Leaving Texas Turns Into One Of My Most Adventurous Scary Days Ever

Well.

I have been currently experiencing my longest withdrawal from being connected to the online internet world since some time way back in the previous century.

Wednesday morning I left Texas, heading northwest via Highway 287, the road to Amarillo. Destination Sun Lakes, Arizona. Interim destination, on Wednesday, was a town called Albuquerque in a state called New Mexico.

I took a lot of pictures along the way, that day, intending to blog them that night when peacefully ensconced in a nice, quiet motel room.

With Wi-Fi.

However, that Albuquerque's motel's Wi-Fi was in malfunction mode.

The next day all was going well, stopping in Gallup for some McDonald's products, heading west towards Flagstaff.

As I drove along I listened to the Comey testimony til it was over.

I was somewhere in the Painted Desert Petrified Forest Meteor Crater zone of Arizona when my favorite Rabbi called. Perfect phone connection with no cell tower in view.

Soon I was gaining elevation as I got closer to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.

A strong wind was blowing, which I was heading straight into.

And then, about ten miles east of Flagstaff, with me thinking I am only a couple hours out of Phoenix, which I should easily reach by early afternoon, suddenly my vehicle misbehaved, it was like a gust of wind had killed it. I coasted to a stop on the side of the freeway.

I do not recollect the last time I felt so panicked as I did when I came to a dead stop on a busy freeway in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere..

I called Big Ed in Texas. Then I called my sister in Chandler. Chandler is a Phoenix suburb. My sister called others, including my sister in Tacoma. And my brother. All of whom called and texted empathizing with my ordeal with good advice and offers to help.

I zoomed in on the road sign I saw ahead so as to be able to identify my location as the Winona exit 211. I called 911. That soon got me in contact with a towing company. An hour or so later the tow truck showed up. He had a passenger so I had to stay in the driver's seat while my vehicle got elevated on to the flatbed.

It was an elevated scenic ride into Flagstaff, which you can sort of see below.

About a half hour after getting delivered to the vehicle fix-it place the diagnoses was made.

Failed fuel pump.

Soon thereafter a sweet guardian angel showed up on my phone to alleviate me of most of my potential heart attack/stroke inducing stress.

About a half hour before five I was back on the road, heading south to Phoenix. I had never driven the freeway from Flagstaff to Phoenix. That road is one long loss of elevation heading into the Valley of the Sun.

My goal was no longer Sun Lakes and my previously scheduled expected arrival at my mom and dad's. My new goal was to make it to my brother's place in Scottsdale.

I figured I could easily make my way to Scottsdale due to having been there previously. When I realized I was south of the Phoenix airport I knew I was way off course. Asking Google to direct me to my brothers's proved useless.

I got northeast of the airport, parked and called my brother. I told him where I was and he recognized the road I was on and then directed me via surface streets and freeways to his abode. I do not remember the last time I felt as relieved to see someone as I did when I saw Spencer Jack's grandpa.

I had a great time at my brother's. I arrived at his place hungry, having not eaten anything since Gallup, New Mexico. My brother had a virtual buffet laid out of tasty stuff. We went swimming in the morning in his excellent pool.

Soon after swimming I called my mom. Mom thought I was still in Flagstaff. She had not been updated on the fact I had become mobile again. My favorite nephew Jeremy was scheduled to take mom to see dad. Mom said they'd wait til I got there.

My brother gave me simple directions, written down.I barely left his place before my first wrong turn. Called me brother and quickly learned I had gone right when I should have gone left. Soon I was on track. And then right when I was exiting one freeway to another, that being I-10, Jeremy called. That momentary distraction caused me to somehow get on the wrong road. After several miles I realized I was seeing South Mountain where I should not be seeing it.

About then Jeremy called to ask what was keeping me. Grandma was getting anxious. Eventually I was able to tell Jeremy I was on Pecos heading east, that I could see the Wild Horse Casino, which I knew was next to I-10.

A few minutes later I was on the freeway, heading south, and then getting to Riggs Road, which takes me to Sun Lakes and my mom and Jeremy.

A few minutes later I found myself chauferring mom to dad.

The day currently is Sunday. It was two days ago, on Friday, I first took mom to where dad is. Somehow that seems much longer ago.

The location where I finally found myself an Internet connection is my sister's, in Chandler.

It will be good to be back in Texas. I do not know, yet, when that will be happening.

One thing I have noticed and made note of, and have done so every time I am in the Phoenix metro zone, is that the towns which make up the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, particularly Fort Worth, should send a task force to Phoenix to see how nice it looks when towns pay attention to landscaping their roads. And building actual imaginative bridges one might describe as signature. Again, I am referring to Fort Worth regarding the signature bridge thing. Dallas has a couple actual signature bridges.

If Phoenix is too far to send that task force, Albuquerque also provides good examples of what can be done in the civic beautifying department...

Spencer Jack Was Not Home Yesterday If I Knocked On His Door

Last night I had myself an extremely rare bout of insomnia. I went horizontal early due to the day having been a long one. I quickly passed out, but at some point in time in the middle of the night I began to relentlessly toss and turn. I have no idea how long the tossing and turning lasted.

I think the insomnia may have been caused by yesterday's warning signs that I may be heading west into a maelstrom of madness from which I will quickly seek relief.

On that note this morning's email found one from Spencer Jack and his dad, my favorite nephew Jason....

FUD,

We heard a rumor that you were traveling thousands of miles to visit relatives. If you knocked on our door today to visit, we weren't home.

Spencer Jack took me sailing this afternoon. He chose Friday Harbor to escape the extreme PNW heat wave.The air was pleasantly air conditioned there.

Anyway, if we missed you, try again some other time. Your dad always use to tell me, "Stop by anytime, 'we are always home,' unless we are gone!" 

Hope to see you soon!

___________________

A heat wave in the PNW? The temperature much have reached a high in the 70s for a couple days in a row. Friday Harbor, to which Jason refers, is the big city on San Juan Island. Friday Harbor is the last destination one comes to when one takes one of the Anacortes ferries to the San Juan Islands.

Visiting My Neighborhood Caribbean Libertines Before Playing A Hot Arizona Pickle Ball

Due to too many days lately of precipitation precipitating precipitously I had not had myself much outdoor endorphin inducing aerobic activity.

Til today.

I opted to push my way through the wet wool blanket of hot humidity and make my way to my cool Caribbean neighborhood.

I entered the Caribbean today via Haiti. Soon I headed south via Barbados, where I have frequently admired the artwork you see here, at the southeast intersection of Haiti and Barbados.

Those Haitian Barbados natives are quite the free spirited libertines.

Soon I decided the Caribbean was providing me way too much aerobic stimulation so I head back to the Circle Trail where I soon saw the big lonely tree you see here.

I doubt you can see the one big white bloom on the above tree. It is blooming on the upper right part of the tree, with its whiteness blotted out by a cloud. That one big white bloom indicated to me that this is a Magnolia tree. My mom used to call these Tulip trees. We had a Tulip tree in our backyard in Burlington, Washington, til one day it died due to a failed plumbing pipeline.

I should be seeing my mom in a couple days, sometime late Thursday afternoon. I may remember to ask about that long ago backyard Tulip tree. But my mom tends to forget stuff. I do absolutely need to ask my mom about something which has long vexed me, which I always forget to ask about. As in how did mom make her way across the country, all the way to New York City, to meet my dad who was returning from France, where he'd been stationed whilst in the Army. I know my mom did not fly to NYC. I can't picture my mom traveling alone across the country via bus or train.

After mom met dad in NYC they toured the town, then bought a car, which they then used to take a long tour of the country on a slow trip back to Washington. Mom and dad sort of repeated that trek the year my dad retired.

Continuing on on the Circle Trail I soon saw a result of the past few day's deluges.

Holliday Creek in Holliday Gorge turned into a roaring rapids, with an egret hoping to do some successful fishing.

Holliday Creek is the creek which got dammed long ago to create Lake Wichita.

I am bringing my laptop along with me to see my mom and dad. I do not know how much Internet connectivity I will be having. So, I may be not quite as connected, as is my norm, for the next couple weeks. I also learned today that I will likely be engaging in something called Pickle Ball. An activity conducted outdoors in the extreme Arizona heat.

It is probably healthy to get disconnected every once in awhile, but maybe not whilst one is extremely hot...

First Sunday Of June Drenching Downpour

Heading home from an early Sunday jaunt to Walmart I suddenly found myself driving slow through a downpour.

The windshield wipers were taxed to the max trying to clear the window.

I soon got ahead of the downpour, heading west on Southwest Boulevard. Took a dry right on Taft Boulevard, then another dry right to my covered parking zone.

Just as I turned the engine off the downpour caught up with me. I waited ten or fifteen minutes til the downpour seemed to be pouring down less and then I made a run for it. Through what amounts to a flooded moat.

This week I am heading west on the longest roadtrip I have tripped on since 2001. I am a bit apprehensive about this. I would prefer the driving to not involve any calamitous weather of any sort...

A Dark Stormy 2nd Day Of June In Wichita Falls

The photo documentation which you see here does not adequately document the fact that this second day of June of 2017, so far, is a rip roaring boomer, with rain in downpour mode.

Currently there is no wind blowing and no tornado sirens screaming.

In the view you see here you are looking north through downpouring raindrops, with the swimming pool visible through the jungle of foliage.

The lightning strikes are getting closer and the followup booms are getting louder. I probably should shut my windows, but I rather like the sound, and with no wind blowing the rain is not able to make its way to my interior space.

I just texted Miss Puerto Rico to ask if she is booming and flooding in the D/FW zone. So far no reply.

Earlier today I heard from another D/FW resident, whom I shall not name, for obvious reasons. Suffice to say this resident's initials are EH. Apparently EH has a new goal of becoming independently wealthy. Finding someone like Trump, who is in need of a new trophy wife, was discussed, with the idea discounted. Well, the Trump-like part of the idea.

Unless I want to risk getting struck by a lightning strike I don't think I will be going singing in the rain today. Not even under a bumbershoot.

Bumbershoots are lightning attractants when one is out in the open in a flat zone.

Maybe if the booming stops I will go on an under bumbershoot cover walk in the rain. This would be doable as long as the electrical activity ceases and the wind does not begin to blow....

First Day Of 2017's June Possibly Thunderstorming

The first day of June of the year 2017 looks to be potentially stormy, in more ways than one, at my current North Texas location in Wichita Falls.

Thunderstorms, possibly severe, are on the weather menu for today.

Whilst walking on the Circle Trail, from whence I took the photo you see here, I thought I detected an incoming drop or two.

I shall shut up now. Basically this particularly blogging effort is a test testing if my new computer is going to continue vexing me.

Tacoma Mountain Biking With Nephew Theo

On this final day of the 2017 version of May, what we see here is my nephew Theo mountain biking on the rugged trails of Tacoma.

If my calculations are correct Theo is currently *four years old.

*UPDATE: Theo's Aunt Jackie informs me that Theo is now six years old.

I had barely learned to walk by the time I was four.

I do not remember when I got my first bike, but I know it was a few years past four.

When I was four we lived in Mount Vernon, across the street from what is now Skagit Valley College, under construction at that point in time.

Being four in Mount Vernon would seem to indicate I learned to ride a bike after we moved a couple miles north, to Burlington.

My most vivid memory of riding a bike in Burlington was my little brother (Spencer Jack's grandpa) and me pushing our bikes to the summit of Burlington Hill and then coasting down at high speed with the high speed descent halted by a duo spectacular bike wreck in loose gravel which left us a bit bloodied.

Apparently now I have two nephews to go mountain biking with. Theo and Joey.

Below you get to watch full action video of Theo mountain biking. Theo's brother, David, and sister Ruby, make cameo appearances....

Lake Wichita Memorial Day With Big Brother & Long-Nosed Gars

 Last week I read 1984, you know, that dystonian novel by George Orwell that sort of missed its future foretelling mark when 1984 became the actual year, with 1984 not being quite as bleak in reality as Orwell foresaw it being.

And then over three decades after 1984 George Orwell's book was back being a book store best seller, along with borrowing waiting lists in libraries across America, and other parts of the world where the literate found themselves appalled to find the American president to be an Orwellian nightmare of doublespeak, doublethink and totally doubleplusungood.

The last couple days I have been having myself some computer aggravation. Every time I think I have solved the problem I find I am erroneous.

Feeling I had reached some sort of computer plateau I decided to take a break and join the throngs of Memorial Day memorializers at Lake Wichita for some sun time whilst enjoying the cooling breeze blowing from the lake.

I was not long at Lake Wichita, atop Lake Wichita Dam, when I saw that which you see above, which is the reason I mentioned 1984, because when I saw that which you see above I thought to myself it looked like what a 2017 version of 1984's Big Brother might look like.

Soon after seeing the Lake  Wichita Big Brother I saw the bucolic scene you see below.

These fisher people are fishing near the ruins of the Lake Wichita Pavilion.  All which remains of the pavilion, which succumbed  to fire in the 1950s,  are the wood pilings you see the fishing pole pointing towards.

As you can see there are also non-fisher people wandering about under the watchful eye of the Lake Wichita Big Brother.

Another view of the Lake Wichita floating dock. That dock looks nice and stable today, but if one visits it on a windy day, when whitecaps wave across the lake, the ride on this floating dock can be sea sickness inducing. The last time I was on this dock when it was in rocking mode it reminded me of being on the Port Townsend/Keystone Ferry ferrying from the Olympic Peninsula to Whidbey Island during a stormy tidal change, with the ferry rocking so much walking was extremely difficult.

As you can see fishing and walking was not the only activity at Lake Wichita this Memorial Day. The people you see here are on the Circle Trail  on top of Lake Wichita Dam, heading north away from the Lake Wichita Big Brother.

Okay, I have mentioned the Lake Wichita Big Brother a couple times. Now let's see what it is this Big Brother is looking out from.

A fishy sign. Can you find Big Brother?

This Fish of Lake Wichita sign identifies all the fish which live, or try to, in this lake.

I have never seen anyone swimming in Lake Wichita. I know in the past, long ago, swimming in this lake was a popular summer thing to do. A streetcar system delivered  people to the lake. Long ago Lake Wichita was a popular resort-like destination, with multiple attractions in addition to fishing and swimming.

There is an ongoing attempt to revive Lake Wichita and restore it to some semblance of its former glory.

Methinks this effort should be accelerated.

I have seen the Lake Wichita Revitalization plans. If those plans come to fruition it will be a real good thing.  I do not understand why there is not a more vigorous effort to bring about this lake's revitalization. I've heard other towns in America fund such developments by having its citizens approve of some sort of funding  mechanism, rather than rely on car washes and selling memorial bricks to raise money.

If Lake Wichita does get revitalized and swimming again becomes doable I sort of would like to know a couple of those Fish of Lake Wichita are no longer in the lake. Like the long-nosed gars. Or the channel catfish. The other Fish of Lake Wichita look harmless.

I have never liked fish with whiskers. Or long sharp pointy noses...

North Texas 100 Degrees HOT First Time In 2017

The outer world has heated up to the century mark for the first time this year at my location on the planet.

With about an hour to go to get hotter, before the sun does its daily retreat, we may still hit the predicted high of 101, or higher.

My air conditioner turned itself on several hours before noon today. At that point in time I had not been outside and so did not know a heat wave had arrived.

Meanwhile up north, well, up northwest, at my old home location of Western Washington, the locals are sweltering with a heat wave of their own type.

Temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s.

The Washington hot hell on earth has sent throngs of Washingtonians, by the thousands, west to the Pacific coast beaches, such as Ocean Shores,

I learned of the Washington heat wave earlier today via Sampson and Deliah's Facebook report about joining the thousands trying to get cool via being near the Pacific Ocean in the Ocean Shores zone.

This is not a picture of Ocean Shores you are looking at below.

An hour before noon I ventured out into the heat, to the Circle Trail, for a period of short duration. What you are looking at above is what a 100 degree day looks like in the North Texas burg of Wichita Falls, looking east across Holliday Creek Canyon.

There is no ocean a short drive distant to escape to to beat the heat at my current location. There are a couple lakes. None of which has an ocean type beach. Or big waves. Or whales and seals. Or clams to dig.

I have seen seagulls though...

Dallas Settles Legal Pipeline Fight With Imaginary Bogeyman Monty Bennett

Shocking news, shocking I tell you, today in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Dallas settles legal fight with Monty Bennett over East Texas pipeline

Didn't Dallas get the memo that Monty Bennett is a notorious evil bogeyman hotel magnate who owns downtown Fort Worth's Hilton and Ashton  hotels?

For years the Dallas partner in water acquisition, Fort Worth's Tarrant Regional Water District, has fought the imaginary Dallas bogeyman who the TRWD scared voters with shameless propaganda spewed claiming Monty Bennett was wanting to steal Fort Worth's water.

When what Monty Bennett was actually doing was trying to convince the TRWD and its Dallas water partner, not to install a pipeline across his East Texas ranch.

God forbid someone in Texas is protective of their property and uses whatever resources are at their disposal to do so.

The Dallas City Council approved settling their fight with Monty Bennett, with one Dallas Councilwoman, Sandy Greyson objecting, opinionizing "it’s just infuriating that if you are rich enough, you can hold the city hostage for years and then get what you want. There’s something really wrong with that.”

Imagine that. If one has the resources one can fight, successfully, to prevent someone from impacting their property.

Usually this is a hopeless battle in the eminent  domain abuse capital of the world.

We have blogged about Tarrant County's chronic eminent domain abuse dozens of times.

Such as in a blogging from a couple months ago about The Fort Worth Way With RICO Racketeering in which we heard from one of Fort Worth's victims of eminent domain abuse, with that instance of abuse executed by what is now known as America's Biggest Boondoggle, which took this victim's business in ordter to dig a ditch and a bridge over the ditch, neither of which has been dug or built, long after this victim's property was bulldozed.

Bulldozed before the victim, unlike Monty Bennett, had had his day in a legitimate court system of the sort which does not exist in the eminent domain abuse capital of the world. Hence the taking and destruction of property before a legal settlement had been reached.

So, I don't understand how or why Dallas Councilwoman Greyson finds it infuriating that someone has the legal resources to protect his property from something he did not want to see happen to his property.

To do so, such as Monty Bennett did, is pretty much what used to be known as the American Way, where the courts protected citizen's property from seizure unless a clear case could be made that such a seizure was in the public's interest, with no alternative to the seizure, such as re-routing a pipeline.

To take a person's property, with that person having no legal recourse, other than trying to fight the seizure in a Kangaroo Court, well, that is how the Soviet Union used to operate.

Operating like the Soviet Union used to operate is not the American Way.

Sadly though, operating like the Soviet Union used to operate is, in many ways, is the Fort Worth Way...