A Dark Texas Morning Porcupine Rim Swim

We have had a steep drop in temperature, as in it is only 74 out there at 7 am. So, the windows are open and the A/C is not running.

As you can deduce from the picture I was in the pool, which had also cooled off, before the sun rose this Wednesday morning. Actually, the sun started to do its lighting up the day thing by the time I got to the water at about a quarter to 6. You can see a little illumination in the upper left corner above my right shoulder.

By the time I got out of the pool daylight was pretty much totally turned on. It's not as spectacular a sunrise as seeing that happen at some scenic place, like the Grand Canyon, which is on my to-do list to do today, blog about it on my Roadtripping Blog, which I've been ignoring of late.

Speaking of the Roadtripping Blog, this morning there was a comment to a blogging about biking the Porcupine Rim Trail in Moab, well, actually the trail is not in Moab, Moab is where you stay when you bike the Porcupine Rim Trail.

The comment was from Bryon T. He informed me that he was on both the Porcupine Rim ride and the Gemini Bridges ride. He told me he went there with his friend Bill. Then he referenced the group picture that was taken before the ride, telling me that he was on the far left and Bill was in the middle in blue.

I don't think Bryon has the slightest clue that the person doing the blogging was on that ride. Or that I'm to the left of Bill in the picture. Or that I drove him and Bill back to their campground after the ride. Last I heard of Bryon he was a retired Microsoft millionaire. There are an annoyingly large number of them in the Northwest. Started working for Microsoft early on, stock as part of the pay.

Since it is Wednesday, and due to that creature of habit problem I've mentioned before, I am likely going up to Southlake today and will likely go to Sprouts Farmers Market, among other things. There will not be a noontime hiking incident today. That may take place later.

YouTube video of biking the Porcupine Rim Trail below. Most brutal bike ride I've ever been on. And the most dangerous.

Texas Swimming In The Dark With Nancy's Fried Pies In Oklahoma On Route 66

I was up way before the crack of dawn, again, this morning.

When I checked email I found one from Perkins telling me that the Nancy's Fried Pies Video was not working on my Eyes on Texas website.

What fresh hell is this I thought. It did not take me long to find out that Perkins was correct. Nancy's Fried Pies was not working, nor were several others. It did not take long to figure out the code had changed.

The process of getting new code over taxed my computer and brain several times, severely vexing me. By 5 am I had the videos all back working and had added two new ones to go along with the webpages I made yesterday, so now there is video about Grand Lake O' the Cherokees and Beavers Bend Resort Park & Broken Bow Lake that you can look at and be surprised at how scenic Oklahoma is in certain locations.

After all that video exhaustion I decided to go take a cover of darkness dip in the pool. It was pleasant. The rest of the morning was filled with more website stuff. Oh, and one extremely rude person said my sad sleepwalking episode sounded like a drunken stumble bum. I can not remember when last a remark filled me with such a high level of umbrage.

It's cloudy and not hot again today, only 86. By noon all my travails had my head hurting, so I went to Oakland Lake Park for a walk. The walking turned extra long because at the start of the walk I called Chris M.P. up in Washington, formerly of Oklahoma. A fellow Pacific Northwesterner, she abandoned me last summer, leaving me with hardly any long time acquaintances within a 1,000 mile radius.

I must remember to call Chris M.P. more often. I always enjoy talking to her. Chris is missing Oklahoma, I'm sure, below is a video of Ollie's Station Restaurant on Route 66. I don't remember if this is one of her favorite places or not...

Dallas Cop Car Chase Update With A New Cop Car Chase

This morning I looked online to see if more was known about yesterday's wild car chase in Dallas. I could find nothing. That seemed odd.

Then a few minutes ago I looked at the Dallas Morning News, online, and saw that there has been another Dallas cop car chase. This time involving a woman leading the police on a 90 minute chase through Dallas County.

This morning's chase started in Irving and ended in Dallas on Buckner Boulevard near White Rock Lake. At one point the woman was driving 100 mph, but slowed to 20 mph after her tires were popped by spikes. The woman is in custody, obviously, with no other details.

But, in this same article, about today's chase, there was information about yesterday's chase that ended in a crash at an intersection on Plano Road. The driver's name is Shane W. Michel. He was taken to Baylor University Medical Center where he is in critical condition as of this morning.

Michel has a record of arrests for drugs, resisting arrest and burglary. There was a warrant, active, for his arrest on a forgery charge.

Michel's dad, Bill Michel, told local TV that his son is bi-polar and that this was not his first police chase.

Jerry World Stadium Bust To Area Business

I've lost count of the number of comments I've gotten from ill-informed bozos telling me how wrong I am about some things I have said about the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium. As in there are actually people out there who think that Jerry Jones could not have taken people's homes unless they willingly sold them.

And then there are the ones who have told me that I have no idea what an economic boon this stadium will be to Arlington, sparking all sorts of development. Unlike what happened in Irving during the decades that the former Cowboy Stadium sat in a blighted area that did not seem to economically benefit from the stadium.

And then this morning there was a letter to the editor, in the online version of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, in which an Arlington business owner, operating near the new stadium, begs to differ with those who think the stadium has been and will be a great thing for Arlington.

Below is the letter....

Business bust

Having a business for more than 27 years in the Lincoln Square Shopping Center along Collins Street, we have seen ups and downs, but nothing compares to the desperation since the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium opened. Wal-Mart can’t conduct business during events; Arby’s is giving away sandwiches to attract attention. Buffalo Wild Wings has a poor soul stand on the corner in 103-degree weather in a Buffalo suit just to attract customers back into the area.

Longtime stores such as Laura’s Closet, Paper Capers, Mexican Inn and Shady Oaks were forced to close because of the lengthy construction and lack of traffic along Collins Street. A recent poll of our customers revealed that people are more repelled by the stadium than attracted. Stores such as ours, Petland, and new stores like 5 and Dine are struggling heavily under the Jerry’s Palace construction deal with the city of Arlington that has reduced our exposure and traffic by 50 percent.

I call for the city and Jerry’s World to provide the businesses along Collins Street south of Interstate 30 to be subsidized 1 percent of gate and concession sales. The city and Jerry Jones can take responsibility for the businesses that helped build the stadium and will continue to support it through our property tax dollars, only to have our throats cut and still have to pay for it.

Paul Thomas,
Arlington

Watching A Dallas Cop Car Chase During Lunch

I turned on the TV during lunch to check in on the news to see that the news on all the cable news channels was a car chase in my neighborhood of the world.

I've watched a few of these live police chases in the past. I remember one in the LA zone that ended sort of anti-climatically on a dirt road.

And then there was another Dallas one where the police had flattened the chasee's tires, but she kept on going. That one ended when the woman stopped on a freeway bridge over a lake in east Dallas. I remember thinking, where did she think she was running to? On a lake.

The chase I watched during lunch began with a routine cop stop that quickly spun out of control when narcotics were detected. One of the Dallas TV stations already had a copter in the air, heading to get video of a bunch of dead cows. The copter got diverted from the cows to the cops.

I've never seen one of these cop chases be so wild. The guy trying to escape careened off the freeway, throwing the cops momentarily off his trail. The bad guy zoomed through intersections, flipped U-Turns and finally came to a stoplight where he got past the stopped cars and then was hit on the driver's side by a fast moving truck.

The driver of the truck was not badly injured. His truck was though. The bad guy's car was smacked pretty bad, sort of bent out of shape. The cops had trouble getting inside the car, ended up breaking windows to get the doors open. After about 5 minutes emergency crews arrived and were setting up to help the bad guy when Shepard Smith and FOX News went to commercial.

I decided I'd seen enough and turned off the TV.

Update: As you can see in the photo, the suspect's car was heavily damaged in the crash. Authorities have yet to disclose the suspect's condition. He was brought to an area hospital. I don't know why news reports refer to the driver as a suspect. Is there any doubt he led a large number of police on a dangerous chase?

Update 2: The driver is in critical condition at Baylor University Medical Center. More Details Here.

YouTube video of the chase below....

Hiking To The Top Of A Fort Worth Mountain While Thinking About An Oklahoma Lake

That's the noontime view of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth from high atop the summit of Tandy Mountain.

As you can see, we are under a cloud cover. We will not be feeling 100 degree heat today. The humidity has gone back up, so it felt hotter than the chilly 83 degrees.

I've been webpaging the Grand Lake o' the Cherokees, Beavers Bend and Broken Bow Lake up in Oklahoma today. Anyone been to any of these places and have any opinions they can share?

I had no idea there were big dams up in Oklahoma, as in Pocatello Dam that makes Grand Lake is the longest multiple arch dam in the world. It's almost a mile long. That is one long dam. And Grand Lake has 1,300 miles of shoreline. That is a lot of shoreline. I've seen the lakes in northeast Oklahoma and parts of Arkansas from the air and was surprised by how many there were. Now I want to check out Grand Lake on the ground.

Speaking of Oklahoma, yesterday on the History Channel I watched a documentary about the Dust Bowl. I had no idea it was so horrible. The dust and drought were bad enough, but then came the plague of locusts and then jackrabbits got out of control. The whole eco-system got out of whack. I didn't know that one of the dust storms reached as far as New York City. Or that the area affected included North Texas.

The dust here in Texas is one of the few things about Texas that I don't like. The west side of Washington is not dusty. Eastern Washington is much more Texas-like, dust-wise.

I forgot to mention, there is still some color on the prairie in the form of wildflowers. I saw several today whilst hiking the Tandy Hills Natural Area trails.

So, that's been my day so far this Monday in Texas, up early, in the pool for a long time, virtual trip up to a cool lake in Oklahoma and a colorful hike at noon.

Another Sleepwalking In Texas Incident

I had myself another sleepwalking incident. It's only when there is evidence evident in the morning, or an eye witness reporting, that I know I've been sleepwalking again.

Unlike the last known incident, last night's did not involve any bruise-causing fall.

About 2 in the morning I woke up and couldn't find my second pillow. I reached around on both sides of the bed. No pillow. I knew something was not right, but I ignored it and fell back asleep.

I woke up again about 5 and decided to get up. Turned on the light. The second pillow was no where to be seen.

I go to make coffee and then walk out to the patio to get my swimming suit. I slide open the patio door and there it was. My swimming suit and my pillow.

I don't think I went swimming. The exit door was locked. My previous leave the house sleepwalking incidents have always left the door unlocked.

It's a bit unsettling to know you've been up wandering around with your pillow in the middle of the night and have no memory of doing so, because I've no idea what else I may have done. Or where else I may have gone.

Below is a YouTube video of a sleepwalking dog....

HOT Texas Sunday Hiking River Legacy Park Looking For Alligators

It is another HOT Sunday in Texas. We have gone over 100 again. That makes 3 days in a row, I think, maybe 4. Methinks it is going to be one Long HOT Summer.

With my mountain bike currently on the disabled list, rendering wheeling not an option, I decided to go to River Legacy Park today and walk the mountain bike trail, specifically the section of trail where a woman was badly injured a month or so ago.

I was on the trail soon after the accident, saw all the emergency workers, heard voices in the woods trying to figure out how to get the injured party out of there. I later heard from the injured lady after she read my description of that day on my blog.

This section of trail, I think they call it South Pass, but I'm not sure, is one of two that opened in recent months that are marked RED, indicating the need for an expert skill level. The other new section is called Fun Town. I could see right at the entry to Fun Town that it would be no fun for me. But I did try to bike the South Pass Trail. I made it up and down 2 hills. And then when I saw the third one, I thought, no, ain't gonna do it. It was a struggle to push the bike back out of there.

Walking this section of trail today was hard. There were far more challenging parts, that I hiked today, that I did not get near, when I made my bike attempt. A couple times today I saw what the trail was doing and thought to myself they have got to be kidding. I can see how someone could get injured in there and why it would be hard to get them out. I was just carrying myself today and I had trouble making it down several of the slopes.

I took pictures, hoping my limited photo skills would do justice to the trails, showing how, well, adventurous they are. I don't believe I succeeded.

The above picture is where I gave up my one and only attempt at biking this. Since that aborted attempt a bypass around the treacherous trail to the right has been built. As I walked the bypass I was thinking to myself, I could bike this, maybe I'll try this again. I soon was to see that that will never happen. I now get why I hear so much screaming when I bike the South Pass bypass when I'm on this part of the trail.

The above picture does not come remotely close to showing what the trail is like. I am standing at the top of the hill. The trail down to that wood bridge at the bottom of the ravine is very steep, as in so steep I was not sure I would be able to get down it without falling. And then the uphill across the bride is also very steep. I thought to myself, this could easily be the spot where the injury occurred.

Once more the picture does not do justice to this fun little section of trail. A very steep uphill, then down, then up. Did I mention that it is very steep?

And then there was the swamp. For quite a distance the trail does its ups and downs along side a swamp covered with green swamp goo. With the cicadas in full summer swoon with their constant noise-making, along with the jungle vegetation and then this swamp, I felt like I was in Africa. This looked like the type of swamp an alligator might leap out of. Or a snake. The day that lady was injured I was talking to a guy who had come out of the South Pass Trail, asking me how the hell do you get back to the parking lot. He told me he'd seen a big snake on the South Pass Trail. I was hoping for an encounter with one today. I was being very vigilant. But, no snake. No armadillo. No wild boars. No bobcats. No alligators. No tarantulas.

I was a hot, wet mess by the time I got back to more sedate trail. I then made a bee-line for my vehicle.

Texas Hot Water Hot Air & Broken Bikes

In the picture you are going swimming with me early Sunday morning. The water was warmer than the air.

The overnight low was 80. It is not even 10 a.m. yet and it is already over 90. So, it'll be another scorcher in Texas this last Sunday of June.

Next Saturday is already the 4th of July. Towns in Texas put on the best parades I've ever seen, with two of them being 4th of July Parades. One of the biggest in Texas is the 4th of July Parade in Arlington. My favorite, that I've seen, is the Granbury 4th of July Parade.

I won't be going to any parade today, as far as I know. I still have not gotten around to getting my bike wheel fixed. I never think of it until I'm in the mood to do something aerobic and then remember my bike is disabled. Bike riding is easily doable when the temps are over 100.

It Is Saturday June 27 In Texas & 105 Degrees HOT

I experienced none of this last summer. I was suffering icicles in Tacoma when my zone of Texas had its 100 degree days of the year. So, this is being my first HOT time for a couple years. Last year it did not get HOT til after July 20. This year it's not even July and we're HOT.

By tomorrow the pool will be even less refreshing than it was this morning. When we get a week or two of being over 100 news items will appear advising people that it is impossible to cool down their pools with ice. Evidently, every year, a lot of people try that. Apparently the amount of ice needed to lower the temperature in a certain volume of water makes it physically impossible to lower it enough to make a significant difference.

On good thing to make note of on the weather gauge, the humidity is down so far we no longer have a Heat Index temperature that is higher than the actual temperature.

And on a totally non HEAT related subject, when I logged in to write this blogging about it being 105, I saw that the previous blogging was number 1,500, which makes this one number 1,501. When I started doing this blogging thing I figured I'd last a month before I got bored with it. As I often am, I was wrong.