Throwing Thursday Back Off The Grand Canyon

I was looking through some old photo albums this morning and came upon that which you see here, taken the first time I visited the Grand Canyon, which would make this the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

I'm thinking this would qualify as one of those Throw Back Thursday photos.

A couple weeks ago, on Facebook, Mr. Spiffy posted a photo of himself and his Favorite Son Cameron dangling off the edge of the top of Half Dome in Yosemite. Mr. Spiffy asked others to post photos of themselves in precarious locations.

I posted one high atop a rock formation in Zion National Park. I did not remember this Grand Canyon high atop a rock formation photo at the time I was looking for a precarious photo.

My first time seeing the Grand Canyon was part of what ended up being a long roadtrip of the classic winging it, going with the flow type roadtrip, with no itinerary other than initial destination being Yellowstone.

On the way to Yellowstone we stopped in Ellensburg to rent an apartment for my last year of college, which was to start about four weeks hence. Spent four days exploring Yellowstone, including hiking to see Yellowstone Falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. I remember remarking that this is one grand canyon, and suggested heading south to see the more famous Grand Canyon.

On the way south we came to a turn off to Bryce Canyon National Park. Knew nothing about Bryce Canyon. It was not a long detour and en route to Bryce saw my first Utah redrock. Bryce Canyon turned out to be the most incredible thing I had ever seen, up to that point in my existence.

Then it was on to Zion, again knowing nothing about it. Entering the park from the east one comes to one amazing site after another. Stopped at each, not realizing the main attraction came later. Was surprised to find the road entering a tunnel. The tunnel had portals, which gave you quick views of where the tunnel was heading. Exiting the tunnel I found myself driving down a steep series of switch backs to reach the bottom of Zion Canyon.

In one day I had now seen two of the most incredible things I'd ever seen. Drove to the end of Zion Canyon, then hiked up the narrow slot canyon of the Temple of the Gods. Spent the night in Zion Canyon in my tent.

Next day we headed south some more, to Grand Canyon. When first a canyon came into view it was again one of the most incredible things I'd ever seen. And then realized this was a side canyon, not the main show.

After a few hours of taking in the Grand Canyon I decided, since it was close, why not head to Las Vegas, a town I'd never been to before. Arrived in Las Vegas well past midnight. It was extremely HOT. Set my tent up in a KOA. Did not really much like that first Vegas visit.

Decided, since we were close, why not head west to California, to the Los Angeles zone and go to Disneyland. Had roadtripped to Disneyland the year before, using San Clemente State Park as the base location.

Leaving Vegas stopped in a rest area. A drunk guy was parked in his pickup. He told me he was too drunk to drive, asked if I'd drive him home to Hollywood for a hundred bucks. Got him to his home, he had a guest house out back. His wife was so grateful to have him safely delivered we were talked into staying a couple days. Which is how I came to watch the movie Chinatown in a theater in Los Angeles' Chinatown.

After the unexpected stay in Hollywood headed south again, to the aforementioned San Clemente. Stayed in San Clemente a couple days, driving back north during the day to go to Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm and Universal Studios and to explore the Los Angeles zone.

And then it was south to San Diego. Had not been to San Diego since I was 17, on my first roadtrip without my parental units. Tented in a KOA south of San Diego. Explored Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo.

At the time it seemed like a good idea to drive into Mexico. And so crossed the border, without incident, unlike a couple years prior. Got lost driving in Tijuana. Bought way too much ridiculous stuff, including a five foot statue of Cortez, which I still have. My little 65 Mustang was stuffed with stuff, which made the rest of this trip a packing and un-packing challenge, til all the Mexican trinkets were unloaded back in that new apartment in Ellensburg.

Decided to visit the San Diego Wild Animal Park, staying at a nearby KOA. Was very impressed with the Wild Animal Park. Had never seen anything like it. Had never, previously had an up close surprise encounter with a tiger, or had a gorilla throw gorilla poop at me.

Somewhere near the Wild Animal Park stopped at an orange orchard where I bought a lot of the best oranges I have ever had.

My memory is vague regarding the rest of this roadtrip. Don't remember if it included going to San Francisco. Do remember taking the Klamath Falls route through Oregon, rather than I-5, due to the need to return to Ellensburg in Eastern Washington to unload my car full of Mexican trinkets.

Will Fort Worth Ever Need To Add Longer Trains To Meet Light Rail Demand?

I saw this this morning in the Seattle Times and thought to myself that this is definitely something I would not be seeing in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about a similar thing happening in Fort Worth.

Some excerpts from the Seattle Times Sound Transit to add longer trains to meet unexpected light-rail demand article....

Sound Transit will put some longer trains on its light rail tracks beginning Monday, to carry the unexpectedly big crowds using the new University of Washington and Capitol Hill stations.

Three-car trains will alternate with the usual two-car trains, spokesman Bruce Gray said Wednesday.

The agency opened a new $1.8 billion tunnel from Westlake Station to UW and Capitol Hill on Saturday. Passengers are finding full platforms and trains at peak times, and sometimes waiting for the next train, Gray said.

And that’s happening while UW is on spring break, and Seattle Central College in exam week.

Roughly 57,000 passengers used the 19-mile light-rail corridor from UW to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Tuesday, Gray said. That followed 67,000 people on opening day, 35,000 on Sunday and 47,000 on Monday. Previous weekday ridership was around 35,000 boardings.

So the counts are already as high as Sound Transit projected for next year — with not only these two stations, but the Angle Lake Station beyond the airport scheduled to open in September, with 1,050 park-and-ride stalls.

Sound Transit aims to carry nearly — but not more than — 150 people in each railcar, or 450 in a three-car train. That sort of volume means about half are seated, half standing, and people can readily enter or exit. Similar-sized trains in Asia might hold 200 people per railcar, considered a crush load here.

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Apparently Puget Sounders are liking their new light rail mass transit method of traveling. Soon Puget Sound voters will be voting on a multi-billion dollar extension of the Link Light Rail. The newly opened extension to the University of Washington cuts the commute time of someone living in the Rainier Valley from around an hour and a half to half an hour, with no need to find a parking space.

Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, riding the Fort Worth antiquated T bus public transit it takes about an hour to make it from my location, eight miles, to downtown Fort Worth.

There is an attempt underway to add a commuter rail line to transit options in Tarrant County.

The subject of this new commuter rail line in Tarrant County came up yesterday in a series of Facebook comments made regarding yesterday's blogging titled Fort Worth Star-Telegram Thinks Someone Goofed On The Panther Island Bridge Design.

Chris Putnam commented--- One correction to Durango's story. The TRV isn't America's - or even Tarrant County's biggest boondoggle - that honor goes to TexRail with a $1B price tag and unknown operating costs to construct 23 miles of commuter rail that will service less than one half of one percent of the Tarrant population. TRV is a close 2nd.

To which Durango said--- I am sticking with the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision as being Tarrant County's and America's Biggest Boondoggle. America's Biggest Boondoggle has been boondoggling along longer than any of America's other boondoggle candidates, with very little to show for the effort. America's Biggest Boondoggle has multiple facets that enhance its boondoggle status. You have wasting almost a million bucks on a work of art that looks like an abstract garbage can, unveiled in a solemn ceremony that was very boondoggle worthy. You have the totally unqualified son of a local congresswoman put in charge of America's Biggest Boondoggle so as to motivate the mama to secure federal funds. Adding corruption to the mix enhances the TRCCUPIV's boondoggle status. Then we have the wanton abuse of eminent domain. The son of the local congresswoman has what is known as a Frat Boy mentality. None of America's other Biggest Boondoggle candidates have added items to the agenda like Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floating beer parties in a polluted river. None of America's other Biggest Boondoggle candidates has gone through so many name changes, let alone oddities like calling a chunk of a land an island, where there is no island....

Bluebonnets

Well, I can say I have now had my first up close encounter with bluebonnets early on in this 2016 Texas wildflower season.

If you have never had the privilege of visiting Texas and want to see the state when the Texas outer world looks its best, visit in the Spring, when Texas turns green and extremely colorful.

The bluebonnet patch you see here was blooming today on a bluff above Village Creek in Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram Thinks Someone Goofed On The Panther Island Bridge Design

Yesterday after Elsie Hotpepper pointed me to an article in the Star-Telegram about the latest delay of America's Biggest Boondoggle I blogged about it in Design Woes Are Not The Only Problem With Fort Worth's Panther Island Bridges.

This morning Elsie Hotpepper pointed me to an editorial in this morning's Star-Telegram titled Panther Island bridge design: Someone goofed.

If you click the link you may be blocked from reading the editorial if you are not a Star-Telegram subscriber. So, I will copy the editorial in it entirety, below, for your reading pleasure.

But before you get to the editorial there is a thing or two I want to say about what I read in this editorial.

The editorial tells us this project has been controversial since it was proposed 15 years ago and that when anything goes wrong it gives the project's legions of critics another reason to harp about a boondoggle. And that this one time the legions of critics might be just a little bit right about the boondoggle thing.

This allegedly vitally important flood prevention and economic development has been limping along for 15 years, with very little to show for the effort, with the project morphing, over time, to include bizarre things like hosting floating beer parties in the Trinity River at a location called Panther Island Pavilion. Where there is no island or pavilion.

And the Star-Telegram thinks the legions of critics might be just a little right thinking the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision is a boondoggle?

And then there is the part where the editorial opines that it is true that the bridge design is novel because Panther Island advocates were determined to have unique bridges.

Now I ask you reading this in sane areas of America, and the world, look at that artist's rendering of one of these design flawed bridges. Does that look even remotely unique to you? Does it look even remotely novel? Or do you see what I see? A rather plain, simple looking little bridge. With a construction timeline of four years, the same amount of time it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge. Over deep fast moving water.

Building over water. That leads me to the part of this editorial I found the most annoying. I am referring to this sentence....

The bridges are being built on dry land to save money, before the 1.8-mile Trinity bypass channel is built below them.

The way propaganda works is basically a lie gets repeated over and over again til it becomes believed to be the truth.

The bridges are not being built over dry land to save money. The bridges are being built prior to the flood diversion channel being built because there is no money, currently, to pay for the digging of the ditch under the bridges. There will be no water under  those bridges until the Trinity River is diverted into the flood diversion channel.

There has never been any other option but to build these bridges over dry land. To claim this was by design, to save money, is,  well, like I said, annoying. It likely would have saved money to have the construction of the bridges taking place at the same time as the bypass channel was built, easily integrating the two aspects of the project.

Look at that drawing of one of the bridges, with one of its piers in the water. I predict that if the money is ever found to dig the ditch, that having those bridges already in place will present yet one more costly design engineering problem for America's Biggest Boondoggle.

And now, below, the aforementioned editorial....

Panther Island bridge design: Someone goofed

As far as delays on $910 million construction projects go, this is not a big one.

Texas Department of Transportation officials say some work has been halted for about a month on two of the three bridges over a planned Trinity River bypass channel, part of the 800-acre Panther Island (Trinity River Vision) project north of downtown Fort Worth.

The bridge construction isn’t scheduled to be finished until 2018, so a month or so here or there won’t be noticed.

But the Panther Island project’s advocates don’t have to be reminded that there is more to it.

The project has been highly controversial since it was proposed almost 15 years ago. Anything that goes wrong is highly sensitive, another reason for legions of critics to harp about a boondoggle.

This one time, they might even be just a little bit right.

A design problem cropped up during construction of concrete piers for the bridges on Henderson Street and White Settlement Road. A third bridge, on North Main Street, isn’t scheduled to begin construction until next month.

Problems happen, we all know. But inadequate design for a project this expensive (the three bridges are budgeted at $65.5 million)?

TxDOT spokesman Val Lopez says there was a miscalculation in the amount of steel needed to reinforce the concrete piers.

“What we are addressing is adjusting the spacing of the reinforced steel in the piers to simplify the pouring of concrete into it,” Lopez told Star-Telegram reporter Gordon Dickson. “It’s a novel design, and we want to make sure we execute it as best we can so we can deliver the highest-quality project possible.”

That part about the bridges being a novel design is true — Panther Island advocates were determined to have unique bridges.

But the part about taking extra care to “deliver the highest-quality project possible” is lipstick on a pig.

Somebody screwed up. The original design was faulty — or it was so “novel” that it just didn’t work in the real world of bridge construction.

Lopez says work will continue on other aspects of the bridge project, and construction on the redesigned piers will start again “in probably a month’s time.”

The bridges are being built on dry land to save money, before the 1.8-mile Trinity bypass channel is built below them.

The overall Panther Island project, a combined flood control and economic development effort, still needs a $340 million allocation from the Army Corps of Engineers.

None of this is cheap.

Design Woes Are Not The Only Problem With Fort Worth's Panther Island Bridges

Last night Elsie Hotpepper, Big Ed and others messaged me with a link to a Fort Worth Star-Telegram article titled Design problem delays work on Panther Island bridges in Fort Worth.

I saw that headline and thought to myself how could those simple little bridges be having themselves a design problem?

It was six months ago that America's Biggest  Boondoggle and it co-propagandizer, the Star-Telegram, breathlessly touted the wonder to behold of wooden V pier forms being something that people could see.

I blogged about this bizarre propaganda way back on October 7, 2015 in Beautiful Fort Worth V Piers The Likes Of Which The World Has Never Seen.

And now to learn that six months later concrete has not yet been poured into those wooden V pier forms, with that eventual pouring of concrete now delayed due to a design problem, well, this is just odd.

Those wooden V pier forms showed up six months ago. Why has it taken so long to get to the point of pouring  concrete into the forms, to then discover that there is a problem with the design?

I'll copy a big chunk of the Star-Telegram article in which we learn the nature of the bridge design problem, among other things.....

FORT WORTH 
The construction of three bridges over dry land north of downtown Fort Worth is being delayed as officials fix a design problem that was noticed as workers began to pour the concrete piers.

The delay involves a miscalculation in the amount of steel that would be needed to reinforce the structure’s piers, a Texas Department of Transportation spokesman said. However, the problem is being addressed and should only cause about a month-long postponement of bridge work, said Val Lopez, TxDOT spokesman.

When completed, the bridges will span over what officials hope will be a new Trinity River channel creating Panther Island, an 800-acre development in a former industrial area that could become pristine, waterfront property. The project includes construction of new bridges along Henderson Street, White Settlement Road and North Main Street, and the re-channeling of the river under those structures.

“What we are addressing is adjusting the spacing of the reinforced steel in the piers to simplify the pouring of concrete into it,” Lopez said in an email. “It’s a novel design, and we want to make sure we execute it as best we can so we can deliver the highest-quality project possible.”

“We haven’t stopped construction on the project at all,” Lopez said in a phone interview. “We’ll be out there working on those piers again in probably a month’s time.”

To complete the project will require a $340 million appropriation to the Corps of Engineers.

In the meantime, the Trinity River Vision Authority is promoting development of areas such as the Coyote Drive-In, and hosting about 44 events per year at the Panther Island Pavilion. Those measures are partly to generate revenue, but also to establish Panther Island as a destination for entertainment, and eventually shopping, working and living.

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How was it that when workers began pouring concrete it was noticed that there had been a miscalculation regarding how much reinforcing steel was needed? I assume by reinforcing steel we are talking about re-bar. It would seem that calculating how much re-bar is needed would be sort of standard information. It's not like these bridges are the first time a concrete pier has been built.

The third paragraph in the Star-Telegram article amused me with the information that the bridges will span what officials hope will be a new Trinity River channel creating Panther Island. Officials are hoping there will be a new river channel to go under these three bridges?

And then the next paragraph where we learn that these bridges are a novel design which they want to execute as best they can so as to deliver the highest quality project possible. Should not that sentiment go without saying? As in, don't all public works project want to execute the highest quality project possible?

The TxDOT spokesman says they have not stopped the project at all? And that they will be back working on those piers again, probably, in a month? How is that not stopping the project at all?

And then there is that last paragraph, where we learn the Trinity River Vision Authority is promoting things like the Coyote Drive-In and hosting 44 events a year at Panther Island Pavilion. Where there is no island or pavilion, where we just learned officials hope one day there will be a new river channel creating Panther Island.

Those 44 events are measures to generate revenue and establish the non-existent Panther Island as an entertainment destination, eventually with shopping, working and living?

Like I've already said, more than once.

Shameless propaganda.....

HUGE Bernie Sanders Seattle Rally But Not In Fort Worth Star-Telegram

I keep reading how the national corporate media is ignoring, for the most part, the Bernie Sanders phenomenon.

I am not quite sure that the national corporate media is ignoring the Bernie Sanders phenomenon, since I seem to somehow read about the money raised and the HUGE rallies of Bernie supporters.

Like what you see here, from today's Seattle Times. Apparently yesterday Bernie Sanders drew one of the biggest crowds of the current presidential campaign.

Thousands lined up in a drizzle to fill Seattle's Key Arena.

Key Arena is where the Seattle Supersonics used to play basketball before the late Aubrey McClendon stole the team and moved it to Oklahoma City. Before being known as Key Arena the Arena was known as the Seattle Coliseum. Before the Coliseum was known as such it was known as the Washington State Pavilion at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, where one could ride what was known as the Bubbleator, which took you to a vision of the future.

I saw no mention made of the big Bernie Sanders Seattle Rally in any of the other online news sources I check in on each morning.

At the top of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's front page I did see mention made of Bernie Sanders, a headline claiming "Sanders campaign seems unwilling to meet with press in Boise."

Well, Mr. Sanders was in Seattle. That is a couple mountain ranges and a few miles from Boise.

No mention made of the HUGE Sanders rally in Seattle, but instead an article about the Sanders campaign seeming to be unwilling to meet with the Boise press?

Maybe there is some sort of anti-Sander corporate media conspiracy afoot.....

Veterans Park Vietnam War Memorial Thorny Spring Hike With Meatloaf

The first day of Spring seemed to be a good day to visit the closest to my location Vietnam War Memorial, which is in Arlington, in Veterans Park.

Unlike yesterday's last day of Winter, for this first day of Spring I layered myself in sufficient outer wear to insulate from the windy cold.

After paying my respects at the two Veterans Park War Memorials I continued on to have myself a mighty fine, cold hike in the Veterans Park back country.

Til today it'd been awhile since I've hiked the Veterans Park back country. Years ago I hiked those backwoods frequently. Today I managed to get a bit bollixed up, sort of having to blaze a trail through a thicket of brush, some with thorns. I had two incidents where I was stopped by getting tangled up in brush.

I only remembered there being one creek that needed crossing in the Veterans Park back country. Today I had to figure out how to ford three narrow creeks.

By the time I made it back to paved civilization my shoes were not too muddy.

There was quite a large throng of people enjoying the first day of Spring, including a lot of disc golfers. The appeal of disc golfing is not understood by my feeble imagination.

I see an incoming email from Mr. Prairie Notes, Don Young, with "Happy Vernal Equinox!" as the subject line. I must go read  that and then have lunch.

Meatloaf, rice and beans....

A Cold Vernal Equinox First Day Of Spring Palm Sunday In Texas

Winter of 2016 is now history. Spring of 2016 is now freshly sprung.

As you can see, via the view from my patio balcony, Spring at my location has sprung with a bright sunny Sunday.

A cold first day of Spring.

Only 37 degrees when the sun arrived this morning. So, the pool was a too cool no go for a first day of Spring refreshing dip.

In addition to today being the Vernal Equinox it is also Palm Sunday. That being the day Jesus made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, to be murdered five days later, and then supposedly sprung back to like two days after that, on the day known as Easter.

I think I have my bible story correct. It has been a few decades since I have been in Sunday School....

When Will A New Light Rail Station Transform Fort Worth?

I saw what you see here yesterday in the online version of the Seattle Times and thought, well, that is sure something I would not be reading in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about a similar thing in Fort Worth.

The UW referred to in the headline is the University of Washington. The UW's new light rail station is due south of Husky Stadium. The current end terminal of an extension of the Seattle Link line, via a three mile tunnel under Queen Anne Hill.

Soon voters in several Puget Sound counties will be voting on a $20 billion bond issue to extend the Link lines all the way from Everett to the north, to Tacoma to the south, and points east. The voters have a history of passing these type transportation proposals. Likely because they are seeing the benefit of having efficient mass public transit.

I have wondered before, and am wondering again, why is there no effort in the D/FW Metroplex to have a modern efficient mass public transit system? All one needs do is check out the Dallas DART light rail system to see a modern transit system in action.

Why is there no effort to extend DART to Arlington, to the Dallas Cowboy Stadium/Six Flags zone?

Building rail lines in this flat part of the planet would seem to be far less challenging and far less expensive than doing such in a location like Seattle and surrounding towns, what with there being a lot of topographic variation and large bodies of water.

Pretty much every weekday I see I-820 slowed to a crawl. One would think mass public transit would be more appealing than being stuck in a traffic jam day after day.

The Last Day Of Winter With A Cold Walk With Village Creek Indian Ghosts

I did not get the memo telling me that Winter had been scheduled to return the day before the arrival of Spring.

The outer world was chilled to 41 degrees this morning when the sun arrived. I had figured I'd go swimming this morning, but I re-figured that plan when I saw the temperature was only 9 degrees above freezing.

And there will be no swimming on the first day of Spring, because tonight the low, last I heard, is supposed to get down to only two degrees above freezing.

In the noon time frame I bundled myself up in long pants and a sweatshirt and headed east to Arlington to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area to have myself some alone time with the Indian Ghosts who haunt their former home.

As you can see, above, North Texas is being green. In the picture I'm on the wildflower designated area on the bluff above Village Creek. That is the Village Creek dam bridge crossing you see at the center of the picture. The Village Creek formerly Blue Bayou is on the other side of that dam bridge.

I was sort of surprised the Historical Natural Area was open and not still closed due to flooding, due to the recent deluging. But, there was no sign of leftover mud indicating the creek had gone into serious flood mode.

After walking a couple miles I said goodbye to the Indian Ghosts and dropped in on ALDI for some vittles and Spec's Liquor to acquire this week's Dallas Observer.

And now it is time to make macaroni and cheese with barbecue chicken and corn.