Suspense On A Wichita River Suspension Bridge

Walking from Lucy Park on the Circle Trail which leads to Wichita Falls in Wichita Falls I came upon that which you see here.

A suspension bridge across the Wichita River.

I have long been a fan of rickety old-fashioned suspension bridges with well weathered wooden planks.

This particular suspension bridge  over the Wichita River may have been the best I've ever swayed on.

I know I can not remember a better one.

Some people were scared to set foot on this bridge, sort of frozen in fear at the entry. I found that amusing. That and their horrified looks when I got the bridge swaying and rocking and rolling.

Wichita Falls and the Wichita River seem to have way less litter than that other location in Texas where I was regularly appalled by the astonishing amount of litter blowing in the wind and floating in the river.

Yesterday I saw big fish jumping in the Wichita River. And people fishing. An no signs warning that the fish are not fit for human consumption.

Below is video of my suspension bridge trek over the Wichita River....

Hiking To The Top Of Wichita Falls

You are looking at Wichita Falls here. Wichita Falls is not in Kansas. Wichita Falls is in Texas.

I have seen Wichita Falls many times over the years, as I passed through Wichita Falls on the freeway.

But today was the first time I visited Wichita Falls, up close, with a lot of other people.

My access point to Wichita Falls was via Lucy Park. Lucy Park was very busy today, with a lot of people having themselves a mighty fine time.

Including one of the nicest people I've met yet in Wichita Falls. She was manning a booth for the nearby Texas Travel Center. She gave me a map and chapstick, along with a lot of good information, including where the famous Wichita Falls mountain bike trail is located.

The most charming thing I saw today was the scene below.

Grandma was taking a picture of one of her granddaughters holding her baby sister. It was darn cute.

You can hike a brick trail that meanders to the top of Wichita Falls. That is that view below.

What one finds at the top of Wichita Falls is a bit surprising. I suspect Wichita Falls is the only waterfall in the world to flow from such a thing.

You can see that which is at the top of Wichita Falls in the video below, along with listening to my pithy commentary and a look at the view from the top of Wichita Falls.

Spencer Jack Takes His Dad To Lynden To Help Trump Make America Great Again

Yesterday Spencer Jack's dad, my Favorite Nephew Jason, called to ask me how I was liking Kansas, among other things, including mentioning that Spencer Jack and he were thinking of journeying north to Lynden today to help Donald Trump make America great again.

This morning I got email confirming that Spencer Jack and his dad were going to be witnessing America's biggest embarrassment in person.

The text in the email said....

Spencer Jack and I procured two tickets to today's big event. This should be amusing.

Including in the email were copies of the two tickets to the Big Event, one of which you see above.

I read this morning in the Seattle Times that Trump's visit to Washington is not being welcomed by a lot of Washingtonians. I suspect protesting will ensue.

Both Whatcom County, where Lynden is located, and the county on Whatcom's southern border, that being Skagit County, have large populations of Mexican descent.

Trump will be appearing at the Lynden Fairgrounds, where the Northwest Washington State Fair takes place. I think that's the name of that fair. It has been decades since I have attended that particular state fair.

Anyway, it should be interesting to hear Spencer Jack's and Jason's report on today's likely Trump fiasco....

Spencer Jack Takes His Dad Memorial Hunting In Lynden Prior To Donald Trump's Visit

No, that is not Wichita Falls you are looking at here.

Wichita Falls is a manmade waterfall in a manmade town in Texas named Wichita Falls.

The slight falling cascades you are looking at here are in the manmade town of Lynden in the state of Washington, about 5 miles south of the Canadian border.

Spencer Jack drove his dad to Lynden a  couple days ago to complete a task I had tasked Spencer and his dad with a month or so ago.

That task was for Spencer Jack and his dad to go to Lynden City Park to see if a memorial plaque was still in place near the wooden footbridge which crosses Fishtrap Creek.

Well, Spencer Jack's dad, my Favorite Nephew Jason, called me this morning to report the wooden footbridge across Fishtrap Creek has been replaced. With no memorial plaque memorializing Spencer Jack's Great Great Gandpa, Dr. Jim Porter.

In the second picture Spencer Jack is waving at us from the edge of Fishtrap Creek. I assume Spencer Jack's dad's photo vantage point is from the aforementioned new footbridge across Fishtrap Creek.

In addition to the Fishtrap Creek missing memorial plaque report, Jason also reported that he was surprised to learn from my brother, Jake Jones, that I had moved to Kansas.

Apparently my brother attended mom and dad's weekly Sunday McDonald's Brunch, where mom reported that I'd called  the day before with the news I'd moved to Wichita, Kansas.

I am fairly certain I did not tell my mom I had moved to Kansas. I did tell my mom I'd grown a bit weary of the daily moving roundtrips to my new location, and that I'd be returning to D/FW once a month, at least.

I have driven through Wichita, Kansas a couple times. The freeway is elevated as you pass through the town, if my memory is serving me correctly. I do not remember experiencing that particular Wichita at ground level, except maybe to get gas.

Spencer Jack and his dad did manage to locate one special memorial plaque in Lynden.

In Lynden's Monumenta Cemetery, the headstone of Spencer Jack's Great Great Grandma, Sylvia Slotemaker. Slotemaker is how you spell Jones in Dutch.

Hard to believe it is almost 22 years since the day after I returned from my first Lake Powell Houseboating trip in October of 1994 when my mom called to tell me that Grandma Jones had died. Grandma would be so pleased to have Spencer Jack visit her like this.

22 years ago, if you had told me that 22 years in the future my mom would be thinking I'd moved from Texas to Kansas, my feeble imagination would not have been able to conjure a scenario where that would make sense.

Any yet, here I am.

Tomorrow Donald Trump will be in Lynden, at the fairgrounds. Jason thinks he and Spencer Jack may show up, just to experience the lunacy in person.....

Wichita Falls Day Three With Wi-Fi Woes & Falls From Grace

Day Three of my Exile from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

And I am exhausted.

One thing after another.

First day here an unpredicted storm blew into Wichita Falls, seemingly out of nowhere. I looked out the window facing west and saw trees bending in the wind

I thought a twister was incoming.

And then the rain began.

The storm did not last long.

One good thing. I have covered parking at this new location, and so a vehicular  bombardment by giant hail is not a worry.

The Time Warner internet install guy showed up today, right on schedule. Two, of the three computers I use, connected with no problem to the wi-fi. But, the computer I primarily use will not connect. That computer has connected to multiple wi-fi connections previously, but so far I can not figure out what the problem is.

My phone connected to the wi-fi easily, but not my favorite computer.

So I am reduced to using that red monster you see above. It's a Toshiba running Windows 7. It runs just fine, but does not run the programs I like to use, long discontinued, and thus not installable on a computer running Windows 7.

I am currently unable to access my durangotexas.com email. I use the long gone Outlook Express to access email. Or used to use Outlook Express to access email when I was able to connect that computer to the Internet.

I have other means to access email, all laborious, the worst of which would be hauling my favorite computer to another wi-fi connection.

I've had a few other woes in the past couple days. Like falling out of the back of a pickup. I thought this would result in a massive bruise, but no bruise appeared. Just epic pain medicated with ibuprofen. I also broke the latch/handle thing that opens the pickup's tail gate.

And don't get me started on my bike woes.

I mailed my mom a Mom's Day letter today with my new address. The ;post office is very modern, unlike the post office I used at my previous location. And very efficient. Also unlike the post office at my previous location.

Usually when I have a computer problem I quickly see a path to a solution. I see no such path with my current wi-fi woe.

But tomorrow is another day, I think.....

GOODBYE To The Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex

This morning I say GOODBYE to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex zone, heading to greener prairie pastures northwest of the Texas Prairie Lakes Region.

I currently am expecting to be disconnected from the Internet for only one day, that being tomorrow, with Internet installation scheduled for an unspecified time on Thursday.

I will sort of miss my former location, things like walking in Arlington with the Village Creek Indian Ghosts, hiking the Tandy Hills, biking the Gateway Park and River Legacy Park mountain bike trails.

I won't miss living behind a security fence where that security fence did not protect me from two vehicular break-ins, one of which did serious vehicular damage, the other of which resulted in my bike being stolen.

I won't miss air pollution, traffic congestion, too much noise and one or two other annoyances.

I will be returning to the D/FW zone once a month, at least, so I will be able to keep up with, eye witness-wise, the extremely slow progress of America's Biggest Boondoggle. I am really looking forward to seeing what The Boondoggle's bridges end up looking like, if they ever get finished.

I may be back in D/FW sooner than a month from now to pick up a thing or two I left at Miss Puerto Rico's. Three bar stools I left there will come in handy at my new location.....

Serenity On The Open Texas Road Before Returning To The D/FW Metroplex

I have seen the view you see here multiple times in the past seven days.

In this view you are on Highway 287, on the southeast bound lanes, heading towards the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, somewhere between Wichita Falls and that aforementioned Metroplex.

As you can see, excessive traffic is not a problem on this road.

However, by the time one gets back to the Metroplex, where 287 joins I-35. the road becomes a slow motion parking lot.

I have found alternatives around this mess in the past week, til today, when my alternative turned out to be a bad, bad thing. I ended up in a labyrinth of confusion in a shopping zone developed since I lived in this area, called, I think, Alliance something or other. It was huge. All this land which was open land upon my arrival in Texas is now an over developed HELL of bad planning and traffic congestion.

It does not have to be this way.

I have seen similar new developments in the Phoenix zone which are well thought out with the infrastructure installed before building erections begin. When I finally found my way out of the Alliance shopping maze I found myself on an old pot-holed beat up road, eventually making it to smooth sailing on Tarrant Parkway.

I will not miss the traffic problems of the D/FW zone. I will miss some of the people. But, I shall return, fairly frequently, I hope.

Tomorrow the final load heads towards the northwest....

Moving To The Northwest But Nowhere Near Seattle's Big Bertha

This may be my last blogging for a day or two or three. I am in transit mode to a new location northwest of my present location.

Time Warner Cable will be the new internet provider. I do not hear good things about Time Warner Cable.

In the photo you are looking at the most famous location at my new location, it being a recreation of that which the place is named after.

I will be returning to the D/FW Metroplex zone once a month, usually the third Wednesday of the month, so I will be able to check in regularly on the progress, or lack of, of America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Speaking of America's Biggest Boondoggle, Steve A recently commented to a blog post with a link to an article making the case that Seattle's Big Bertha tunnel project is currently America's Biggest Boondoggle.

I am sticking with the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision being America's Biggest Boondoggle, due to the fact that that Boondoggle has way more Boondoggly elements than Seattle's Bertha Boondoggle, starting with the fact that the TRCCUPIV Boondoggle hired the unqualified son of a local congresswoman to ramrod the project to hopefully motivate his mama to secure federal funds for the project.

But that hire the son plot did not result in the amount of dollars which were hoped for, thus slowing what should have been a project which took a few years to bring to fruition, turning it into a multi-decades long project, with currently little to show for the effort.

Well, there is that cool million dollar roundabout aluminum piece of kinetic art, those wooden bridge V pier forms stuck waiting for a design fix, hundreds of pieces of highly stylized signage and extremely popular Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the slightly polluted Trinity River....

Spencer Jack's Dad Takes Me Across Two Of The World's Most Dangerous Bridges

A couple days ago Spencer Jack's dad, my Favorite Nephew Jason, emailed me with the subject line asking the puzzling question "Washington Bridges Dangerous?"

Other than the subject line the only other item in the email was a link to a YouTube video which you can watch below.

This YouTube video purports to show you the Ten Most Dangerous Bridges in the World.

Well.

Two of these supposedly dangerous bridges are in my old home state. I've crossed both these bridges innumerable times, never realizing I was in extreme danger.

One of the dangerous bridges in Washington is that which you see above. The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge. Also  known as the SR 520 Floating Bridge. Also known as the Albert D. Rosellini Floating Bridge.

This particular dangerous bridge is no longer dangerous due to the fact that it has been replaced by a much bigger floating bridge which opened to traffic a short time ago.

The video's narration describing why this particular floating bridge was dangerous seemed way off. As in not factual. This bridge lasted for over 50 years before needing to be replaced for a variety of reasons, mainly the need to be able to handle more traffic and light rail.

The second allegedly dangerous bridge, in Washington, is even more perplexing. That being the Deception Pass Bridge.

The Deception Pass Bridge was a short drive from my home location in the Skagit Valley. I have probably walked across this bridge more than any other bridge in the world.

Over the years a suicide jump from the bridge would make the news. But, there is no way the number of suicides is over 425.

The narrator of the video says the Deception Pass Bridge trembles scarily as vehicles pass over it, presenting a frightening experience to a person walking the narrow sidewalk on either side of the bridge deck.

I do not remember this bridge trembling.

I have blogged about Deception Pass and its Bridge several times on my Washington blog, including...

Deception Pass Bridge Connecting Whidbey Island with Fidalgo Island and July 31 Deception Pass Bridge 75th Anniversary Celebration Picnic and Deception Pass & the Washington State Parks.

And now the aforementioned YouTube video...

Fort Worth Preserves Its Rich Heritage Unlike Any Other City In America

I saw that which you see here this morning on Facebook.

A little blurb of text with a link to a website which I think may be the web version of a magazine I have never seen, named, maybe, Fort Worth Texas.

Mr. Spiffy made a comment on this Facebook post, commenting, if I remember right, "That was interesting."

I do not know if Mr. Spiffy was referencing the Facebook blurb as being interesting or if he was referencing the magazine article titled Who Named Fort Worth?

Unlike Mr. Spiffy, I found neither the blurb on Facebook or the article to be interesting.

I found both to be goofy, with the Facebook blurb being of the sort I used to disdain in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, back when that newspaper was still full sized and I was still a subscriber.

My one longtime reader can likely tell what I found goofy in the Facebook blurb from the magazine article. The goofy Star-Telegram type hyperbolic nonsense shows up in the first sentence...

Fort Worth, unlike any other city in the nation, manages to preserve its rich heritage despite dramatic growth.

Unlike any other city in the nation? Fort Worth manages to preserve its rich heritage?

Well, I think I can make a case for that ridiculous claim being true.

Unlike any other city in America, Fort Worth is content to let a park in its downtown which was dedicated to celebrating Fort Worth's heritage, thusly named Heritage Park, be a blighted, cyclone fence surrounded, boarded up, eyesore for year after year after year.

It is highly unlikely any other major city in America would be so sloppy about preserving its heritage, as expressed in an extremely well-designed park, such as Heritage Park.

Way back late in the previous century, on my first exposure to downtown Fort Worth, I made note of a few things. One was being surprised by all the parking lots. I'd never seen a major city whose downtown real estate was so under developed that so many street level parking lots existed.

Two things impressed me, in a positive way, about downtown Fort Worth on that first visit. One was the Water Gardens at the south end of downtown. The other was at the north end of downtown.

Heritage Park.

Now a closed mess, because of how Fort Worth, unlike any other city in America, does not manage to preserve its rich heritage.....