Wicked Fort Worth Downpour Aborts Autumn Equinox Sunset Gateway Park Bike Ride

As I drove towards Gateway Park, tonight, I saw a couple somewhat menacing clouds which had wet stuff falling from them, but not making it anywhere near the ground. The trails of evaporating rain drops was clearly seen against the clear blue sky over downtown Fort Worth.

I got to Gateway Park, got my bike out, started loading it up. And then I felt a sprinkle. And then the wind picked up, very strongly. And then a downpour started pouring down with big plops of wetness. I quickly loaded the bike back up.

I sat and watched the downpour for a couple minutes and then decided to bail. I was barely out of Gateway Park, heading east on Randol Mill Road when dryness returned.

So, I decided to go biking at Quanah Parker Park. As I drove in to Quanah Parker Park I could see the sky had cleared over Gateway Park. Nothing looked too malignant skyward above Quanah Parker Park.

Yet, I had barely parked and it happened again. Apparently the Gateway Park Storm was heading east and I was back in it.

I took the picture you see above, out of my windshield, looking west, from the Quanah Parker Park Parking Lot. You can see the size of the rain plops. And you can sort of tell it is being windy.

So, I bailed on Quanah Parker Park. The rain poured all the way back here. I waited a couple minutes for it to let up a bit before I made my fast dash for this interior space. And now the sky is back clear and all is calm, just a short time later.

Above you can see the rainbow that shot out of my chimney shortly after the rain stopped. As you can see, the rainbow did not make it all the way to a pot of gold on the ground. It just sort of dissipates in the sky, just like those rain entrails I saw coming out of clouds on my way to Gateway Park.

So, I did not get my sunset bike ride. But, I did get to have fun in one of the stranger storms I've enjoyed in Texas.

Thinking About Taking The TRE & DART Train To The State Fair Of Texas To Have Deep Fried Beer

That is me, stuck in a gondola on the Texas Star Ferris Wheel at the State Fair of Texas, in Dallas. The Texas Star is 212 feet tall. Some claim it to be the tallest Ferris Wheel in the Western Hemisphere, others claim it is only the tallest in North America.

All I know for sure is this is one big Ferris Wheel.

I don't know if the current Texas Star is the original, or a second or third or fourth generation Texas Star, but, I do know that in 1955 one of the Texas Star's gondolas, full of students from the Memphis Texas High School marching band, broke from the top of the Ferris Wheel, careening to the ground, killing only one of the students.

The State Fair of Texas starts this Friday, September 24 and runs through October 17.

It has been a couple years since I've gone to the fair. I'm thinking I may go this year. I have me a hankering to try me some Deep Fried Beer and a Deep Fried Margarita. I must remember to bring I.D., due to the need to be 21 to buy the Deep Fried Booze.

The last time I went to the fair I paid 10 bucks to park in a remote parking lot, east of the fairgrounds, with transport to the fairgrounds provided by a TRE (Trinity Railway Express) train.

I am thinking this year, rather than drive to Dallas, it'd be funner to take the TRE, since there is now a DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) line that goes to the fairgrounds. I have a TRE station, it being the Richland Hills station, almost walking distance from my abode.

So, who wants to go ride the Texas Star with me and get inebriated eating Deep Fried Beer?

The First Day Of Fall Has Arrived In Texas

As you can see, looking out my bedroom window, the sun is starting to arrive on this, the first day of fall, September 22.

I thought fall always fell on September 21 and spring on March 21. I must be remembering wrong.

The birds are tweeting an exceptionally loud racket this morning. They must be overly excited about the arrival of fall.

I know I'd tweet if I knew how, so excited am I, that we are finally putting the scorching Texas summer of 2010 behind us. Now, we can look forward to the first freeze of the year.

I am heading north today, to the Southlake zone. While I'm up there I think I'll be going to Sprouts Farmers Market. I've not been there in awhile.

I am a little sore from overdoing the mountain biking. I'm thinking maybe a day of recovery is needed. I tend to overdo things. That is one of the minor downsides to having a minor case of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Now that the sun has lit up the place, I think I'll go swimming and see if that helps with the soreness recovery plan.

The Last Night Of Summer With A Mysterious Blue Vertical Cylinder In Fort Worth

I am trying to get in shape for my upcoming bike riding expedition with the Queen of Wink. It's a daunting, exhausting process. I seem to be making progress.

This afternoon I was excessively exercising my cerebral functions. That happens so rarely, when it does happen, it can get me all hypered up.

So, with me all hypered up I took off to the Tandy Hills sometime after 6.

I was hoping to get a good sunset picture of the sun going down on Fort Worth on the last day of the summer. But, I was too early and the sun was hanging too high.

One of my intentions in returning for a rare visit to the Tandy Hills was to haul yesterday's discovery of a mysterious blue vertical cylindrical object, from deep within the Tandy Hills, to install it at the top of Mount Tandy, as the biggest part of the Tandy Hills Shrine.

But, when the mysterious blue vertical cylinder came in to view, tonight, I saw that it had grown horns. I believe the mysterious blue vertical cylinder has now become Tandy Shrine II. I do not know by what means the mysterious blue vertical cylinder grew horns. But it really seemed like something that should not be messed with.

And so I did not. Mess with it.

It would have been a bit of a labor to haul the mysterious blue vertical cylinder to the top of Mount Tandy. I was going to balance it on my shoulders, shifting it from the right shoulder to the left, back and forth, when one side got tired.

It is now coming up on 7:30, with the sun now in final descent mode. Now I would be able to take a good sunset picture from the Tandy Hills.

So, it is goodbye yellow summer sun for 9 months. The next time the yellow sun of summer returns I am thinking I will likely be seeing it in Washington. There will be a large gathering with whom I may feel compelled to gather with. On a farm in a barn with BBQ. Washington BBQ. Smoke from the wood of a Cedar, not a puny Mesquite bush.

Thinking About Biking The Newly Re-Opened River Legacy Mountain Bike Trail With The Queen Of Wink

Last night I saw a lot of mountain bikers in the mountain bike parking lot at River Legacy Park. When I was done biking I drove through that lot and saw that the chain closing the trail was now open.

I knew the River Rats had worked on the trail on Saturday, but the description of the amount of damage and the amount of water remaining, led me to think it'd be a long time before the River Legacy Park Mountain Bike Trail re-opened.

Well. As I so often am. I was wrong.

I checked out the DORBA (Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association) website this morning and saw the River Legacy Trail is open. For the most part.

The EKG and Fun Town sections are still under a lot of water. I do not bike either of those parts of the trail, due to it being too extreme and beyond the mountain biking skills that I currently possess or want to possess. The names of some of the challenges in Fun Town give you a clue as to why I avoid them, names like Granny's Heart Attack, Lost Lunch Gulch and Ball Breaker.

I'd been warned on the DORBA River Legacy page to look for big holes on the Prairie Loop. The big holes did not bother me, but I did not like how the vegetation has gone virile due to all the water. This seems like prime ground for critters like Copperhead snakes, which I have seen at River Legacy previously.

I was surprised by how dried out the trails were, for the most part. There were a few slightly tacky parts, but nothing so tacky that mud stuck to my wheels. In one spot water was still over the trail, but a short bypass takes you around it. There are currently big ponds were none existed before, and the existing ponds are filled to the max, at times coming to the edge of the trail.

Overall, I was surprised at what good shape the trail is in and that it is back usable so soon after being under so much water.

The Queen of Wink is going biking with me.

In-N-Out Burger Bringing Double Double Burgers To Fort Worth

That is a quartet of In-N-Out Burger Double Double Burgers in the picture.

I have only had an In-N-Out Burger Double Double Burger once. It was during a 10 hour layover in Phoenix. I'd been drug to a Happy Hour where way too many appetizers were consumed.

And then on to In-N-Out Burger where I had 2 Double Double Burgers. By the time I buckled my seat belt on the plane I felt like I might explode on take-off.

The In-N-Out Burger Double Double Burger is the tastiest hamburger I have ever tasted.

So, I was quite pleased to read on the Facebook pages of one of Fort Worth's favorite Town Gossips, Bud Kennedy, that an In-N-Out Burger is coming to Fort Worth, with this news confirmed this morning in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The Fort Worth In-N-Out Burger is scheduled to open in mid-July, of 2011, at the northwest corner of West 7th and Currie Streets.

This will put In-N-Out Burger close to the Fort Worth burger icon called Kincaid's. I wonder what Kincaid's aficionados are going to think of getting a taste of a really good burger? I've had a Kincaid's burger twice, thinking both times why does this blah burger get such high local accolades? Methinks it may be an emperor has no clothes type thing, all the sheep going along with pretending that Kincaid's makes a good burger. When they don't.

The Morning Of The Last Day Of Summer In Texas

I am up before the sun, again, on this, the last day of summer. The Autumnal Equinox is tomorrow, which is why today is the last day of summer.

Fall temperatures have already arrived. It is only 71 out there this morning.

Currently a Thunderstorm is scheduled to bring in fall in North Texas.

Which means more water, which means continued high humidity.

I am out of reading material. This means I must try and find one of the Fort Worth libraries that is still open and hope that it has some books on its shelves.

In the meantime I am going to go swimming if the sun ever arrives to light up the place.

A Beautiful Sunset With Bugs At River Legacy Park

I am back from my sunset bike ride at River Legacy Park. I'm feeling back to normal after my abnormal morning caused by Sunday night saloon hopping.

There were way more people on the River Legacy Trail tonight than on Saturday. This surprised me.

The paved trail has a center line. You are supposed to stay on the right, unless you are passing some slowpoke.

I zoomed under the Collins Street bridge at high speed. The trail takes a sharp right after you come out from under the bridge, and then a sharp left.

Well, I was going too fast and crossed over the center line, just as a girl was nearing the turn, for her, to the right. She panicked, I was quickly back on the right side, but in her over-reaction she about caused a wreck. Which, I guess, would have been my fault.

In tonight's sunset picture you can almost make out that the sun is being reflected in a big pond of water. There are several big ponds of water, or mini-lakes along the River Legacy Park Trail.

I got zapped by so many no-see-um flies swarming into me tonight, I had their little black carcasses all over me. This required an immediate fly cleansing shower when I got back here. These annoying bugs are the only thing annoying me about riding my bike.

Hiking The Tandy Trails Not Thinking About Saloon Hopping With Elsie Hotpepper

Why did this mysterious pipe show up deep in the Tandy Hills today? The vertical pipe is by a creek where Fort Worth Water Workers had placed a culvert pipe, temporarily. That pipe was larger in diameter and length, than today's pipe, and had been removed weeks ago.

I thought I'd carry this new pipe up to the Tandy Shrine, which is where I parked today. But, it was too heavy. The pipe looks so odd and out of place in the picture, much more so than it did in person.

Maybe the new Tandy Hills Pipe was a hallucination. It's been that sort of day. But, if it was a hallucination it would not have ended up on my camera.

I spent all morning in San Antonio. I like that town. I think it may be my favorite Texas town.

I was out way too late last night, due to someone having a birthday and wanting me to go saloon hopping to celebrate.

No, it was not that notorious saloon hopper, Elsie Hotpepper, saloon hopping with me. It was another entity who forbids me to mention her name, or nickname on my blog.

I don't understand some people's paranoiac issues.

Anyway, way too much adult entertainment last night had me up late this morning. With a headache. That remains with me this afternoon. I thought hiking the salubrious Tandy Hills would fix me. But it didn't.

The next time someone wants me to go saloon hopping I am just going to say no.

Monday September 20 In Texas

It is Monday. September 20. I am up after the sun.

I have nothing else to say, except I am going swimming now.