Dennis

Lake Mineral Wells Trailway

2009-07-30T18:16:00.001-07:00

With the news of cooler weather over the weekend Michele and I loaded up the camping trailer and headed off to Mineral Wells State Park for the weekend. While there we off course rode the 20 mile (one way) trailway which is the bed of the old railroad that served Mineral Wells in its days as a big player in the mineral water business. Riding from our campsite to the trail head and both ends of the Trail and back was about 45 miles for us, also all of the roads in the park were new ashpalt, none of that chip seal stuff, very nice.This trailway is in good conditioning and is a great ride, no steep hills or descents, just slight grades and smooth crushed and screened limestone. It does cross several small country roads and there is a trail bridge over highway 180 near Mineral Wells. At the Weatherford end there is only a parking lot, around halfway in the Town of Garner is a country store, but it is closed on Sunday.

After the bridge is a memorial park with several exhibits and this helicopter, it seems that a lot of the State Park land was used to train helicopter pilots for the military, before it was a park.

We saw few riders on our ride, maybe 5 bikes, 5 hikers and 1 horse along with a few deer and a good number of birds. I got this deer picture from the bicycle.

The camping at the State Park is also nice and there is a nice sized lake I caught a few bass out of. The mountain bike trails in the park are very hard since they are mostly shared with horses that turn the soil into soft sand.

Dennis

Peach Pedal Bicycle Rally

2009-07-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

Ive wanted to do the Peach Pedal Rally for a while, last year I was going and then my back went out so I couldn't ride. This year the temperature was predicted to be 104 or 105, but we decided to go anyway since the start time is 7:30 am. We loaded up the tandem and headed for Weatherford and the Outback Building at the new high school.

The tandem in the mini van

Michele and I rode our Treck Tandem 64 miles in about 3.5 hours with 2 quick rest stops, this was a nice rally with back roads and decent rest stops and they had a good turnout I would guess was several thousand riders.

Since it is the peach festival I had homemade peach ice cream and cobbler made with Parker County peaches. Michele passed on the cobbler and had other festival food but she did not pass up the homemade ice cream.

I was washing the Tandem after the ride and noticed a blister forming on the rear tire and that spot was worn very thin, it's unsafe to ride now so I will get a new tire, we were very lucky we didn't have a blowout on a high speed downhill. Our top speed was 38 miles an hour and we averaged over 18 mph for the ride.

No sailing due to the extreme heat we have had, I have a chance to go on a 9 day coastal sailing trip on the 17th, but with work that's not going to happen and it would be hot sleeping on the boat on the south Texas coast.

Dennis

MS 150 and other stuff

2009-06-28T17:34:00.000-07:00

I have been lax in posting as I just haven't felt creative or like writing and then the heat set in. There have been lots of rides and some sailing since the last post.

I was lucky enough to be given a pre-paid spot to ride in the MS 150 and was riding for a large team called The Feisty Devils. I got as close to the start as I could get and rode the 80 or so miles from Frisco to the Texas Motor Speedway. this shows my spot in the mass start

I rode my but off with one very short stop for the rr, when I arrived at the bike lot to walk to the team tents not many people had arrived.

The Feisty Devils had a nice tent with all the food and drink you could ask for. I was looking forward to riding a lap around the Speedway on Sunday but Saturday night they cancelled the Sunday ride due to severe weather. It was a good call as severe weather did come in and the area suffered a lot of damage.

The near empty parking lot with my steed #121

We have also been camping at Bastrop State Park and rode the hilly Park Road One route several times and went on a nice 8.5 mile hike with the dog Sprocket.

Michele and Sprocket ride through the Lost Pines At Bastrop State Park
(sorry for the blurred picture and no brain bucket on Michele)

I have still been doing two club rides a week and felt like I was in a rut so this Saturday Michele and I went to Ray Roberts State Park and rode the Dorba trail and the 20 mile greenbelt trail for a nice change of pace and 40 miles on another 100+ day.

Today we went to the Summer Bash our bike club puts on (http://www.gdbclub.com/ ) and rode our tandem a little over 30 miles and had a great lunch catered by Freebird's.

My friend Bobby took me sailing again and I hooked another nice fish but this one got off as I attempted to lift it over the transom while sailing at 5 knots. This picture was supposed to be a short video but I guess I need to do some work to get that to happen.

Michele and I have also been going to Lambert's Fitness Boot Camp for a six week course and we are both down over 5 pounds and this really concentrates on the body core. Heath is a good friend and the Coach, they can be found on Face book

It appears we are in for a really hot summer as it was over 100 all this week. This will limit the rides and eliminate the camping for now, but we are planning more adventures.

Next time will come sooner

Dennis

Copper Breaks rides

2009-04-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

The bicycle rally our local bike club puts on was a success. The Lancaster Country Ride had great weather and about 1200 or so riders, always nice to pull that off.

After we both worked at parking and registration we then rode the rally route on our Tandem and visited the rest stops. We also acted as unofficial sweeps asking any stopped riders if they needed help and encouraging those that were struggling. Some of the porto's were overwhelmed, but you do the best you can, if the weather had been bad like 2 years ago only a few hundred riderw would have showed up

No sailing to report on but planning to correct that little problem soon.

We took a trip to Copper Breaks State Park for a long weekend, we drove through a lot of rain and arrived to find the park only got a little rain so the mountain bike trails and especially the roads were fine.

This park is nice, clean and has a limited number of campsites, it only

has 24 sites for R V hookups. This weekend was quiet and we hiked and biked a lot. The rain had brought this arid country to life although the lakes are very low, they need rain.

In this case I made it a point to stop and let the traffic slither on by, this rattlesnake was only about a foot long but thats enough to make for a really bad day.

The trails range from nice easy doubletrack to the rocky ledges trail which I didn't even try to ride we hiked it and either climbed or slid down the ledges.

We plan on riding the Germanfest Metric Century in Muenster next Saturday on the tandem.

Finally sailing

2009-03-31T06:19:00.000-07:00

My good friend Bobby and I finally got to get out on his boat. We had a great day with clear sky and good wind, Bobby and I have sailed together for years cruising and racing.Bobby
We even dusted off the spinnaker and took off on a couple of long reaches, perfect.

I almost always carry a fishing pole when near the water and in my ditty bag I carry a piece of PVC pipe and a couple of short lines to set up a rod holder for trolling, it was a good day to fish too.

Leading the peloton

The bicycle rides have been hard to get in but we had a good 67 mile ride with the club last Saturday, we broke out the tandem and had a fast hard ride. We rode part of the Bluebonnet trail and the flowers were starting to look good. This is part of the ride our bicycle club puts on each year called The Lancaster Country Ride.

Tonight is the clubs fast ride, last week it was 34 miles at a 20.7 true average, I haven't been on the bike since then and I hope I can still hang in towards the front. It gets harder to stay in decent shape every year.

I just returned yesterday from an overnight backpacking trip on the Cross Timbers Trail where I camped at the 5 mile trail campsite, great time but my legs are pretty sore.

Dennis

Its been all about the bike

2009-03-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

I have not had a chance to go sailing for a while now but since our trip to Palo Duro Canyon I have been on some great bicycle rides. On Thursday I met Heath and Jeannie for an afternoon ride on a sunny and very windy day. We rode 55 miles with about a 17.5 average, which was really hard with wind gusts up to 30 mph and sustained winds over 20. The picture below is after the ride, I'm on the right.

On Saturday I rode the GDB Airport ride and got in 59 miles on another windy day, I rode the entire ride with the fast group but I did get dropped on the last few miles around the airport. The 20 mile loop around the airport is where it is a free for all and you usually catch all the lights green so it is fast and hard. This day we formed a rotating pace line at about 26 and I stayed in it as long as I could. our group of 20 + slowly got smaller and there were maybe 6 or 7 left when I went off the back.

Tuesday was the First ride of the year at REI and I once again went with the renegade group, this group rides fast but safe and I managed to stay with the group the entire way with a second and third place in the city limit sign sprints that I was in position to go for. We got in 25 miles with a 19.9 mph average and it rained on us , this was a very fast average for wet roads as we had to really slow for the turns.

It has been raining for 24 hours as I write this and shows no sign of stopping, when this finally blows over I am going to try and go sailing, but it may be next week before that can happen.

MAKE THE BEST OF WHAT YOU HAVE

Dennis

Cycling Palo Duro Canyon

2009-03-02T08:02:00.000-08:00

We have been getting a few more miles on the road bikes but when we get a chance to ride the wind and cold has been a killer. Last Saturday Michele and I rode the Tandem to the meeting place for a club ride and all but 2 of the group did not ride but went to breakfast, to cold and windy. We did about 40 miles with wind gusts to 30mph.

Michele thought for a minute she had lost her driver as I dreamed of a warm breakfast.

We decided to take off Friday and go camp at Palo Duro Canyon this weekend, since it was going to be cold and windy we would ride mountain bikes down in the Canyons. This worked out nice and we hiked and biked roads and trails and were covered up with wildlife. The mtb trails are great and you can find rides for any level of rider from easy to very technical or you can ride the road out of the canyon(several miles of 10% grade). Due to the high winds on this road I did not do the climb out of the canyon but I will return and do it. My favorite trail was the Lighthouse Trail.

This was our first time here and it was a pleasant surprise, nice campsites out of the wind and clear sunny cool days to hike and bike. In the picture below I took an over the shoulder shot of a herd of deer, we saw hundreds of deer and wild turkey as well as a coyote And I will depart with another over the shoulder shot of another small group of weekday riders.

Palo Duro Rocks

Dennis

Almost Sailing

2009-02-17T07:35:00.000-08:00

I was invited to go sailing with Bobby on the Bobcat, we prepped the boat, lowered the lift and the motor would not run. This motor is just like my old Tohatsu twin 8hp, and like mine it has been trouble free until now. At any rate we put it all back together and went to eat at Soul mans BBQ and did not actually sail even though we still had a good time.We did manage to get in several bicycle rides and I have still been working on my running. We went back to our favorite Fairfield State Park for the weekend and while on a ride I saw some wild pigs in the woods and turned back to Michele and said pigs and pointed, my intention was for us to stop and watch them but Michele apparently thought they were chasing us and sprinted off into the distance.

Happy Valentines Day Michele, these are just a few wildflowers that someone else had picked and left on the picnic table on the nature trail. She did get real flowers but they are at the house.

We had a great time camping and getting chased by the pigs, while the lake is now very low I seem to always catch a bass or two here. Michele sat in the sunshine and read a book while I fished and disrupted her to take a picture every once in a while. In a couple of weeks we plan on going to someplace new to us, either Goose Island on the coast or Colorado Bend in the Hill Country.

Dennis

A new Toy

2009-02-09T07:05:00.000-08:00

Since we had sold our sailboat Michele and I had been looking at camping trailers, we like to camp and have always done so in our tent. After doing our research we decided that a camping trailer would fit the bill for several reasons, most importantly because we can store it at our home and anything larger would not allow that. We also like being able to be a lot more comfortable and it extends the weather window considerably.We looked at several and missed out on several because I always like to negotiate price. We finally purchased this 2001 Coleman Westlake and did OK on the price. When we arrived to look it over it broke a lifting cable, after looking closely I decided I could repair this if the price was reduced since otherwise it was in much better condition than others we had looked at.

Three hours of work and $50 later we head out to camp in our new RV and find everything works. It was nice to have heat, air, refrigerator and running hot and cold water. This unit also has a shower and toilet that work well but are not quite what you have at home. Most campgrounds have bathhouses, but these certainly will work if we need them. Our dog Sprocket immediately took over ownership but does allow us to use it.

We got in plenty of bike rides on the park roads at Fairfield State Park and I also did 28 miles of hard mountain bike trails and encountered 7 wild hogs out in the woods. In the pic above Michele is on a youth model mountain bike we borrowed from a friend to see if it fit her better than the full size ones. It was a good fit and she really likes this Trek MT 220 so we may just have to shop for one. We also started riding the tandem again training for the German fest Rally in April.

We will be home this weekend and ride with our bike club www.gdbclub.com and plan another trip in the new toy. While home we met with a lot of family at El Fenix to celebrate several birthdays including my own. As I write this we are getting some much needed rain for our garden. The onions and winter green are just starting to take off and as the weather warms we will keep planting in our garden that is much larger than last year.

Dennis

Sailing A Dana

2009-02-02T06:01:00.001-08:00

I met Paul while bicycle riding with our club, he was a new rider on our DFW Airport ride but it was soon obvious he was not new to riding. While putting in about 60 miles we struck up a conversation and found we also had sailing in common, he is an accomplished sailor with a solo Atlantic crossing under his belt. I mentioned that if he ever wanted company on a day sail e-mail me and I would like to go. Another thing we have in common is that we are maybe a little more enthusiastic about sailing in cold weather than our wife's are.Well, this developed into a full day of sailing on his Pacific Seacraft Dana. a beautiful little ship that is a pleasure to sail and is maybe the best built small sailboat out there. I was also introduced to an auto pilot made by sailo-mat. This is a servo pendulum type of steering device that moves the rudder to keep the same angle to the wind, it works perfectly and is an ingenious device. On this cold windy morning it steered us while he made a pot of coffee on the gimbaled stove while close hauled into 15 mph winds.
Almost 6 knots close hauled with a reef in the main and this vessel is only slightly heeled over, most boats I have sailed or owned are heeled way over and require concentration to steer in these conditions.
Thanks for a great day Paul, and when you get ready to do some bright work let me know.

Dennis

Boulder Park Mountain Biking

2009-01-22T14:28:00.001-08:00

After being off the bike and any exercising for over a week due to a leg injury I was finally well enough to go for a MTB ride. I headed out to Boulder Park after reading reviews of the trail. I really liked this trail since it is single track (one way), it has two tracks the blue is 6 miles and is the easy one the red is 10 miles and more difficult with creek crossings. I rode both paths and got a good workout, on this weekday ride I saw no one else.

It is nice to have a large area in the City of Dallas that is dedicated to Mountain bikes, not crowded and looks like a nice shady place to ride in the heat of the summer.

There were several little bridges, and one large one shown in the above photo. The trail takes you over and under this bridge.

A few areas here have narrow sections through the trees, I tried to illustrate that in the above picture. Like I said I liked this Park and if I ride here a lot I will cut down my handlebars for better clearance, keep your knobby tires if you want to make it up the hills and don't go if it is wet.

We have also done some road rides, one was on a nice Sunday when Michele and I rode about 35 miles with a stop at a local coffee shop on a perfect weather day. Our friends Gary and Lugay went with us and I took this photo ( blind over the shoulder) while riding. Michele is in the Texas Jersey. We all went out to dinner to close out a really nice day.

I have been invited to go for a full day of sailing on a Pacific Seacraft Danna that has crossed the Atlantic so stay tuned for the next post.

Dennis

Mountainbiking Huntsville State Park

2009-01-06T05:58:00.001-08:00

We had heard Huntsville State Park was a good place to ride the trails and hike and since it was warm we paid them a visit. This is a large park with a nice little lake and trails from short to about 10 miles long. These trails are nice, no rocks but a fair number of tree roots will keep you standing up a lot. I should also note there are quite a few boardwalk areas to keep you out of the marshy areas.

On the longest trail called the three C's trail I heard the sound of rushing water so I stashed the bike and hiked in to find this small waterfall in the Pine woods. The picture does not do it justice.

While the trails are great and it is a beautiful park, we stayed in a shelter and found the facilities and the restrooms a little run down. Don't let this stop you from going and if you can go during the week it would be a super place.

Sunday about noon the wind changed and a blue Norther arrived, within 5 minutes we went from shorts and t-shirts to coats and long pants cutting our trip a few hours short.

Happy New Year

Dennis

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T10:47:00.000-08:00

We hope everyone has a Great Christmas this year, it's obvious many are having a hard time this year and all who can should spread it around a little. Well on to the cycling. Our local club http://www.gdbclub.com/ has been having a Santa ride for about 20 years from what I have been told, this year we met in North Dallas to ride to Highland Park and meet up with Santa and the van of gifts and more riders. We rode with Santa to a Family Shelter in Downtown and sang carols and donated the gifts and money our club had rounded up. This made me feel very lucky indeed. A Group shot if front of a decorated house, sorry about the grass

Chris's van full of toys and loot.

Michele and others with Santa

Riding with Santa was fun and people honked with joy instead of anger, Santa tossed out candy canes to everyone we passed, kids, construction workers bus stops etc.

After this ride Michele and I got with 3 others and did some bonus miles, shorts on December19th, you have to take advantage of it.

After Christmas we are going to try to get away for a few days and camp out if the weather allows. No sailing the last few weeks due to the weather, work and the foiling of my best laid plans.

Dennis

North Shore Trail Review Grapevine Texas

2008-12-12T09:51:00.000-08:00

I have an older mountain bike that I won from Carrier on a point system for selling oem parts. This bike was junk, it weighed about 40 lbs and had worthless brakes and a couple of springs they called a suspension.

I got an early Christmas present when this GT Mountain bike went on sale and I had a 20% off coupon. It is the Avalanche 1.0 hydraulic disc brake. I rode it around for a few days and decided to try out the North shore Trails 9 mile out and back route. The bike is so much nicer than what I have been riding on the trails, if money was no object you can get a lighter better bike, but this would be hard to beat for the price I paid.

The trail started at a Park on the North end of the dam and runs along the lake through corp of Engineer land its whole route. I would call this a tough technical ride, it starts out nice but the first real climb is full of big rocks and I like most people had to carry my bike. The ride was fun and had maybe 4 real hard spots,(walk) mostly it was very doable hills and creek crossings. Below is a picture of a balancing rock and an Idea of what the area is like.

Well I can't leave out the sailing, at various places I could see this regatta, there was no wind at the finish line so everyone sailed into this big hole and it took them a long time to finish. I may go ride this again next week, it was a good workout.

The only bad thing is the trail was busy, and it is narrow with blind turns and I was surprised a few times. I think I will ride this during the week when the crowds are smaller.

Ride with a reason

2008-11-28T10:37:00.000-08:00

We filled up with some cheap gas on Thanksgiving Day, the lower prices help a lot but I wonder if it will just delay conservation and in the long run cost more. My non scientific survey shows traffic seems to have picked up a lot.A week ago Tuesday a group of about 15 of us rode our bikes to a viewing at a funeral home, The funeral is for a long time member of our local bike club. His family appeared to really enjoy having cyclist dressed in warm clothes and riding in the dark across Dallas to pay respects. James loved to ride his bicycle and cycling had nothing to do with his passing.

This week Michele and I took a midweek ride at White Rock Lake, we usually ride a 9+ mile lap together and then I take off and ride until I make a lap up on her. We will no longer be doing that as she has gotten to fast for me to make up 9 miles. We still split up and I do the optional hills or sometimes join another rider and work together, or just test each other.

Taking a break on flagpole hill, while this is not a good year for fall color there is enough to make it a beautiful time of the year to ride here.

We also rode a trail that follows White Rock Creek for 7 miles, this trail out and back with a lap around the lake is 25 miles. We had a nice 40 miles or so. This picture is Michele returning to the trail, we rode up this side path and it leads to a new development of modernistic cube style houses with a big effort on going green, next time I will get a picture of some of them.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Share what you have

Dennis & Michele

2008-11-16T07:45:00.000-08:00

On the 5th Bobby took me sailing again on a perfect day, we decided to sail over to the Fish House Restaurant at the Bass pro complex. We sailed wing on wing with the main and jib to clear the big point and the reached on over to the docks. Had a nice fish sandwich and a nice sail back.This is our newest Bass Pro Shop, I wonder how many of these we need. Locally or close by we have Gander mountain, Cabella's and 2 Bass Pro's as well as Academy, Dicks etc.

I got invited to hunt in Brady Texas again and took this picture as the sun tried to break through the fog, The deer were like grey ghosts silently moving through the wet woods. I was down to 2 packages of meat and now the freezer is well stocked again.

Michele and I have still been riding our bikes a good bit but we are not putting in the miles or hard long efforts like we did this summer. We did do a long ride Saturday on our roadies, I broke off with our club's fast group and gave a good effort but I got dropped. The only thing that makes getting dropped taste a little better is I wasn't the only one or the first one to go "off the back"!

36 degrees this morning

Dennis

A New Era

2008-11-03T06:26:00.000-08:00

The flowers have been hit by frost, the leaves are falling and the flagstone patio is done. Well almost anyway, it will need a little detail work to be finished. With the raised beds, the rain barrel and Sprockets dog house we like the new backyardWe finally moved the boat to the lake as the refit was as done as it is going to get. The boat makes the F-150 look a little small, kinda like a big boat and toy truck.

Ready to move out on the way to Lake Texoma and a date at Cedar Mills with theTravel lift and mast crane.

We made the 85 mile move fine, I was a little worried as after all I built the trailer from scratch. We fully rigged her and put the sails on and took a little test spin in the marina area.

The picture below marks the end of our ownership of the Sailing Vessel Rising Star, The little dot in the center of the picture out beyond the boats in the Marina is Mike sailing off in his new boat.
I am happy and sad and I hope he enjoys the boat.

After all this we went to Lake Fairfield and camped out for the weekend, we had perfect weather to hike and got several nice rides on the bicycles. Oh and yes the bass were still biting in my little cove. As the campfire fades and our eyelids grow heavy we contemplate our next escape pod, maybe an RV or a storm damaged big sailboat around Galveston, or maybe nothing for a little while.

Get out and vote

Dennis

Time Off

2008-10-15T06:41:00.000-07:00

With fall approaching I get a little more time off, not only from work but also from the hard bicycle rides and training rides. Fall is a time for fun rides and recovering from the hot summer. This past week I got to spend a day sailing with Bobby Allen on his Mac 26, we had a perfect day with 10 to 15 winds and we brought sack lunches. We sailed all over the lake and to the docks at the new Bass Pro Shop on Lake Ray Hubbard.We then decided to go to Pensacola and stayed at a B&B that was built in the 1800's by a ship captain. In the following photo's we are canoeing down the Blackwater River, this was a fun trip where an outfitter took us back into the National Forest and we drifted and paddled miles back to the take out site. This was a fun trip with enough current we mostly just steered and were the only canoe that day and had the river to ourselves.

Since we like lighthouses we also visited Pensacola lighthouse and Half moon bay lighthouse in Alabama, we collect miniatures of the ones we have visited and I think this makes 16. We spent a lot of time walking the beaches, eating seafood on open air patio's overlooking the beach and recharging our batteries.

This area was hit hard in 2004 by hurricane Ivan and the trees still show a lot of damage, but the area is recovering. Some of the roads at Pensacola Beach are still closed and you can walk for miles over the sand covered roadway.

This was our first stay at a B&B and it was nice, each day started with coffee on the wrap around porch and a nice breakfast served by the Innkeeper, then grab a snack and water bottles and off for the day, returning at dark.

Life is good

Dennis And Michele

Texas Tough Crit Races

2008-09-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

Last week I did a night ride with the bicycle club that used some roads and some trails to get to the American Airlines Center to watch the Texas Tough Crit races. This was a fun night, riding our bikes to see a pro level bike race with 20k in payouts and some sprint laps paid up to $2500. This was a gruelling race won by a Team Toyota rider from New Zealand who made a clean solo break away with 6 laps to go.
We also went to lake Murray in Oklahoma this weekend and stayed in a rustic cabin and rode to Turner Falls on our bicycles, I got over 100 miles in nice rolling hills with a bonus climb to The scenic overlook above the falls.

The first picture below shows our old cracked up back porch in the process of being broken up by us, we took the old cement to be recycled by big city concrete crushers.
We are replacing it with Oklahoma flagstone, this is a learning experience setting the stone and cutting it by hand to fit. We first layed down a couple of inches of decomposed granite as a base and then leveled it and started setting and fitting the stones. I think I will like this natural look.

I have more photos of our rides and the yard project but my camera will no longer transfer to the computer. Oh, the O'day 272 is ready to launch finally and we have been looking at marinas.

Sailing soon

Dennis

Backpaking the Cross Timbers Trail

2008-09-08T20:06:00.000-07:00

I had day hiked a small part of this trail some years ago and have wanted to return and backpack some of this trail. Friday I drove to the trail head on Lake Texoma at Juniper Point and got there about 5:00 pm and set out . The trail goes up and down and up and down with some nice little hills, nothing to bad but not a lot of flat land as you walk along bluffs above the lake and have to go down and back up to cross every drainage.

I arrived at the lost loop campsite a little after 7 and set up camp for the evening, dispersed camping is allowed but since I saw no one else on the trail I used the designated campsite to leave a smaller footprint. The campsite looks to have seen a lot of use but there was almost no TRASH.

I saw a lot of the little plant below, but none was right on the trail but a little off to the side. If you don"t recognize this little plant, this is the classic poison ivy (leaves of three let it be).

Saturday I hiked back on a nice cool morning with a low of 66. This trail spends a lot of time along the lake with nice views and varied terrain, I plan on doing the rest of the trail soon but the 4.5 miles or so from Juniper Point to Lost Loop were nice and clean. The trail crosses the parking lot of a marina which is the only place I saw other people. Close to the parking lot at the trail head I did pick up 2 fresh empty drink cans, a DP and a V-8, they were not here on my way out.With a pack weight of 30 pounds and about 10 miles total I could feel I had used some different muscles than I normally use. Sunday we got up early and got a nice 25 miles in on the bicycles by 8:45 and had the whole day left to work on the yard project.

Proud people don't litter

Dennis Starkey

Copper Epoxy Bottom Job

2008-09-04T14:52:00.000-07:00

We finally found some time and cooler weather and were able to work on the Boat, we have already put an epoxy barrier coat of 4 coats of West System. I found a product from Progressive Epoxy that is a kit of epoxy and copper powder and works as a barrier coat and anti fouling. Since the 4 coats looked a little light I re- sanded the hull did a little more fairing and put on two thick coats of Copperpoxy.Michele said it looks like a new penny, it did cover and flow good and I got a reasonably smooth finish. If I would have left it a little thinner is would have flowed out better after being rolled on.

We still have to do some work under the last bunk, but the end is in sight. If the copper epoxy doesn't work well as anti fouling I have lost nothing as I needed the thicker Barrier Coat and regular anti-fouling paint can be applied over it with light sanding for adhesion.

It was a light week on the bike, during the week it is getting dark earlier and has cut into the ride time, Saturday we rode 35 on the Tandem, and on the road bike only 30 miles on Monday and 21 on Tuesday. I was trying to save my legs for a overnight backpacking trip this weekend.

Yard work coming soon.

Dennis

Hotter'n Hell Hundred

2008-08-28T18:59:00.000-07:00

Michele and I had a great ride at the rally, as we did last year we camped in our friend Gerald's motor home. This is a great way to stay at this rally since with 10,000 riders showing up all the local hotels fill up fast, and they charge you a two night minimum.

In the picture we made it to the Outlaw Rest Stop, some times also called the 98 mile outlaw beer stop . We were the first from our club to arrive and its just an old metal building out in the hot sun, its a right of passage you just have to experience to understand. This our friend Paul who also took the following picture of us.
We have left the outlaw and are going over the big overpass back into town in the picture below, this is a tough climb with 101 miles on your legs. Our training paid off and we did much better than we had expected with an average in the 19's doing the 102 miles in 5hours 14 minutes. We worked at keeping a steady pace and used the downhills to get maximum speed on the old Treck t200 tandem. We took 2 very short rest stops at 50 and 80 miles, my heart rate average was 148 and I burned over 4,000 calories.

We had a great weekend with the shopping and the crit races, now its back to work on the backyard project and finish the boat repairs, my next posts will be on these.

We rode through Hell's Gate

Dennis & Michele

TEBR

2008-08-14T11:39:00.001-07:00

These pictures are from the Tuesday Night Bike Ride that meets at REI in North Dallas. This Greater Dallas Bicyclist ride has a group for everyone and all levels, we are in the renegade or unofficial ride. This ride is fast and if you do not keep up you will be dropped so bring a map and phone. As we head out I am on the right in the blue jersey just sitting in trying to save energy for later in the ride.

This is much later in the ride I am now on the left and struggling to hang on to my friend Gary Chaing's wheel, I eventually let a gap open and caught a red light,(I guess I didn't save enough energy) this was a hard ride on a hot afternoon. My computer showed 33 miles with a 20 average while dealing with traffic, red lights and a lot of hills and strong wind, can you see the pain in our faces, we are old enough to know better.

After a day of recovery this morning I ran 7 miles at an easy pace before work, I like running when I can't get in a ride because I can leave in the dark and its easy, just put on shorts and shoes and go.

We are still working on the backyard project and it is moving slowly but is beginning to take shape, hope it turns out like we envision it.

This weekend will be our last weekend ride before the Hotter'n Hell Hundred on the 23rd, after this we will do no hard rides to be fresh for this 100 mile challenge on the tandem.

Hopefully there will progress to report on the boat repairs on my next post.

Sea Ya
Dennis

2008-08-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

This picture tells the story of July, hot and dry, it has been the 4th hottest ever here in North Central Texas. While we have still been riding the bicycles, it has been only 2 rides a week and you have to pace yourself and work at staying hydrated.

On August 2nd we left early and rode 60 miles in the heat on the Trek Tandem, it was hot and hard, but we are training to ride the Hotter Than Hell Hundred in Wichita Falls TX. the 23 of August and we will ride the tandem.

Being in the Mechanical Contracting business I have had all the work I can do and it has left me too worn out to work much on the boat, but I have the material to finish it with a copper epoxy bottom coating and should be able to complete it if we get some cooler weather, 105 to 107 is not good weather for applying epoxy.

The closest we have come to significant moisture is this picture I got of a rainbow to the West of us where someone must have received rain. Michele and I have learned to deal with the heat well and pace ourselves but don't let it stop us from doing things and we don't spend our summer indoors.

We are also working on the back yard, A tree limb fell and broke our large old deck so we are removing it and putting in raised beds to increase our garden space. While we are at it we will break out and remove our cracked concrete patio and replace it with flagstone set loose with granite sand for a natural look. I will post pics of the fall garden as we progress with this project.

Dennis

July 4th

2008-07-08T13:30:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July, we did. Our day started out with an invitation only bike ride, it was recommended you be able to average 18-20 mph for 50 miles to go on this ride. So we could both do this ride together we rode the tandem.

We all made it the rest stop at about mile 24 and took a break at the CVS store, while here we found Barry talking to the pharmacist about performance enhancing drugs, but he had no luck.

There was another tandem on this ride and it was a really nice bicycle, a Co-motion that weighs 1/2 half of what our Trek weighs. In the photo above we decide to start our move to the front while I try to take pictures, steer and keep the speed in the mid 20's.

Success is achieved as we pass everyone and move to the front where we stayed until we hit the big hills and they killed us. We still managed an 18 average for 55 miles and had fun with some great folks.

Later we went to a firework show and concert at the Historical park close enough to the house we could walk to it, the band was great and it was a super time.

It has been hot and dry here so work on the boat is at a standstill, but my mind is made up, I'm going to sail away, looking for adventure, of course on Island time.

Another delay on the boat work is a wind storm blew down a large tree limb that crushed our deck so we are removing it a little at a time in the cool of the evenings.

Dennis

2008-06-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday we rode the Treck T-200 Tandem on a 56 mile ride and had a great time, I have been so busy working I have been missing my midweek daytime rides with a group of 6 or 8 of us.

This Thursday I decided to play hooky and met up with them for a quick 30 miles and on the way to the ride I saw this wreck, may bee a car isn't so safe. We had a nice ride in a new area following Heath's Garmen 705 GPS bicycle computer. More rides like this are in order.
After this ride I find out a friend of mine in the same business as me passed away. This really topped off my midlife crisis and made the need to try and enjoy life more a little more urgent.

After our ride Last Saturday, on Sunday we went to lake Ray Hubbard to meet Bobby who had just installed a lift and docked his boat there.

We had a great time sailing with light winds and I even trolled a lure for a while with no luck, but we had plenty of snacks and cold drinks. With my newly gained sense of urgency I think more times like these are in order.

Tommorow may be to late.

Dennis

Heat Wave

2008-06-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

The weather has been hot here in Dallas and I have been really busy trying to keep people cool.
This is another job I did and on this one I had to lift this 5 ton unit over a smaller one and fit it in a tight area. Another slight reduction in a homes carbon footprint since this unit is 30 percent more efficient than the one it replaced. This and lot of other jobs have cut into the boat job and our cycling.
I was able to put the temporary bunk on the starboard side of the boat and grind out the blisters under the trailers normal bunk, and allow them to dry good. I have no idea when the weather and work will allow me to finish this part and move to the other side, but really I'm not in a hurry.

The old Truck bit the dust after 220K miles of service work, it was a good truck and never gave any trouble, I hope this one does as well. The good thing is full size trucks are not selling and the incentives are great.

We have been riding on Saturday mornings and maybe one other short ride during the week, I rode a really fast ride with some racers on The 10th and could tell my conditioning is off. I guess I'll have to put work on the back burner and get back to important stuff.

Proud people don't litter

Dennis

Trailer Sailing on Lake Texoma

2008-05-27T14:04:00.001-07:00

Over the Holiday weekend I knew several friends were going to be anchored at Wood Island on Lake Texoma so I twisted my buddy Bobby's arm into trailering his boat up there. It's about a 90 mile trip and when we got to Mill Creek Marina we pulled out of the way and in the photo below we are stepping the mast.We had a great sail over to the Islands and are anchoring with the stern toward the shore, his Macgregor 26D will go into 12 inches of water so we step off of the stern ladder into shallow water and spent the afternoon with friends whose boats you see in the background. Bobby and Michele are smiling "we made it".

After lunch we spent the afternoon sailing all over the lake and had good wind almost all of the time. In the next picture Michele is trimming the main and Bobby has rigged his boat with a traveler allowing windward sheeting. In years past Bobby and I have won a few trophies sailing "Bobcat".

Bobby returned us home tired, windblown and a little sunburned.

Life is good.

Dennis

2008-05-18T11:04:00.000-07:00

We finally got good weather and started applying the epoxy barrier coat on the O'day 272. The first coat shown here is clear and was followed by 3 more heavy coats with the gray additive for abrasion resistance and better water proofing, it now looks slick and shiny but I still have to do the areas under the trailer bunks.Our garden is growing like crazy and loves the water from our rain barrel we showed on an earlier post. Lettuce, green beans and potatoes are abundant, with squash and tomatoes ripening on the vine. With all the healthy vegetables we have been eating we have each lost several pounds.

The bicycle rides have been good and I had 131 miles for the week ending on the 17 th, Michele has also been putting up good numbers and has moved up to riding with a faster group. I have also been running as cross training for my cycling and have began to enjoy the simplicity of putting an shorts and shoes and heading out the door.

Below is our arsenal of bicycles on the hooks I installed in the garage, 2 road bikes,2 mountain bikes and 1 tandem, my worn out bikes are outside waiting to be given to someone who needs a clunker to ride.

I am trying to set it up with a friend to go sailing and do an overnight stay on his trailer sailor over the next weekend. Michele said it would be no fun to overnight on the O'day in the storage yard with no water in sight.

Life is good

Dennis

A bicycle built for two

2008-04-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

About a week ago Michele and I were offered the use of an older Trek tandem bicycle, I put a new set of tires on it and tuned it up as best I could and we have been riding it.
This weekend we decide to go to the German Fest Bicycle rally in Muenster Texas and do the very hilly 42 mile route. Michele was looking forward to this ride and was excited thinking because I am a fairly strong rider we would go fast and she got her wish, on our first long downhill we hit 41.7 miles an hour as the picture shows the max on our cycle computer. Well we didn't do that again as it was just a little too fast and exciting. We had a good time and went to the festival after the ride.

On the sailboat end of things I have filled and fared all the blisters and am now ready to apply the epoxy barrier coat on the bottom. Of course when this is done I will still have to block up the boat to do the area under the trailer bunks. Finding the time and then having the weather cooperate when I do have the time has made this job drag out longer the I expected but the hull has really dried out nicely.

Don't dream your life, live your dreams

Dennis

Lake Fairfield State Park review

2008-04-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend we went camping at Fairfield State Park with our good friends Gary and Lugay and had perfect weather the whole time. The evening Saturday was perfect for a campfire and steaks cooked over the fire.

The bass fishing was excellent as shown in this picture and you can also see the light fog that was settled on the lake. I found this nice little cove and several times I rode my bicycle over to fish and caught fish every time.

We went for an evening drive and saw numerous deer, one Armadillo and six raccoons and Gary and I saw a bald Eagle while fishing. The only trouble with this trip was that it was over so quick.

On the way home we stopped in at the Gander Mountain outdoor store and had an early dinner at the famous Collin Street Bakery.

Tuesday I rode the evening bicycle ride with the club and we rode 29 miles with a 20.0 mph average. This average was for an in town ride with traffic and was really hard, I was at 100% heart rate way to long even with a nice rotating pace line.

This weekend is our club rally, "The Lancaster Country Ride" the weather forecast is good and the Texas Bluebonnets are going strong so we should have a large turnout. Michele and I will both work the rally and try to do part of the rally after completing our duties.

This week I had my third letter to the editor published in the Dallas Morning News and now am part of the sounding off panel and weekly I am sent topics to comment on. Of course these do not pay but I enjoy doing it. This blog has Google ads on it and I get a few cents when ads are clicked on so I get paid a whopping $3 or so a month, feel free to click on an ad if it is something that interests you.

Getting ready for a market downturn

Dennis Starkey

Spring Fever

2008-03-31T11:10:00.001-07:00

Last week I had a case of spring fever and took the dinghy out on a fishing trip at a small nearby lake. This lake is maybe 40 acres and has no boat ramp for launching, making it perfect for my little rowing dinghy. I originally built this to be used with our O'day 277, but it is still in the boat yard being repaired and refitted. When it is ready I sure would like to take a long cruise along the coast living on the hook for a couple of weeks.Michele and I have both been getting to ride our bicycles a lot on the weekends and we have enjoyed that. A lot of times we do separate rides due to our differing speeds but these recent rides together have been nice.

Spring time is here and we have seen our first bluebonnets of the season, and it is raining as I write this. Our garden is growing and we have had 3 salads from it so far, all organic and watered with captured rain water.
If the weather permits we are going camping this weekend and that means mountain bike rides and nice long hikes.

Keeping my fingers crossed
Dennis

The Smokestack

2008-03-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while, it seems like work and the like momentarily got in the way of my Life. Over this weekend we went to the farm and had a family work day, we had a great time and met at The Smokestack Restaurant for a late lunch, early dinner.The actual Smokestack is in the Town of Thurber Texas and is just a town of one family, the pictures are of the old stack and then myself (left) and my brother , sister, parents and wife Michele.

After getting in 120 miles on the bicycle in 4 days with one day off to rest, I have not been able to ride much at all. Tonight we are going to ride from about 6 to 7:30 around the local golf course neighborhood.

After getting 5.5 inches of rain Tuesday I spent Wednesday afternoon at the boat letting it air out and drying the inside. It had stayed fairly dry for being closed up for a rainy month. While there I sanded on the hull for a while and am getting close to applying the barrier coat with the West Systems Epoxy.

Looking into solar hot water

Dennis

Somerville State Park

2008-03-06T11:08:00.001-08:00

This weekend we went to Somerville State Park located just East of Austin to camp, hike and ride the 13 mile trail through the wildlife management area. The weather was perfect and on my first ride I got a flat tire , I repaired this flat ire and then got another one and had used my only spare tube so I called Michele and she brought the sag wagon to get me.We then went on a nice 4 or 5 mile hike on one of the hiking trails with Sprocket who now thinks he is a deer hound and gets all worked up when he see's a deer and over the entire weekend we saw about 100 deer.

After Michele had done some riding I took the tires off of her bicycle and put them on mine and set off down the 13 mile trail and about 7 miles out I noticed the front tire getting low so I limped back to camp on a flat again, arghhhh!!.

Well, after 3 flats we just relaxed and built a nice campfire to cook baked potato's and Steaks. In this next picture we made my favorite campfire desert of banana's stuffed with dark chocolate and cooked over the coals until the chocolate melts. We had a nice time and just as we left the rain came and followed us home and filled the new rain barrel all the way to the top.

Tuesday on a night time bicycle I got to see the Fire Dept. rescue a man from White Rock Creek, this simple rescue took 20 emergency vehicles, over 40 men and a helicopter. I think I could have gotten the man out with one or two guy's helping but instead this rescue probably cost the city a million dollars.

Crying over all the waste I see

Dennis Starkey

Free Water with a Rain Barrel

2008-02-29T08:50:00.000-08:00

Saturday I rode the old standby ride with the club, this is the GDB Airport ride which starts 8.5 miles from my house. This works out great as I do not use a car, but ride my bike to the start and end up with 60 miles after splitting off from the group and riding home. This week it was fast paced up front and there was a strong wind leaving me exhausted upon arrival at home.

This week I found out a friend of mine can supply me with free plastic barrels that are not for drinking out of but have had soap in them and are fine for catching rain water. I placed this barrel under a downspout of my gutter that drains about 300 sq. ft. of roof, it should fill up fast with a modest rain.
I framed in a fine screen to keep out debris and prevent mosquitoes from getting in the barrel. This water is going to be used to water the garden and houseplants, they like it better than chlorinated city water. I have one or two more places I can set barrels that are out of site and will provide over a hundred gallons with about a 1 inch rain.

We are going camping and riding at a new to us State Park this weekend and I will report on it later.

Living green

Dennis Starkey

San Diego

2008-02-21T18:30:00.001-08:00

This past weekend we went to San Diego for some friends wedding, while we were there we visited 2 lighthouses on the coast. Michele and I have visited a lot of lighthouses and enjoy traveling to them and the history of them. The one in this picture is the old Point Loma Lighthouse and we got to go in and up in it. This lighthouse is on a large high point and was replaced by the one in the next picture because this one was covered by fog a lot.This is looking down on the new Point Loma lighthouse and the Pacific ocean, this lighthouse is part of the military and is not open to the public.

While hiking around the bay we found this replica of the original America's Cup Yacht America.

Below is the Motor Yacht the Resound, the wedding was on this 60 foot 1940 teak wood boat that originally belonged to the Schlitz family. This was a great event with dinner and a several hour cruise around the bay, and the Captain performed a very nice service.

We also visited Torry Pines National Park and hiked the mountains and the beach in this small piece of mostly untouched coastline. We visited Mission Beach, Ocean Beach, Old Town and Seaport Village for a busy 4 days.

I got back just in time to do the night Bicycle ride on Tuesday night and got in a fast paced 25 miles with a few hills thrown in. Our welcome home from sunny California is a rainy day in the 3o's, but the weekend is forecast to be great.

Back from the left coast

Dennis

Country Ride

2008-02-14T06:16:00.001-08:00

We had a great day to do the recon ride in preparation for our clubs Bicycle rally, Michele and I led a group on the 40 mile route and found some new road surface and a lot of loose dogs. We made our first rest stop at the Gazeebo in the Ferris Square, this is when Michele noticed she was the only girl on the ride and the pace was brisk.

Michele acted like she was a little tired but when a big dog gives chase she had a supprising amount of energy left to sprint away from the dog and back into the group.
This week has been uneventfull, with a spin class on Monday night and now we are packing for a trip to San Diego for a few days leaving on Saturday.

Not much more work has been done on the boat due to cold wet weather, but I'm in no hurry since I like going down to the yard and messing around with the Yacht.

I've reached another milestone and at my supprising young age I have joined the senior center here in Farmers Branch and get to use the fitness center for free.

The leash law applies to you!!!!!!!

Dennis

Boat repair

2008-02-08T06:46:00.000-08:00

We finaly had a couple of warm afternoons and I started applying the West Systems Epoxy, I divided the boat into 3 sections for this. I first brushed on a coat of epoxy and the used a flexible putty knife to squeegee the epoxy deep into and voids or bare fiberglass, after this coat got tacky I applied a microfiber paste additive and faired the first sectioon. We were able to do 2/3 of the boat so the next 70 + day we can do the final third and finish this base coat and be ready do the final sanding. I got this new boat in the mail, when I sell Carrier parts on jobs I earn points and can shop from a catalog for prizes. This is the new dinghy for the O'day 272, it seems very heavy duty and will store in a small area and inflate by pump in less than 10 minutes.

Thursday afternoon I was off early and went for a 35 mile ride on the bike trail system and came across the cowby and his horse, I stopped and took his picture and he and his horse were freindly.

I never did get the cowboys name but this is Wrangler his well manered and well groomed mount.

Michele and I are going to ride our bicycles in Lancaster this weekend to pre-ride the routes for the Rally our Bicycle club puts on each Spring during wildflower season. This should be a fun day and the weather is predicted to be clear and a little cool.

I reached a financial milestone this week when I realized my old truck with 210,000 miles has a Blue Book value of less than I paid for my bicycle, talk about priority's.

Living well on less

Dennis Starkey

Fins to the left

2008-01-29T09:51:00.000-08:00

Saturday I showed up for the usual Airport Ride with the bike club http://www.gdbclub.com/ for 50 + miles on a nice but cool day, any idea of a modest ride vaporized when some of our racers showed up. We had a good but very hard for me ride with a new route and some new streets and hills, my heart rate was over 90% a lot of the time, as a bonus Morgan invited us to go sailing with him and his girlfriend Hiam.

We met them at grapevine lake on Sunday afternoon it was a cool overcast windy day perfect for sailing. I was looking forward to putting the Catalina 27 tall rig through its paces and it performed well and was a joy to sail surpassing 6 knots numerous times. This boat also has an Atomic 4, 30 horse engine which moves the boat effortlessly, now I feel my 8 horse on the O'day 272 is a little light.

GETTING READY
HEADING OUTUNDER SAIL

Today the wind is blowing thirty and gusting over 40 and is is short sleeve warm, I guess its a good day to start the winter garden planting of onions and a lettuce mix. I think we will try to grow potato's in a large container this year. We will try to make the most of our small garden that gets to much shade.

I'm on a vision quest

Dennis Starkey

Gettin Kinky

2008-01-22T06:42:00.000-08:00

Thursday I found out Kinky Friedman, a former Texas candidate for Governor was going to be at a local cigar shop so Michele and I went to meet Kinky. When he arrived he was very pleasant and was cutting up and signing autographs as well as posing for photo's, he gave Michele a big smile when he came in. I did have the camera with me and pulled it out, turned it on and it beeped and said battery exhausted, great. The purpose of his visit was to promote his new line of cigars, one of them is named the Utopian after his animal rescue ranch and the proceeds of this cigar go to those efforts. I had the impression he was a large man as he is always wearing a cowboy hat, but in real life he was not very tall but it was still a fun time.

I was scheduled to lead a bicycle ride for the club called the distance builder on Saturday, but it was in the 30's and none of this group showed up so I did a ride of 50 miles with the more hard core Airport group and we had a good ride with light winds and sunshine even though it was cold. Monday Michele and I went to the GDB spin class and had a good workout, I used my heart rate monitor and worked for a little over an hour with a maximum heart rate of 182, and overall average of 151 and burned 915 calories, not bad for an old guy.

Sunday we went to Eisenhower State Park and did some hiking along the bluffs at Lake Texoma, the lake was deserted and we saw no other hikers on the trail, I guess the cold and wind made it a perfect day for us. The limestone bluffs were full of fossilized sea shells and makes me think it was all covered by water at some time.

A woman and her faithful DogWe visited the Eisenhower Birthplace to round out a politically themed week. The annual State Park Pass allows us free entry to the State Parks and Historic sites and has paid off for us.

Losing retirement money faster than I can count

Dennis Starkey

West Systems Epoxy

2008-01-16T08:10:00.000-08:00

When work allows and weather permits I am still sanding the bottom on the O'day 272 in preparation of repairing the blisters on the bottom of the hull. The hull is now dry and all the blisters are open, and a lot of the gel coat is ground, or sanded off.Santa brought me some West Marine gift cards for Christmas and I bought round one of the Epoxy supplies I will need to repair the blisters and apply a barrier coat of epoxy. This is about it on the O'Day until the weather warms up.

I have had several good bicycle rides over the past week or so, On Tuesday I rode a night ride on the White Rock Trail for 22 miles, and then Saturday I rode 55 miles with the club www.gdbclub.com . This was a good training at a good but not all out intensity level, For a lot of the ride I was on the wheel of a guy with a powertap and we stayed at a consistent 200 watts of power. The powertap is a hub on the rear wheel that accurately measures power applied in watts, since I was drafting a lot my power output was a little less, but I have a heavier bicycle and weigh more myself to even it out.

Michele also got in a nice ride on Saturday with the clubs distance builder group, they rode to The State Park Fairgrounds and explored that area. We both did the Spin Class on Monday night and it looks like cold weather is going to set in for a while now limiting our rides.

I think I've got cabin fever

Dennis Starkey

1963 Biscayne for sale

2008-01-07T12:12:00.000-08:00

For the first of the year my brother Bart,his son Austin and I went down to the farm to do a little work on the place. we bagged up a lot of debris and trash. In this remote are there is no trash pickup so a lot of bottles and cans and anything that won't burn is still there. It had been at least 3 years since the driveway was mowed so we mowed the one driveway and around the newer house, the grass was the same height as the pasture and was hard to mow, but it looks like someone is taking care of the place now.Mowing the grass helped a lot but the amount of work that needs to be done is staggering, we also need to sell a few vehicles, like the 63 chevy in the picture below. If anyone wants a Cheech and Chong low rider we have the title and would take $500. The car is all there and has never been wrecked, but has not been moved in at least 10 years

My nephew Austin Starkey loves to target practice and is becoming a good shot, we shot several guns and in the pic he is shooting the gun my dad gave me when I was 12 years old, A youth model 22 single shot rifle. We set up targets and had a little safety course and a lot of fun, my shooting was not up to par, I'm going to blame on my aging eyes.

On the bicycling ride side of things I was riding down to meet the club Saturday and the street was wet, I hit a section that was muddy and the bike instantly just shot out from under me. I wasn't injured but did suffer a good Raspberry on my Bum after sliding about 20 feet on it. Its healing nicely but I may not be able to ride for a while, guess it will be work on the boat time for a while.

Sea ya

Dennis Starkey

Bastrop State Park Review

2007-12-26T18:20:00.000-08:00

This Weekend we decided to get away for a little while before Christmas and we visited Bastrop State Park. This is a Park located about 30 miles southeast of Austin and is in an area of the hill country known as the lost pines.
This is a really pretty area in the Winter time because it is still green and the forest floor is covered with a blanket of pine needles and makes walking in the woods quiet.
The real reason for our trip was to ride the 12 mile park road between Bastrop and Buescher State Parks. We rode this route out and back for a ride of about 26 miles including the loop around the parks on both ends. This is a very hilly ride with constant up and down, Make sure your bicycle has the right gears for the climbs. While fairly steep the climbs are not long and the descents are fun, traffic was very light and the narrow winding road was in good condition with the exception of the 3 cattle guard crossings.

Michele rides in the Piney Woods

Sometimes Sprocket our rescue dog thinks he is a sled dog
Since it is Christmas maybe he thinks he is a reindeer

This park also has 2 hiking trails , the Bueshcer trail which is 7.7 miles and another loop at Bastrop of 8 miles. We did the 7.7 miles and saw only one hiker the entire time, very nice trail with gentle climbs and smooth terrain. We plan on returning and hiking the 8 mile lost pines trail next time.

The Town on Bastrop is a trip back in time to small time America and they had the walk on the Colorado River decorated with thousands of lights and every few feet the decorations had a different theme, it was a great Trip

On Christmas we went to my brothers house and about 20 family members were there, after a nice lunch we went to Michele's mother's house for coffee and dessert, it truly was a great Christmas.

Merry Christmas

Dennis and Michele Starkey

Sailing a small boat

2007-12-21T16:16:00.001-08:00

Tuesday I did The TEBR with the bike club (Tuesday evening bike ride) and it was a spirited ride. We do various routes ,all after dark so we use lights. I have a strobe taillight and a 10 watt halogen headlight. the 10 watt is OK but the guys with HID light like the night rider brand are maybe 3 times brighter but cost 3 or 4 hundred dollars. Until I can make myself spend that kind on money on a light I just stay close so someone with a good light, if I pick someone faster than I am it is motivation to keep up

During the middle of the week I did get to do some sailing with a small boat. This is a boat I built from a kit some years ago, it is an America's cup miniature called the Victoria. The first time I took it out the motor that controls the rudder came off its mount and I had no control and had to walk to the boat and retrieve it off of the rocks. When this happened I had a visual off this happening on the bigger O'day 272 and how dangerous it could be too loose steering and control off the boat, I was helpless. After the repairs it sailed very good and I could sail it right back to me.
After about an hour of tuning and sailing the boat a couple came over and said they enjoyed watching the remote control sailboat in action and visited with me for a few minute about the boat, that was nice

This weekend we have planned to go to the Austin area and do some hiking and cycling at some of the State Parks in the area.

I am a Pirate 200 years too late

Dennis Starkey

Sunshine at last

2007-12-17T14:51:00.000-08:00

I took off work early Thursday and got a nice 30 mile ride in and then on Sunday I met a group of friends for a randonouring ride. In the picture we are heading out of Dallas on the highway 80 service road and are going across the 8 lane I-635 and looked down ----------and this is what we saw. a multi-car crash. What a rotten start to someones Christmas.
We had a great ride on nice country roads on a Sunny 50 degree day for a little over 40 miles. On the way back in the traffic was heavy and we had to stay alert, it was nice to have 7 riders as you are a lot more visible. We took one short restroom and drink stop and finished the ride. Thanks to Paul who took these pictures and is not in any of them. While we were riding Michele rode with her friend Lugay and got in a little over 30 miles and did some pretty hard hill climbs, this along with the Monday night spin classes are making her a strong rider.

On the sailing front the weather has not been conducive for sailing with friends on their boats but I have done some more sanding on the bottom of the O-day 272 and should apply the epoxy repairs and barrier coat after the 1st of the year. I really need 70 degree dry weather to do this, but may have to wait, all because of the delay due to the spring flooding and high water preventing hauling the boat. I guess the longer I am landlocked the more I will appreciate sailing again.

Doing better than I deserve. (if you recognize this statement That I have plagiarised then I must tell you that yes we are.)

Dennis Starkey

Global Warming

2007-12-10T10:53:00.000-08:00

We had a great bicycle ride on Saturday with a high in the low 80's, then Sunday morning it started in the 40's and then dropped into the 30's and has been there since.
For the bicycle ride I did the GDBCLUB Airport ride which is about 55 miles plus I ride to the location for some extra miles. At about 20 miles I had a flat tire (first one in 2000 miles) , this is no big deal, I just removed the piece of offending glass,installed a new tube and proceeded to air it up with a co2 cartridge and blew the tire off of the rim exploding the tube with a report like a gunshot. I carefully installed and pressurized my last tube and made it fine the rest of the ride and back home. This is a nice club to ride with and they patiently waited while I changed the tube twice and only received a little grief from the other riders.

Sunday was so wet and cold we started a nice fire and just relaxed and worked some on Christmas stuff. Now I don't really know that much about Global Warming but we do recycle and use the least amount of electricity and water we can. We do this for our pocketbook as well as the environment so it is a win win situation.

Proud People Don't Litter

Dennis Starkey

Boat work and work work continue

2007-12-04T05:55:00.000-08:00

Work on the O'day is still going on at a slow pace, what with the weather and the Thanksgiving Holiday. I have been able to install a new 360 degree light on the masthead, the old one had quit working and was so badly crazed it crumbled when I touched it. Since working on the mast is so much easier when it is laying down I also replaced the jib halyard. This was a difficult job as I had to remove the entire top of the mast and push a long hard wire through the mast and then pull the new halyard through. I used an electricians fish tape (used for pulling wire through conduit) to do this and now can fly a Spinnaker or use a head sail other than the one on the roller furling. In a moment of brilliance I had pulled the bitter end of the old halyard into the mast and for the last year or so had been without this halyard.Of course being self employed work still goes on, this is a 30 ton Carrier Packaged Heating and cooling unit with a variable frequency drive, the unit is larger than my truck and was not running.

Let me see, what could it be, man there are a lot of wires and controls in here. This is an ever changing business and old school doesn't work any more.

Over Thanksgiving we had about 20 family members over for lunch and took all the kids to the park on a cold windy day. This picture is of my dad Clyde Thomas Starkey and one of his Great Grandsons Colton Thomas Stone. It was nice to have everyone over, it will also be nice to do this at my brothers house on Christmas.

The bicycle rides have been plagued by bad weather making it hard to get in any miles over the last few weeks. This year our cycling club (GDBCLUB.com) is putting on a weekly spin class and has helped keep up the conditioning, these spin classes are as hard as you want to make them and having other people working with you helps the motivation.

This weekend I decided to go ahead and ride outside and got rained on Saturday in the cold and had 30 mile an hour winds on Sunday afternoon, I still got in 70 miles and just acted like the wind was a long hill climb.

Doing better than I deserve

Dennis Starkey

Mountain Bike rides

2007-11-18T12:00:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since i have posted anything but Sprockets dog house is almost complete and I put his name over the door, I think its a nice dog house but Sprocket thinks the house he lives in now is much nicer.Michele and I went to Lake Fairfield State Park and camped out for the weekend of the 10th, we had a nice secluded site and had great weather. We met our camp host who lives full time in a large motor home and travels and volunteers at the State Parks in exchange for free camping. Our accommodations were a bit more rustic but we had a good time riding the miles of park roads and the 15+ miles of mountain bike trails.

Some of the trails were easy and some were pretty hard and crossed live creeks. After Michele walked Sprocket through the park the first time he met some kids and after that when we walked the kids would come out yelling here comes Sprocket, they knew not our names.

Our cycling club has started a new spin class on Monday nights and we both went on the 12th, it was a good workout and was 80 minutes of interval work. Interval work is based on timed efforts at prescribed effort levels of hard, harder, and hardest with short recovery's between sets. We were beat after this class and yet we look forward to this Monday where we will do simulated hill climb training.

On the Sailing front I have started working on the O'day 272 again and have removed the top of the mast to replace the light fixture and install a new halyard that some years ago, that I had accidentally pulled out of the mast.

I was Invited this weekend to hunt on a ranch in Brady Texas and was successful at once again replenishing my nearly exhausted supply of venison. I have some great photos but will spare everyone the dead animal shots. I assure you the meat will go to good use feeding Friends and family.

Happy Thanksgiving

Dennis & Michele

Dog house and dream home

2007-11-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

We did the usual bike rides over the weekend and it was a little cool Saturday morning, and it was the last ride before the time change. The Saturday ride will now move to a 9 o'clock start, I much prefer the early start so more of the day is left, but with the colder weather I guess more people like the later start.

This picture is of the dog house I have started building for Sprocket our dog, it will be finished in another week or two and will allow us to get away for a few days at a time without the faithfull companion. As long as he is on good behavior he will still be a mostly inside dog.
We were also invited to some of our freinds lake house on Lake Texoma, they purchased this house and did a lot of work and tree trimming and the result is this view from the living room and patio.
We also hiked a nice loop trail down to the lake and back that is about a mile or so, with half of it up steep hills and half of it down hill. I would love to have a place like this but it's not in the plan unless we hit the lotto.

This weekend we plan on a nice camping trip with the dog and bicycles To Fairfield State Park, we like this park a lot but wanted to try a new one near Austin but they were all full.

Doing better than I deserve

Dennis Starkey

Free concert

2007-11-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

Not a lot to write about over the last week or so, Michele had several rides but I only rode the Tuesday night ride. That 21 miles is a weekly low since I started keeping a log. I was also busy with work, which was a good thing, as long as it doesn't last to long or happen too often.

Late Friday afternoon I went to the farm to check on the deer herd and I saw a nice buck Friday evening and a small herd of 6 deer on Saturday. The acorns are falling and it was a good year for mast crops and the ground is covered with the acorns. Since Deer love acorns they are well fed and fat this year. I took a few pictures at the farm but Today blogger will not download my pics.

To make up for lost miles last week,after Church Sunday I rode 36 miles on a really nice day, And I rode 26 miles late Wednesday.

We went to the American Airlines Center again Tuesday night, this time to the Jenifer Lopez concert where we were invited to a suite. This would not be my favorite music but is was a nice show and with VIP parking and seats in a full service suite it was really nice and the price of 0 was also good.

Less is really more

Dennis

Small Steps and good rides

2007-10-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

The weather has been good for cycling right up till today, Michele and I have started the night rides, we have been riding the neighborhood so she can get used to riding in the dark and using the halogen headlights we have. I have been doing the club rides and we have gone to downtown Dallas and the Historic West End, we have also ridden around the American Airlines Arena and the new W- hotel area, it's been fun and people seem to think its cool when we ride by the Diners on Patios with our headlights and flashing tail lights.

For the week ending the 13Th I logged 156 miles and the week of the 20Th I logged 90 miles, I expect those numbers to drop as the weather has turned rainy and cold for the next few days.

The O'day is still drying out its hull but I removed the two shelves over the settee's and replaced the water damaged wood, I then stained it and sealed it. I got the color as close as I could and while it is a small detail it looks much better without the water damage.

I can't tell you how this picture got in here 2 times, and I can't make it go away.

I also removed the bilge covers and glued the areas that were separating and put several coats of varnish on them, they are still 20 years old but look much better with a nice shine on them

One of my fellow cyclists who is the preacher at the church we have been attending invited us to a Mavericks basketball game. We had lower level seats and VIP parking passes, the Mavs won and we had a great time with perfect seats, these lower level seats even had a cheering coach for the section.

Right now it's 50 degrees and raining so no boat work for a few days and it may be hard to get a bike ride in too. Oh well I guess I may have to actually do a little work.

Trying to live my dream

Dennis

The State Fair of Texas

2007-10-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

Michele had Friday off so we went to the State Fair and it was a perfect day, we went to the K-9 shows and watched dogs race, catch Frisbees and do long distance water jumps. We also went to the birds of the world show and it was cool watching the birds free fly and do tricks. It was impressive to have a large hawk fly close over your head at a about 100 mph. This picture shows Michele outside the first aid station where she was treated for a splinter she got from the wood seats.No Texas fair is complete without visiting Big Tex and hearing him say howdy folks, welcome to the State Fair of Texas.

We then went to Lake Murray Oklahoma to meet the bicycle club and had a great time riding to Turner Falls and back with the Ardmore Bicycle club. These guys (and gals) were strong from all the hills in the area. The turn around point was at a radio antenna up a 2 mile 7% grade. We had a nice turnout of GDB riders (greater Dallas Bicyclists) and had options for those who didn't want 70 miles of hills. I of course did the long ride and with the strong headwind all the way back I was beat. Michele rode strong with her group and they rode 42 miles to the town of Gene Autry and visited the so named museum.

I took this pic while enjoying the rural countryside drafting off of the locals, this was a fun trip. We spent Sunday resting and going to Church where the preacher just happens to be a cyclist also.

Mind your manners

Dennis

2007-10-10T06:54:00.000-07:00

This week I finally got out the dinghy and cleaned it up. this is a boat I built using the stitch and glue method. I never used it much as a dinghy but have used it numerous times to fish small lakes and did so this past week but once again I forgot the camera. Oh well that's just as good since there was nothing to photograph but one little bass, but it was nice to get the boat out and work on my rowing.We did the usual bike rides over the weekend and had the last weeknight daylight ride on Tuesday, for the rest of the winter we will be taking night rides with lights on the evening rides. I had a pretty good week and logged in 112 miles.

The O'day is still drying out but I did remove two seat backs from the cabin so I can replace some water damaged plywood that forms shelves behind the seats. It looks like it will be the first of the year before the hull is dry enough to do the epoxy work.

I am home with the armadillo's

Dennis

Lake Mineral Wells State Park review

2007-10-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

We had planned to take an overnight camping trip as soon as it was cool enough and this weekend we went to Mineral Wells Sate Park for our first visit to this Park. After a quick 15 miles on the road bikes early Saturday we headed out and in about an hour and a half we were there.
While the park was very full it wasn't bad at all, we had a nice campsite and for the rest of Saturday we explored the Park roads and some of the trails on our mountain bikes. The roads were good with some nice tough hills and a good number of other cyclist, as a treat Michele and I each saw several deer and rolled up close to some of them before they could hear us. I found the bike trails hard, since horses and bikes share some trails a lot of the surface is loose sand from the horse traffic and its hard to go very fast and you get a good workout quick, add lots of big and small rocks and hills and you have a tough ride.

Now the hiking was good, Sunday we hiked 5 miles on the hike only trail to the primitive camping area and it was really pretty and we only saw one other group on the entire walk. As you can see in the pictures it is hilly and rocky so you walk, climb and crawl. Our dog Sprocket was pooped and in the 2nd photo as we return his tongue is hanging out pretty far.

I think we will return to this Park soon, it's close but seems like a long way from the house, I started getting the dinghy for the O'day 272 ready for the next trip so I can maybe fish the lake. I better rest up now to be ready for the Tuesday bike ride with the club www.gdbclub.com

Proud People Don't Litter ( stolen from Gummy)

Dennis

2007-09-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

This week I didn't spend much time at the boat yard working on the O'day but I did sand the rudder down and fair it some. The pic's show the rudder after power washing and then after sanding and fairing (smoothing) it, it will get a new epoxy coating and bottom paint before launch.

Rudder for the O'day 272

I stayed off of the bicycle for the full week and rode 50 miles on Sunday and experienced no knee pain and had a great ride. I hope the rest was all I needed, it didn't hurt bad but after 40 miles or so it would hurt so I was pro active.

Michele had a good ride on Saturday when her and her friend Lugay went riding and had some excitement. Michele had a flat tire and had stopped to try and repair it, another cyclist stopped and helped her by changing the tube. Michele always carries a tube and supplies to make a roadside repair so the good Samaritan used them and all looked well. Shortly after taking off it went flat again and now She has no spare tube, another couple on a ride stopped and he repaired it with his spare tube and would take no money for his parts. I examined the tubes later and determined the first flat was a puncture and the first change went flat due to pinching the tube, the help was still greatly appreciated.

It has been my experience that fellow cyclist are some of the most generous and helpful people you will meet and even more so when dealing with fellow cyclists.

Dennis

Invitation to Sail

2007-09-18T05:57:00.001-07:00

This week we went on several bicycle rides and I installed the new front chain rings on the Treck, I also put on some new tires with a red stripe. Saturday was the big ride of the week, it was only a little over 50 miles but we went on nice rural roads and climbed a lot of hills. This was a nice ride in part because I got to ride with some friends I seldom get to ride with like Gerald who let me stay in His motor home a the Hotter Than Hell Hundred. My right knee has been causing me pain toward the end of the longer rides so I think I will lay off the bike for about a week if I can, hopefully this will help the knee and at least keep it from getting worse.

We got a call from Mike and an invitation to go sailing on their Hunter 260 that is berthed on Lake Grapevine Sunday afternoon. Years ago we had kept our boat on this lake and it has really changed. The new Gaylord Texan Resort is open and looms large over the marina, in the photos you can see it in the background. We sailed by one of the areas with a patio on the water and we watched the people watch us sail by. It was a nice evening with a perfect 10mph breeze and low 80's temperature wise.

Michele looks like she is really suffering, but some body's got to do it. Man, I've got to get the O'day ready to go for a couple of long cruises.

The Fed spoke today and the market went crazy, as if a 1/2 point will stop all the foreclosures and inflation will go away if you exclude energy from the formula, please!. Don't get me wrong I liked the lift but I think when life looks like easy street there is danger at the door, and I don't want to go to work tomorrow.

I'm having to much fun, I don't want to grow up

Dennis

Boat Yard and Green Acres

2007-09-13T07:27:00.000-07:00

With the O'day in the boat yard I have started to repair the bottom side, this is really a storage yard close to the house and nowhere near water, but while I am there refitting the boat it is a boat yard. After I started grinding the old paint off as I expected there are some blisters in the gel coat and this is not a good thing. The blisters seem to be very small and shallow and at this point have done no real damage to the fiberglass. For now I have to grind a significant amount of the gel coat off and let the hull dry out for months. It's going to take a while to get it all sanded and ground down and after that is done I will work on other project while it dries The O'Day 272 drying its blisters

Saturday Me and Michele rode our bikes to Richardson Bike Mart and bought some parts and a new set of front chain rings for the Treck, The old ones were very worn as they had about 10,000 miles on them. We had a great ride with a coffee shop stop and got in 45 miles. We left early and were back by 11:30 and decided to go to the farm for the rest of the weekend.

We had a nice evening and Sunday morning at the farm, after coffee Sunday morning I went scouting and found this buck rub that is really fresh as the broken limbs still have green leaves on them.

We trimmed the grass around the house and did other little projects and overall it was relaxing but I did a lot of walking in thick vegetation. Michele pitched in and helped do some of the hard work like hauling feed

On the way home my old truck started vibrating so I pulled over and found a good tire had developed a large hump in it. Since I was going to have to change a flat of course it started raining so hard you could barely see so I drove on the shoulder for about 5 miles and changed the tire under a bridge. The good thing is I paid very little for a new tire as It was considered a manufacturing defect.

Don't put it off

Dennis

Moving Day

2007-09-04T10:26:00.001-07:00

Friday was the day to move the Sailboat, the travel lift was finally operational although he still had water over the long piers he drives out on to pick up the boat. Early in the morning I hooked up the home made trailer and headed out to the lake and dropped the rig off at the marina and Michele then took me to the boat and I moved it to the Marina.Once he had driven the lift out over the boat we lowered the slings under the boat, lifted the boat out of the water and then he drove it to the shop and power washed off an embarrassing amount of marine growth. I moved the trailer into position and he held the boat over the trailer while we adjusted the bunks to fit the boat.

It took a little longer than I had hoped for to get the trailer to fit but it finally worked out good and we got the boat home with no trouble.
The neighbors were nice about the beast parked in front of the house, we parked it there over the holiday weekend to clean it up a little and get it ready to go to the boat yard where I will start the re-fit of the O'day 272 Rising Star. Now that it's in the boat yard 1/2 mile from the house I am relieved that the trailer I built worked out well and I have all winter to work on it. I should still be able to get in some sailing on other yachts while we are dry docked.

I also had 2 nice bicycle rides with my club www.gdbclub.com on Tuesday and Saturday and plan on riding tonight weather permitting. The cooler weather has been nice to ride in and I have 2 weeks of much easier riding planned after several months of hard rides and then the Hotter Than Hell Hundred followed by 2 hard fast club rides.

Dennis

HHH with the motorhome

2007-08-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

Finding a place to stay in Wichita Falls can be tough for the Hotter Than Hell Hundred but this year we were very lucky and had a great place to stay. Gerald, a good friend of ours has been cycling lately and decided to do the ride and take their 32 ft motor home. We scouted around the RV area and found a spot with 30 amp electric and got set up , best of all it was free for cyclist and a newspaper was delivered Saturday morning. This worked out great and was within walking distance of all the events, thanks Gerald and Kay.With nervous energy it was hard to go to sleep so we detailed our bikes, had more snacks

and visited with friends and neighbors. We finally went to bed and set the alarms for 5 am.Michele and I both had good rides and set pb's (personal bests) on a nice day with nice light breeze for the most part. Like last year Michele the the 64 mile or metric century and I rode the 100 miles. Of course our small group on the 100 mile route pulled into the outlaw 98 mile beer stop for a few minutes before finishing.

Get off the couch

Dennis

boating and swimming

2007-08-20T14:20:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Michele and had nice rides on the bikes, she rode a little over 40 miles and I rode an extra 18 miles by taking a loop around the perimeter of DFW Airport. This lap is always fast and we almost never have to stop and we try to keep a pace over 20 miles an hour with one all out sprint zone. I got very lucky and won the sprint in my small group while achieving 39.4 mph as my max speed.

Sunday we went to check the flood water level at the lake and found it disappointingly high, we nose in to this Island and explored a little. The O'day 272 is a fixed keel boat but has a shoal draft wing keel, don't try to nose up to the shore like this in your fin keel boat.
This picture shows me fishing at the still closed boat ramp, you can see the parking lot is just now starting to dry out and the picnic tables are still under water. Maybe next week the ramp will open.

My Mother in Law was out of town for a week or so and Michele and I went over to check on things and just happened to have our swim suits with us. It was a nice day for a swim with perfect 84 degree water, (thanks Teddy)

Sprocket went for a swim too and while he can swim you can see he really wanted to get out of the water.

You never know if you have 6 more minutes, 6 more days, or 6 more years so do it Today.

Wish Michele and I both Luck as we ride in the Hotter Than Hell 100 this coming weekend.

Dennis

Urban Ride

2007-08-17T12:40:00.001-07:00

On Saturday Michele and I went on a nice 50 + mile ride around Dallas, we left from the house and first rode to Snider Plaza and stopped for this picture at the fountain and then stopped at Starbucks to get caffeined up. After the coffee stop we rode through the S M U campus and through numerous back streets and neighborhood to arrive at White Rock Lake Park. This Park is the cycling Mecca of Dallas so we did a few laps around the lake at 9 miles each and then 7 miles up the White Rock Creek Trail and then back home. This was a fun ride and it was nice to ride moderately and sight see, so many of my rides have become too much like a race and very intense with a lot of "attacks" on any hill.

The weather has been very hot and it was over 100 when we got home from this ride. Living here we have learned to live with the heat and to not let it keep us indoors all summer like so many do. I have found that we can pace ourselves and drink plenty of water and do just fine, this was good training for the Hotter Than Hell 100 less than 2 weeks away.

On the sailing front all is quiet, the mast is still down and the water level is down to 5 ft above normal and next week I plan on hauling the boat. I think I will make it a winter project to completely refurbish the bottom, add pressure water to the existing 30 gallon tank and a good solar panel for keeping the battery's charged while traveling and staying on the hook for several days at a time.

Live more work less

Dennis Starkey

CRASH

2007-08-10T07:27:00.000-07:00

MIchele took her first spill on the Specialized Dolce and got scraped up a little bit, she also jammed her thumb but was not hurt to bad. This happened in our neighborhood when she entered a turn with water from a sprinkler system around the curve, a little hard on the brakes and the bike slid out from under her. I am thankful she was not seriously injured and since she was out by herself she went ahead and finished her ride and then came home so Dr. Dennis could bandage her up, she said that hurt more than the crash. Notice the large band aid, and there is one more on her knee, (sorry no bloody photo's).

I went on a new hill training ride on Wednesday and got a good workout on a very hot late afternoon. This ride goes to a hilly area and does repeat aggressive climbs of some hills in a residential neighborhood, in some areas these are probably considered small hills but it was still hard work. The ride finished with an all out sprint to the performance bike shop in which I stayed with the leaders at 37 mph but faded at the end to finish a great ride

On the work front this is a new unit replacing a 24 year old one and will reduce this homes carbon footprint and save on the light bill. The old unit was about a 9 seer rating and the new one is a 13 seer rating. Think of seer (seasonal energy efficiency rating) like miles per gallon, in this case a higher number is better. This was not an elective change since the old unit died and will be recycled.

Less is really more

Dennis

2007-08-02T13:23:00.000-07:00

This picture was on a club ride where the fast group (with me) caught the slower group and are working our way through them with a lot of cutting up going on, we made up 5 miles on them. Michele and I have been able to ride quite a bit. On Sunday we rode to Downtown Dallas and looked at the big fire at the welding gas plant that has been all over the news, the area is destroyed with buildings and a lot of cars torched. Many years ago I had worked on the mechanical systems at this building, I'm sure glad it was a long time ago.Monday I worked on this 1959 model chiller that still provides the cooling for a large home, that's an old unit but not as old as me.

This is the old atmospheric type cooling tower for the chiller and I replaced a few boards that had rotted out. This is an old very inefficient system, the oldest still running system I know of.

Thursday I decided to take the boat out and survey the high water from the lake, since the mast is down in preparation to remove the boat I had to use the motor and couldn't sail. The picture doesn't do the sky justice, it was incredible.

The lake is still in flood stage but has dropped 3 ft since my last visit (now 9 ft high) and I should be able to haul the boat this month. As I motored through a cut in the old dam I stopped to fish this brush pile and caught a little bass, the trees in the background are the original shoreline. I sure would like to be able to do the work on the bottom of the boat and get it ready for some coastal sailing and try out the trailer.

Have more than you show, speak less than you know.

Dennis

Jazz Saturdays

2007-07-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

For the last few weeks I have been busier at work and we have had some breaks in the rain.
Michele and I have both been riding a lot and have done several rides together, this has been nice since most of my rides are at just about all out effort. I finished the week of the 7th with 175 miles and the week of the 14th with 126 miles. With the heat of summer here I will ride hard starting in a couple of weeks in prep for the Hotter than Hell 100 and take it easy for four or five days before the event.

Lake Lewisville has crested and is slowly going down, all the ramps and the travel lift are still closed but I sure would like to take the boat out this month. When I last checked, my boat and its entire dock had been moved to an area that is the parking lot and have formed a walkway to connect all the docks together.

No photos this week that anybody would want to see just some of us cyclist dressed funny walking around the parking lots. Michele and I each had a flat but it wasn't a good time for a photo. The city of Adisson is about 5 miles away and have been having Saturday Jazz nights in the park. Michele and I went Saturday night and it was a good show on a cool evening, the price was free and you can bring a cooler and picnic. The month of August will feature symphony's and we will check one or two of them out, after all Sprocket need some culture.

Have more zero days

Dennis

p.s. zero days are days you spend no money out off your pockets, but have a good time

Kaboom Town

2007-07-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

On the 3rd we went to the Kaboom Town Festival and watched a great firework show and concert. They had antique aircraft flyovers and acrobatics as well as trick parachutes and perfect weather. My firework photos are poor but its what I have.

On the cycling front I have been busy with 2 GDB club rides of 65 and 42 miles and had the Summer bash party. On the 4Th I rode a 65 mile ride with the Mirage racing team and a group of 6 of us got stopped by the police. No one was given a ticket but we were told we had to ride single file even though the country road was deserted. I have read the law and it is my understanding we do not have to ride single file but should not obstruct traffic, since I am no expert and the officer wasn't giving tickets I was very polite with a lot of yes sirs.

Saturday the 7Th I rode 65 miles with the PBA club and averaged over 19 mph with some good hills, this ride was hard on me and this morning I was a little sore so Michele and I rode an easy 15 this morning before more rain came.

I went to the boat and the cockpit drain had stopped up and the cockpit was full of water and about 2 inches in the cabin, no damage but a big mess. I got all the water out and dried everything out good and visited with some boat neighbors. The lake is still in flood stage and is up to the marina office building so it's anybody guess as to when I can put the boat on the trailer.

High Water

2007-07-03T06:13:00.000-07:00

The plan to put the sailboat on the trailer was a bust, the lake is in flood stage and all ramps are closed, this is the road to the ramp I wanted to use.This is our Marina and our boat the SVRisingStar is back there somewhere, I guess I will pay for another months rent on the slip and hope by then the water will go down. It may not since it has risen 3 feet since this picture.

I consider us lucky that this is our only water trouble as so many have been flooded out of their homes, Michele and I pray and hope things get better for these people.

Dennis

2007-07-03T06:11:00.000-07:00

Look out below

2007-06-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

After a nice 50 mile ride on Saturday with the bike club gdbclub.com in which Michele did a great job on a new route with some good hills. After lunch and resting up we headed to the boat and managed to get the mast down. It went smooth and was fairly easy after checking and double checking everything to make sure it was ready and would be safe

Well the SV Rising Star is now a powerboat since we no longer have the ability to sail. The next step is to put her on the trailer and start the retrofit for voyages to unknown waters. I will do the first attempt on Thursday weather permitting.

Boat prep and new ride

2007-06-22T06:09:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend while avoiding numerous rain storms we made a trip to the boat and brought a load of stuff from the boat like dishes clothes and bedding. We also took down the sails in preparation for hauling the boat out. I still need to take down the bimini top and the mast, I have taken this mast down only one time and it was ,well lets just say exciting. This putting the boat on its trailer and making it fit the trailer I built and then hoping it all works is exciting and scary at the same time.

We also went on a new bicycle ride called the Pappa's Pizza ride. This is a fun ride with no drops or breakaways, just fun and social and to help newer riders. I took a couple of photo's from the bike but they were mostly blurry and I am just guessing what will be in the frame as I can't see the screen. This is my evil eye and Michele and a few others in the background.

This is our tree that never blooms, this year is has so many flowers it's probably going to break off some limbs from the weight of the flowers, this limb is going to touch the ground if it doesn't break first.

Wasting a day can be a great use of it.

Dennis

Calfornia Dreaming

2007-06-14T15:27:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we took my parents (seated at right) and my mothers sister and her husband sailing on a very nice evening. Margaret and Art are visiting from California and it was nice to spend some time with them and I think they enjoyed the outing. In the photo you can see the fishing poles in their holders and we did manage to catch a nice white bass while trolling. Michele isn't in the picture because she took it.On Tuesday I felt good enough to resume my rides with the Tuesday night fast group, we did 30 miles at a 19.6 average even with stop signs, lights and traffic. This picture is a nice look past me (on the right) at our 20 plus member rotating pace line. In this pace line we rotated counter clockwise so everyone got to do a pull for a short time every few minutes.

Remember our Vets today its Flag Day, and fly your flag

Dennis and Michele

Feeling better

2007-06-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

My sciatica has gotten much better and Michele and I each went on different rides Saturday and both enjoyed the nice day. I did 54 miles and had a modest 17.8 average and felt good after the ride.

Sunday afternoon we went sailing and took a pasta salad for lunch. We made this salad with basil and tomato's from our garden, and added fresh mozzarella cheese and a good alive oil, it was a great and easy to serve meal.
The lake is now 1.7 ft over normal level and we had a fresh 12 mph breeze, in this pic I'm grinding the winch to sheet in the genny. No that is not talking dirty.

Michele is on the bow and spots a house I know she would like to have, and it is a nice home but a little out of our range. It's risky business on the bow when we are heeled over like this.

This house even has a widow walk on top so she could watch for me coming in from a hard day on the lake.

If you wait for all the lights to be green before you go it will be to late.

Dennis