Boardwalking In Fort Worth's Gateway Park Hunting For Endorphins & Copperheads

Yes, you guessed right, my bike is back in Gateway Park.

If you guessed that my bike is at the boarded up Boardwalk one finds on the east side of the park you would also be right about that.

I was in need of an overdose of endorphins to counteract a foul mood that had be-fouled me. Swimming did not provide a sufficient dose, hence the unscheduled drive west to Gateway Park.

I rolled twice around the entire mountain bike trail, well the part that is on the north/west side of the river. I do not venture across the scary bridge that crosses the Trinity River to reach the trails on that side of the river. Last week a couple of bikers told me that a large section of those trails are like the EKG section of the River Legacy Park trails. EKG is too much for me. That and I got myself lost just walking in the EKG section.

After I was done with the mountain bike trails I rolled the paved trail to the site of Gateway Park's second boarded up Boardwalk, to find myself surprised to find it not as boarded up as in times previous. And with no warning signs. Or trail closed signs. No signs at all.

And so I walked the partially boarded up Boardwalk as best I could. The video of this walk is processing at this very moment.

Prior to walking the Boardwalk I had myself a copperhead encounter. I mention the copperhead encounter in the video. A copperhead encounter is always good for some adrenalin stimulation which seems to enhance the endorphin production.

But, even with a big dose of adrenalin and endorphins I am still in a foul mood. You can hear how grumpy I am when you listen to the video below....

Rolling Along Arlington's Village Creek With Indian Ghosts Picking Up Litter & Copperheads While Overlooking The Green Bayou

With today being Saturday, weather permitting, usually I end up at Town Talk after hiking up and down some Tandy Hills or rolling my wheels in Gateway Park.

Well, yesterday I Tandy Hill hiked and the day before I rolled in Gateway Park.

Today I opened my food cooling device to see I needed some vittles that I usually acquire at ALDI.

So, I decided to go biking with the Indian Ghosts who haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

Above that would be my bike's handlebars next to a picnic table over looking the Village Creek Green Bayou Overlook.

Below you can walk with me to the Green Bayou Overlook via video.

Today's bike ride began with a little drama. As a young lady rolled towards me I could see she was a bit agitated. She stopped me due to thinking she needed to warn me that a large copperhead snake was slithering on the trail a short distance ahead of me.

I thanked her for the warning, then continued with my rolling. I saw no snake.

Earlier in the month I had a snake encounter on the middle of the Village Creek dam bridge.

Today on the dam bridge a man and woman were using a long pole with a gripper on its end to grip some of the litter that has piled up behind the dam bridge. I'd  never seen that happen before. The pair had filled a pair of large garbage bags with litter.

Since I have been in Texas I have rarely seen anyone but myself pick up litter. And today it happened twice.

As I exited the Albertsons parking lot to turn on to Boca Raton Boulevard I saw a woman picking up some of that litter I mentioned a couple days ago that was littering the route I walk to Albertsons. The woman seemed to be selective about the litter she was selecting, as in it seemed from what I saw that it was cans and bottles which were being selected.

In the below video, in addition to my James Earl Jones-like narration, you can hear cicadas make their jungle drum noise. Is there anyone who does not like the singing cicadas?

Another Copperhead Encounter In Texas

I was up way before the sun was this morning. Again. Soon after it got bright I was in the pool. Again.

Then after way too many hours hitting buttons on a keyboard I needed to escape. My escape route, this time, was to pedal my bike at Village Creek Natural Historic Area. Again.

I've never seen so many people as were there today. The parking lot was almost full. I've never seen that before. At the pond viewing area there were 3 separate groups of people sitting at picnic tables. I rarely see a single person there.

I think it's the perfect temperatures that is drawing people outdoors. It was around 85 when I headed out of here at noon, 89 now, 3 hours later. I saw a pretty young mom and her little boy, both on scooters. I've been seeing a lot of people on scooters lately. There were 3 different scooter groups at Village Creek today. Has scootering become some sort of fad?

I would have thought that with so many people on the Village Creek trail that snakes would be gone. I was wrong. I came upon a copperhead again. I got closer to it this time and got a better picture. It posed politely, barely moving. And then when I turned the camera off it began to slither off the pavement at an alarmingly high rate of speed. If it had decided to head towards me, that fast, I don't know if I could have backed up fast enough.

And then I remembered what Jammin Mole told me a couple days ago. That rattlesnakes travel in pairs. She learned this after finding a rattlesnake in her laundry room. Her dad came over and helped get rid of it. And told her they usually travel in pairs. Soon the second rattlesnake made its presence known.

While I was snapping pictures another copperhead could have slithered up behind me. I will take this possibility into consideration during my next snake encounter and constantly check behind me to make sure I'm not about to be attacked.

So, that's my exciting Thursday in Texas, so far.

Oh, I forgot a funny thing. Earlier today I blogged about thinking Kincaid's Burgers were overrated. I got a funny comment from my favorite commenter, Anonymous, basically telling me my restaurant opinions were overrated, complaining that my rave reviews of Zorro's Buffet caused him to take his wife there on a Friday night only to find leathery steak and overcooked shrimp. Anonymous started off his comment with this funny line, "In defense of Kincaid's, you defiantly have bad taste!"

I'm defiant about everything.