HOT Bothered Hiking & Whining In Texas

It is not 3 yet and we've hit 104. I went swimming this morning after the sun had arrived. The air was warmer than the pool, which makes the pool pleasant.

My hiking compulsion and broken bike had me on the Tandy Hills for the third day in a row. Two different Cheryl's, Cheryl V. and Cheryl P. asked me today about my compulsive hiking. What is it about Cheryl's that causes them to ask such questions?

The picture I took yesterday of beautiful downtown Fort Worth's Freeway Mixmaster and the Omni Convention Center, which I consider to be sort of architectural malpractice with its odd balconies sticking out from its sides, did not turn out too well.

When you zoom the camera past optical zoom to digital it's best to have it on a tripod. Yesterday I was real shaky, I think due to having just heard Tootsie Tonasket's harrowing story about a rattlesnake nearly killing her before she murdered the sweet, innocent, harmless reptile. Today I was not shaking, I was able to hold the camera steady and so got a better picture, it being one where you can see the goofy balconies. I've got actual closeup pictures of those balconies somewhere on this computer, but it's too HOT to go looking for pictures right now.

It was 99 when I left here for some natural sauna. I weighed 172 when I left. I drank four 18 ounce bottles of water, between weighing myself and getting back here and weighing myself again, to find I then weighed 170. My math skills are really bad, but I think I lost over 6 pounds of water.

After hiking I went to the Beach Street Wal-Mart where I saw an unusually large number of unusually large people, including the lady who checked me out. She was not so large that she no longer has a neck, like one of the most obese people I've seen, but she was so large that I would think it must be very difficult to do 8 hours of being a check-out person. I almost felt sorry for her.

In the Wal-Mart parking lot I saw something I have very rarely seen in Texas. A vehicle with Washington license plates. This caught my eye as soon as I exited my vehicle. It's pretty much mostly Texas plates you see here. It ain't exactly a tourist zone. Occasionally I'll see an Oklahoma plate or Arkansas or Louisiana or New Mexico. Even Kansas once in awhile. But rarely from further away.

When I first read of the Texas tourist statistics I did not see how the numbers could be right, because I see so few out of state cars. Then I found out that in Texas if you travel more than 30 miles to do something, you're considered a visiting tourist. If I were driving around in the Seattle zone right now at least half the vehicles would be having out of state or country plates.

I have been in parts of Texas that do seem to draw some out of state visitors. When I was at the LBJ National Historic Park, in Johnson City, I saw 3 vehicles with Washington plates. The first I'd seen in Texas. Each time I'm back in Washington I've seen Texas plates. Or read of some Texan doing some noteworthy antic, like accidentally driving into the bus/light rail tunnel that runs under downtown Seattle.

I think putting up signs like "DO NOT ENTER" is very presumptuous, making the assumption that everyone can read. Washington can be so snooty sometimes, assuming that just because most everyone up there graduates from high school with the ability to read, they should not assume that this is a universal situation. Because it isn't.

In 2004 I was in Tacoma, being driven back to where I was staying, by the then deputy mayor, in his Prius. So many Prius up there, so few Pick-ups. Anyway, he stopped to let me out and noticed a Pick-up with a Texas plate. He made some remark that I found very offputting. I'd been in Texas long enough to take slight umbrage at some remarks.