Unexpected Cross Country Skiing In Texas

No. We have not received yet one more Arctic Blast, this time with snow. The snowy scene here is from earlier this century, at my first Texas abode.

I came upon this photo whilst looking for one of my brother attired like Wilma Flintstone, to no avail.

I took up cross country skiing way back in the 1980s.

In a Washington winter logging roads in the Cascade Mountains become cross country ski trails. Along with many other trails designated for cross country skiing.

I got quite good at cross country skiing. That type skiing is a bit more work than the type known as downhill skiing. I think that is what it is known as. The type skiing where you ride a lift up a mountain, and then slide at high speed down the mountain.

Prior to taking up cross country skiing I did the downhill chair lift enabled type skiing. That type skiing is a bit more challenging than cross country skiing.

With cross country skis you can go uphill. That is the heavy duty workout part of the sliding. 

I do not know why I brought my cross country skis with me to Texas. Prior to learning I was wrong, I thought Texas likely got no snow, and was real flat.

Within two weeks of my Texas arrival I experienced my first Ice Storm, along with snow, hence the photos above of me trying to slide on the icy snow.

If I remember right my attempt at cross country skiing on this occasion lasted about 10 minutes. Several years later I had moved to a location in East Fort Worth. A hilly location.

I never cross country skiied on those Fort Worth hills.

But, one winter a storm dropped many inches of snow. The roads were not iced up, so driving was easy, unlike during an Ice Storm.

So, I drove to Veterans Park in Arlington, which is quite hilly. Got there, got out the skiis and started sliding. Went up and down the hills multiple times.

I heard kids yelling, look that man is skiing. I assumed such a sight was quite rare in Texas.

I no longer have my cross country skis. I stupidly stored them in an outdoor closet on my patio. An unheated, uncooled closet. One winter, with another covering of snow, I went to get my cross country skis to find they had delaminated, from the HOT heat, I assumed.

I found the same had happened to my roller blades which I stored in my van. The heat did something bad to the plastic on the boots, rendering them broken. I discovered this soon after my arrival at my current location, after seeing how good the paved trails are here, and how conducive to roller blading they would be.

Maybe I'll do some shopping on Amazon, looking at roller blades and cross country skis...

Remembering Cross Country Skiing In Texas

Snow is back on the weather menu for Wichita Falls, for the next couple days. Currently, at noon, on this final Sunday of the first month of 2023, we are being chilled to 29 degrees, with a strong wind making it feel way colder than 29 degrees.

No, the above photo was not taken today. Currently there is no white stuff on the ground. The above photo showed up in my Google memories this morning. 

I brought my cross country skis with me to Texas. And this snow was my first chance to use them in Texas. This was at my first Texas location, a sprawling ranch in Haslet, which is a suburb of Fort Worth. On a clear day you could see the tiny skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth about 10 miles to the south.

Cross country skiing on flat land is not all that much fun. A few years later, after I had moved to a new location in east Fort Worth, a good coating of snow had me taking my skis to Veterans Park in Arlington. Where there are hills. That was fun. A couple little kids made a big fuss over seeing a guy on skis. Such must not happen too often in Texas.

I threw my skis away years ago. They were in an outdoor storage area. The heat of Texas caused the skis to delaminate. Same thing later happened to my roller blades...

Cross Country Skiing Over To Miss Puerto Rico's While The Snow Continues To Fall On Fort Worth

The snow continues to pile up, here in Fort Worth, with 1 hour to go before noon.

I decided to take a slide on the adventurous side and drag my cross country skis out of the closet. I thought the skis had delaminated, but apparently that must have only happened in one of my nightmares.

It has probably been at least 6 years since I've been on cross country skis. It is sort of like riding a bike, roller blading or playing tennis, as in very easy to get back into slipping and sliding mode.

I decided to ski over to Miss Puerto Rico's to get a picture of the white view from her balcony. There are not many vehicles out there mucking up the streets. I only have to negotiate a couple roads between here and the aforementioned balcony. A passing Fort Worth bus did inconvenience me by launching a splash of slushy snow in my direction, which I artfully dodged.

Above you see the aforementioned Fort Worth bus, careening down the hill towards me. I am under the protection of tree leaves, so there is not a lot of snow in the foreground. When the bus passed it caused snow to fall out of the trees, on to me. I did not care much for that unexpected additional snowfall.

My skiing route took me by my pool. You can sort of see why it did not seem like a good idea to go swimming this morning. Although the hot tub likely would have been pleasant, with the falling snowflakes having a nice cooling effect, obviating the need for repeated cool down dips in the pool. The hot tub is that thing you see on the right, spitting water into the pool.

It is still freezing out there and still snowing. The forecast has been changed to an expectation of an accumulation of around 6 inches. D/FW International Airport is having trouble getting planes in the air. And out of the air.

My source for the D/FW Airport information is Jovo the Newshound. Jovo is monitoring the storm from his outpost in Sulphur Springs, where he also plans to go skiing, except without cross country skis. Jovo is going to make his sliding attempt using conventional downhill type skis. Good luck with that, Jovo!

Way too much snow is covering my vehicle right now. I am hoping, if the temperature goes above freezing, clearing the snow will be fairly easy. Then I can escape from here by motorized means. If the snow keeps getting deeper I may go for Round Two of cross country skiing.

While I was sliding around I saw other people out having fun with the snow. I saw one snowball fight, several people taking pictures, one adult pulling 2 kids on a sled and 2 guys working on a snowman.

I have never been a big fan of constructing men from snow. Way too quickly the ball of snow grows way too big and then is way too difficult to lift into position. A properly built, conventional snowman consists of 3 snowballs. According to the Frosty the Snowman Guidebook to Successful Snowman Construction.

My aversion to rolling balls of snow may have something to do with the fact that I've likely not done so since I was a little kid. Now that I'm a big kid I likely would have an easier time of rolling and lifting the heavy balls of frozen water. But, I fear at my almost elderly age and relative frailty, I'd likely manage to put my back out if I were to attempt to build a proper snowman.

Due, likely, to the lack of opportunity to learn snowman building skills, due to the infrequency of snow in this zone of Texas, the snowman I saw this morning was not the most attractive of that species that I've seen. First off, he is made of only 2 balls.

This snowman's front side is covered with a big shirt, leaving the backside completely naked. This snowman's big misshapen rear put me in mind of my visit to Wal-Mart yesterday.

Below is the last snowy Texas view I'm showing you for now. This is the look to the west from my abode, at the forest of trees across the street, all whited up into Winter Wonderland mode.